Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Ostasienstudien (IZO)

One highlight event after another:

Sinology at IZO is inviting you to a guest lecture by Prof. Dr. QIN Hui 秦暉 entitled "A Global Crisis of Democracy and the Allure of the China Model - 全球民主危機與中國模式的誘惑", followed by a panel discussion with Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Bertram Schefold (professor emeritus of economics at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt).

The event is held in two languages (English and Chinese | 活動語言：中英), interpreted by Prof. Dr. Zhiyi Yang (Sinology, Goethe University).

When: Tuesday, 30. Juni 2026, 6 pm
Where: Campus Westend, Max-Horkheimer-Str. 4, Frankfurt am Main

Seminarhaus Room SH 0.101

NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!

Yonson Ahn, together with Jihye Kim, published the anthology Korean Migration and Mobility in the Global South with Lexington Books.

This publication explores how Koreans in the Global South create new pathways of integration and opportunity within diverse political and economic contexts. Drawing on empirical case studies, it shows how migrants navigate local conditions and reshape conventional understandings of mobility and identity. The volume argues that Korean migration to the Global South is a significant yet understudied dimension of contemporary migration that calls for new theoretical perspectives on global mobility.

Link to the anthology:

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/korean-migration-and-mobility-in-the-global-south-9781666963809/

Contributors/Authors: Yonson Ahn, Jihye Kim, Carolyn Choi, Dennis Woohyuk Choi, Jinok Choi, Sergio Gallardo García, K. C. Ho, Gaik Cheng Khoo, Jeehun Kim, Jihye Kim, Young Su Park, Hae Young Yun

Citation: Yonson Ahn and Jihye Kim eds. 2025. Korean Migration and Mobility in the Global South. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Korean Migration and Mobility in the Global South Korean Migration and Mobility in the Global South argues that current migration studies, largely focused on South-to-North movement, overlook the complex realit…

Neue hochkarätig besetzte Kooperationsveranstaltung mit dem China-Institut:

Recht und Macht in der internationalen Ordnung: Chinas Griff nach der Vergangenheit - und nach der Zukunft

Buchvorstellung und Podiumsdiskussion mit

Dr. Volker Stanzel (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, ehem. Botschafter der BR Deutschland in der VR China und Japan)
MdB Omid Nouripour (Vizepräsident des Deutschen Bundestages, Mitglied im Auswärtigen Ausschuss und Berichterstatter der Grünen Bundestagsfraktion für China)
Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Contemporary Chinese Studies)
Prof. Dr. Iwo Amelung (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Sinologie)

Zeit: Dienstag, den 16. Juni 2026, um 18:15 Uhr
Ort: Campus Westend, Casino, Nina-Rubinstein-Weg 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Raum Cas 1.801 (Renate-von-Metzler-Saal)

Wir freuen uns auf den Austausch!

News from the AspirE Project! In an effort for sustainability and transparency, AspirE is making its data collection resources openly available! Check it out!

Researching migration decision-making As part of the AspirE project’s commitment to transparency, methodological rigor, and knowledge sharing, a set of key data collection tools developed for our fieldwork is now available.…

friends, join us for part 3 of IZO's newest lecture series "Asia on the move"!

we are thrilled to welcome Robert Eberhart for a talk on
"The Emergence and Effects of the Entrepreneurial Ideology"
on Wednesday, Apr 22, 6-8 pm, in room SH3.102!

Abstract:
My talk develops a theoretical account of the transformation of entrepreneurship from a bounded economic activity into a generalized system of meaning. Drawing on institutional theory and organizational sociology, it argues that the attributes traditionally associated with entrepreneurship—opportunity recognition, risk-bearing, and innovation—have been abstracted and extended across domains, forming an entrepreneurial ideology. This ideology provides a cognitive and moral framework through which individuals interpret uncertainty, responsibility, and variation in outcomes. Tracing historical shifts in institutional arrangements, the analysis shows how the erosion of collective forms of coordination and the rise of decentralized, market-based systems create conditions that require new interpretive frameworks. Entrepreneurial ideology emerges as a response to these conditions, aligning individual understanding with structural realities. I will also focus on how this framework operates across domains such as work, social provision, and technological development, and how it stabilizes interpretation across positions by providing both justification and prospect, rendering inequality and individual responsibility as legitimate and inevitable.

