In recent years, scholars have begun to look critically at the hegemonies in the generation and dissemination of “knowledge” on Asia. This workshop, “Knowledge on the Move” embraces this perception and seeks to learn what kind of knowledge circulates where and when, and why and how it does or did so. It addresses the dynamics of and within global epistemic frameworks by focusing on epistemic communities in everyday life: turning away from a merely intellectually oriented understanding of epistemology and attending to knowledge systems that inform and connect people in their daily life across nations and regions. The feeling of being connected – including the notion of “belonging” – accrues from various reasons: shared beliefs, spiritual commitments, emotional affinities, sensory resonances and the like. Ontological elements of different knowledge systems translate into guiding concepts and principles for people’s decision-making in daily life, their normative horizons and behavioral protocol.
Panelists discuss the “knowledges” that inform and facilitate connectivities across borders. Connectivities, furthermore, engender frontiers that emerge through the forming of in-groups and out-groups – those who do share a certain knowledge and those who do not. The identification of “ontological ecologies” that stretch beyond national – sometimes regional – borders and their meaning for human interaction becomes increasingly important against the backdrop of an ever more dynamic shift between the physical (territorial, maritime) and emotional geographies of people’s everyday life. Consequently, this is what the workshop wishes to debate.
This workshop is part of a larger project entitled “Shaping Asia”. With regard to political, social and economic disparities within Asia, this project reminds scholars of the importance to (critically) reflect the concept of “Asia”.
Day 1 (9 January 2021)
16:00-16:05
Opening Remarks
16:05-17:35
Panel 1: Emotional Geographies and Ontological Ecologies across Asia
Eva R. Hölzle (University of Bielefeld)
Knowing the Forest: Modes of Living at the Borderlands of India and Bangladesh
Katsuo Nawa (The University of Tokyo)
Changing Imagination of Rang “Villages”: Geographical Knowledge, Belonging, Connectedness, and New Modes of Representation
Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka (University of Bielefeld)
Language of Ethnicity: Connectivities, Frontiers, and Translations in South Asia
Ryo Mizukami (The University of Tokyo)
Trans-Sectarian Dialog on the Twelve Imams: Rethinking the Confessional Boundary between Sunnism and Shiʿism in Medieval Islam
Chair: Riho Isaka (The University of Tokyo)
Discussant: Claudia Derichs (Humboldt University Berlin)
17:35-17:45
Tea Break
17:45-19:30
Panel 2: Indigenization and Circulation of Knowledge in Asia: Past and Present
Kelvin E.Y. Low (National University of Singapore)
Sense-able Asia: Knowledge on the Move
Shiho Maeshima (The University of Tokyo)
The Empire’s Divided World Picture: Discourses and Representations of “Self” and “Other” in Interwar Japanese Magazines
Noorman Abdullah (National University of Singapore)
Toward a Commitment to Alternative Discourses in Asia: Teaching and Pedagogical Interventions
Kaori Mizukami (The University of Tokyo)
Connectivity Among Indian Immigrants in Hong Kong, Manila and North America in the Early Twentieth Century
Minako Wakasugi (The University of Tokyo)
A Comparative Study of Positive Neutrality in Indonesia, India, Yugoslavia and North Korea
Chair: Akio Tanabe (The University of Tokyo)
Discussant: Tsuyoshi Ishii (The University of Tokyo)
Day 2 (10 January 2021)
16:00-17:30
Panel 3: Un-translatable? The Language of Concepts
Claudia Derichs (Humboldt University Berlin)
Languages and Concepts: Ie (家), Kazoku (家族), Kinship, and Family
Tadahisa Izeki (Chûô University)
Problems of Translating Culture-Bound Terms in Social Sciences
Emi Goto (The University of Tokyo):
Translations of the Qur’an and Gender Justice: The Case of Ryoichi Mita’s Work in Japan
Riho Isaka (The University of Tokyo)
Travel Experiences and Knowledge Formation: Narratives of Japanese Travellersin Colonial India
Chair: Aya Ikegame (The University of Tokyo)
Discussant: Mohammed Moussa (Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University)
17:30-17:45
Tea Break
17:45-18:30
General Discussion
Organized by Center for South Asian Studies(TINDAS), Institute for Advanced Global Studies (IAGS), Network for Education and Research on Asia (ASNET), Center for German and European Studies (DESK), East Asian Academy for New Liberal Arts (EAA), Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW, Humboldt University Berlin),Shaping Asia project