“Transcultural Asia” encompasses both the cultural diversity and complexity of Asia and the trans-cultural interactions of Asia with other societies and peoples through trade, conquest, and the movement of people and ideas.  It calls attention to questions of identity and definition:  What is “Asia” and “Asian” at any one point in time?  How does the external attribution of “Asian” become a self-identity for a people, a political entry, a cultural system of values, norms, beliefs, a way of life?  “Transcultural Asia” invites us to explore cultural interaction at all levels of analysis, today and across time and geographies, from diverse disciplinary and conceptual perspectives.

Potential areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: 

·      The negotiation of cultural difference in literature, philosophy, religion, epistemology, and artistic expression, including Orientalism.

·      Intersectionality from the perspective of cultural difference in the understanding of gender and sexuality, ethnicity, and social rank.

·      Anthropocene and Asia: the impact of cultural change and difference on environmental stewardship, from “above” and “below”; practice and policy from national and transnational perspectives.

·      Negotiations within territorial borders between the state and nations, ethnicities, religions, identities.

·      People moving across borders, e.g., the Asian diaspora in the West and the African diaspora in Asia.

·      Issues surrounding transcultural and global empires, trade, religious and philosophical systems, environmental challenges, COVID-19, popular cultures: history, spread, impact, response, threat/stress.

·      The place of culture in social, economic, demographic, gender/sexuality, and education movements and changes.

·      Case studies and theoretical perspectives on processes of acculturation and assimilation.

The negotiation of difference in everyday life: community, ethnographic, literary studies.

·      Challenges and success in preparation and responses to human rights issues: refugees, wars, natural disasters, environmental crises, persecution and ethnic cleansing. 

·      The role of scholars and teachers of Asia in facilitating understanding of these issues for our students and broader communities.

·      Opportunities and challenges as science becomes a global endeavor across cultural and political borders