Bio:
Robert N. Eberhart, PhD, is an associate professor of management and international business at the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business, where he studies how entrepreneurship shapes society. He serves as the inaugural International Business Research Scholar and earned his PhD in Management Science from Stanford University. His research develops theoretical insights on institutional change, new firm dynamics, and the societal effects of entrepreneurial ideology. His work has been published in leading journals including Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Strategy Science, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, and Journal of Management Inquiry.
His scholarship has received multiple honors, including the Responsible Research in Business and Management Award (2020) and the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings (2012). He serves on the editorial boards of Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal, is a visiting faculty member at Oxford University, and previously served as Vice Chair of the U.S.–Japan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council.


Information on the lecture series Asia on the Move:
When humans migrate, they carry along their pasts, languages, sentiments, stories, and dreams. In our post-national world increasingly connected by digital technologies, national identities continue to function as “works of imagination” (Appadurai) that give individuals a sense of belonging. Asia, one of the most dynamic regions in the global flux of people, goods, and services, stands in the focus of this lecture series. In six lectures spanning across two semesters, this series promotes interdisciplinary perspectives to studying the mobility of people, memories, and imaginations across and beyond Asia.


looking forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for coming to today's opening of the AspirE Project Germany team's exhibition: Photographic insights into the lives of Japanese migrants in Germany.

In case you missed it: you can see the exhibition in NM 303 until Feb 27.

Description:
A select group of Japanese migrants in Germany recorded an “avatar object” as part of their video diaries in which they reflected on their migration aspirations; a personal item representing their emotional state. This exhibition interprets emotions through objects, angles, sounds, and narrative flows. This sometimes produced poetic expressions, while at other times creating ambiguity and interpretive challenges.

Only a selection from the sample of Japanese participants in Germany is shown, while the full catalogue and selected diaries can be explored online, as part of the exhibition organised by the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon,
https://asianlivesineurope.iscte-iul.pt/video-diaries/
The online exhibition also shares personal stories of Asian migrants in Portugal, narrated through the objects, photographs, and memories they chose to record. A heartfelt gratitude goes to those who shared their time, stories, and creativity. Together, these materials offer a nuanced lens on how migration aspirations are expressed when the self is conveyed through objects, landscapes, and places.

Wir laden ein zur Eröffnung der Fotoausstellung
Vietnams Städte im Wandel
VIỆT NAM TRONG QUÁ TRÌNH BIẾN ĐỔI ĐÔ THỊ
am Donnerstag, dem 22. Januar 2026 um 18.00 Uhr c.t., Raum IG 311

PROGRAMM
Vietnamesischer Musikbeitrag
Grußwort: Prof. Dr. Arndt Graf (Lehrstuhlinhaber Südostasienwissenschaften, Uni Frankfurt)
Grußwort: Prof. Dr. Iwo Amelung (Direktor Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Ostasienstudien, Uni Frankfurt)
Grußwort: Rolf Schulze (ehem. Deutscher Botschafter in der SR Vietnam, 1. Vorsitzender der Deutsch-Vietnamesischen Gesellschaft)
Grußwort: Vietnamesischer Generalkonsul Frankfurt (angefragt) Vietnamesischer Musikbeitrag
Einführung in die Ausstellung: Kurator Dr. Michael Waibel (Uni Hildesheim)
Umtrunk & Snacks

Spannender Vortrag bei unseren Freunden vom FZHG, organisiert von Prof. Zhiyi Yang - wir sehen uns dort!

❗AM FZHG❗

Das FZHG wünscht Euch ein frohes neues Jahr!

NÄCHSTEN MITTWOCH geht es weiter mit unserer nächsten mit Hans van Ess: "Zum Zweck der Studien zu chinesischen und europäischen Klassikern im heutigen China."

📅14.01.2026, 18 Uhr c.t.
📍Cas 1.812

Happy new year!
We are a bit late to the party, but it is never too late to congratulate Prof. Yonson Ahn, Deputy Executive Director of IZO, on her well-deserved award!

Rare discipline, globally networked | Aktuelles aus der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Goethe University’s only professor of Korean Studies receives an extraordinary award Ten years ago, Yonson Ahn took up the professorship for Korean Culture and Society at Goethe University Frankfurt. Since […]

Please join us for our final conference of the AspirE Project in Brussels - from the comfort of your desk on the 11th for hybrid sessions or in person! We look forward to discussing our results after three years of intense work Asia-Europe migration with you

AspirE Final Conference - Programme released! News News AspirE Final Conference - Programme released! 27 November 2025 The programme for the AspirE Final Conference "Migration decision-making in Asia-Europe social spaces" is now available! The event will bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss fresh insights into...