Constructing the 'Other'

Asian studies - as basically all efforts to engage interculturally is caught in producing and reproducing prejudices on the one hand and denying differences and specificities. In particular in academic studies and teaching the challenge is to overcome this apparent dichotomy, establishing understanding which is not least based on a cooperative approach. This book is the collection of the 4th Annual Conference of the Asian Studies Ireland Association held at University College Cork in late 2012. It reflects core issues of Asian Studies in Europe and Ireland.

Klappentext

Asian studies as basically all efforts to engage in inter-culturally is caught in producing and reproducing prejudices on the one hand and denying differences and specificities on the other. In particular in academic studies and teaching the challenge is to overcome this apparent dichotomy and the task is to establish understanding without prejudice of what Asia really was and is. The extensive range of topics and views in this volume challenge a mode of globalisation that simply overthrows national traditions by a Darwinian-kind of rule of the survival of the strongest, the fittest will actually be the one who is well capable to manage difference by understanding them in a historical context and acknowledge them as part of something new that is emerging in front of our eyes. This book will stimulate further research and debate within and without the boundaries of Asian Studies.