• Asian Cities
• Global Asia
• Asian Heritages

The "Global Asia" cluster addresses contemporary issues related to transnational interactions within the Asian region as well as Asia's projection into the world, through the movement of goods, people, ideas, knowledge, ideologies and so forth. Past and present trends will be addressed.

Today's globalization processes have brought about a global integration of regional economies, cultures and political systems with consequences in the social, political and cultural realms. However, globalization is not an exclusively contemporary phenomenon. Through trade and the spread of religions large parts of the world became intertwined long before the modern era. Chinese inventions reached Europe overland through Central Asia, and the Indian Ocean functioned as a commercial and intercultural gateway connecting Europe, Asia and Africa. Western colonial domination had its own effects on the transformation of local culture and knowledge systems. Today, this legacy is still impacting the relation between Europe as a global partner and her former colonies, with new forms of hegemony on the rise, including from Asia (e.g. China in Africa).

Aim
The cluster wishes to contribute to a better academic understanding of the phenomenon by challenging the Euro-centricity of much of its current literature, acknowledging the central role of Asia as an agent of global transformations. It also wishes to explore new forms of non-hegemonic intellectual interaction in the form of South-South and East-West dialogue models. By multi-polarizing the field of Asian studies, an enriched comparative understanding of globalization processes and the role of Asia in both time and space will be possible.

Targeted research
In principle, any research which deals with Asian global projection is of interest. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: the migration of peoples and their diasporas, religious trans-national pilgrimages and networks, forms of economic expansion, cultural dissemination, geo-strategic projections and engagement, etc. Also of interest are issues that are central to the contemporary discussion on knowledge production and its circulation in a globalized world.