300652 'Rising Asia' - 'Shaping Asia': regional dynamics through knowledge, science, and education (S) (WiSe 2021/2022)

This Seminar draws upon two different lines of research that are emerging as vital for grasping socio-spatial constellations in larger regions – such as in Asia: On one hand, the seminar will discuss the new transnational approaches that are driven by globalisation research and by the critique of methodological collectivisation (e.g. methodological nationalism and regionalism; understanding of culture as ‘container’). On the other hand, new research in the field of decolonisation has brought up substantial impulses for grasping anew the modalities of knowledge production and circulation. These interrogations are driven by the quest for de-centring the global and regional relations of power, authority as well as how global, regional and national knowledge hierarchies are perceived and understood. As those dwelling in the academic realms are implicated in the valuation of knowledge, self-reflexivity is an essential aspect in this topical field – as will be discussed throughout the Seminar.
The Seminar will first discuss the changing understandings of Asia as region. It will delve into the spatial and temporal dimensions of the transregional dynamics as well as into the manifold forms of Asia’s embeddedness in the contemporary world society. In the second part, the figure of ‘Rising Asia’ will be considered – a figure that locates the region in a global perspective and points to a rearrangement of positions between the Western center and its peripheries. The changing parameters of knowledge production and circulation are one case in point: of interest are for instance the growing number of new educational ‘hubs’ located in different parts of Asia, or the increasing economic interdependencies and re-arrangements.
The third part will engage in post-colonial and de-colonial interrogations. Post-colonial scholars largely follow the assertion that the inherited spatialities of European colonialism and the spatialities of intellectual prestige are currently altered. It is therefore important to explore transformations and the forces of dynamism, including the productive confrontations, and generative possibilities. One challenge is then to grasp how the deeply patterned geographic divides in knowledge production work in a ‘time of multipolarity’ (Duara) and Asia’s altering significance, today. Important de-colonial enquiries question knowledge hierarchies and silencing of non-academic forms of knowledge and call for inclusiveness, civicness, and creativity.

Requirements for participation, required level

The seminar is open for master students. The seminar requires good English reading competences and is planned to be held in English. Students must be prepared to read all the texts listed in the seminar plan and to actively engage in plenary and group discussions. Written requirements (five text summaries to be submitted before the relevant session) will be explicated in the introductory session of the seminar.