The Global Asia Initiative has its origins in the efforts by groups across the world to articulate a new paradigm that looks at Asian nations connections.
The Global Asia Initiative at Duke has its origins in the efforts by groups across the world to articulate a new paradigm that looks at Asian nations, civilizations, and ecosystems in terms of their connections, interactions, and interdependencies in both historical and geographical space. The motive for such an exploration derives from contemporary research that exposes the entangled relations be
tween countries in East, Southeast, South and West Asia not only in contemporary affairs but also in the distant past. By Asia, we do not mean a territorially bounded entity (although there are important geographical bases of it, see below), but as a network of networks with centers of dense interactions. Inter-dependence in Asia has been growing by leaps and bounds especially since the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s. The rise of China and India cannot be disconnected from other parts of Asia. But while the ‘rise of Asia’ is often a cause of celebration, it produces rather more challenges in terms of politics, security, and especially, the problem of environmental pollution and climate change. Planetary sustainability has a regional basis since many physical resources and problems such as water, air, microbes, terror, disasters etc are still geographically connected and shared. There is thus an even greater imperative for a new historical and sociological paradigm going beyond the enclaves of “methodological nationalism,” area studies, and civilizational analyses. The Global Asia Initiative (G*I) will support research on inter-Asian topics that are collaborative and inter-disciplinary (ideally even cross-faculty: humanities/social sciences/science/environment/public policy, etc), involving research in more than one country. While comparison is acceptable if it can demonstrate a deepening of understanding and explanations in all the societies concerned, the preference is to explore connections among societies. There is also the phenomenon of convergent comparison: there are globally circulatory forces which demand local responses; these forces form the zone of convergence; the various sub-national, national and regional responses, in turn, form the basis of convergent comparison. G*I joins the Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC) Inter-Asian Connections program (link is external) as a Coordinating Partner and a hub for nodal research activities in March 2016. The SSRC project has been active together with its coordinating partners in National University of Singapore, Hong Kong University, Yale University, Gottingen University and several other sponsoring partners across the world since 2008. It has held five international conferences and funded the research of over 50 junior scholars since then. By working closely with this global research network, it is hoped that Duke’s G*I, drawing on the resources of Duke and the Triangle area, will become one of its most important hubs in the US.
01/08/2024
🔥✨ Exciting News! Join us for an inspiring fireside chat with 𝐃𝐫. 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦,the visionary founder of Shanti Bhavan, featured in the award-winning 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 "𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 " 🌟
Duke University Global Asia Initiative invites Professor Eric Tagliacozzo to discuss on the topic 'Seeing Asia from the Oceans: Maritime Connections, Shipwreck Archaeology, and "Illicit Histories".
Global Asia Initiative and Franklin Humanities Fellow, Dr. Yuan Julian Chen will be speaking on November 11, 2022 at 3:30 pm EST at the University of Virginia's East Asia Center. Her virtual talk is titled Kaifeng's Rise, Fall and Ecological Legacy'
Her current book manuscript, tentatively titled "Kaifeng: What it Took to Feed, Furnish, and Fortify the World's Largest City, 960-1127," is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
Duke University Global Asia Initiative invites Prof. Chris Coggins
Bard College at Simon's Rock to discuss the history of nature conservation in China and the importance of preserving local knowledge in indigenous societies.
The past weekend we celebrated Prof. Peter Perdue's retirement
Duke University Global Asia Initiative is thrilled to celebrate Prof. Perdue's amazing scholarship through an interview with him about his most pathbreaking work, China Marches West.
📢Watch Global Asia: Conversation with Scholars hosted by Dr. Yuan Julian Chen (Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, Duke University Global Asia Initiative). In the interview, guest speaker Dr. Alex More (Environmental Health, Harvard University) talks about The Science and History of Climate Change and Public Health.
Watch:
Prof. J. R. McNeill discusses his latest book 'The Webs of Humankind' with Dr. Yuan Chen, Postdoctoral Associate, Franklin Humanities Institute & Global Asia Initiative, Duke University.
J. R. McNeill is a professor of history at Georgetown University. He is the author of award-winning works in world and environmental history. These include The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History (co-authored with his father and world history pioneer, William H. McNeill), and Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World, both published by Norton. McNeill is a recent past president of the American Historical Association.
Duke University Center for International and Global Studies
Global Asia Initiative at Duke University invites Prof. Valerie Hansen
of Department of History at Yale University to talk about the world circa 1000 CE when globalization began—how trades, religions, and conflicts connected the world.
The Global Asia Initiative Duke University is launching a new interview series - Global Asia: Conversation with Scholars.
Here is our introduction video.
The series is moderated by Dr. Yuan Chen, Postdoctoral Associate at Global Asia Initiative & Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University
Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program at Duke University
Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke University
Asian Students Association (Duke University)
Global Asia Initiative Director, Professor Prasenjit Duara was invited by the Oxford PPE Society to share his research interests and his views on the future of East Asia. He was joined in the discussion by Professor Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford and Vice President, British Academy.
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