Carol Gluck, Columbia University professor and chair of the Committee on Global Thought, chaired and participated in several panels at the Africa-Asia: A New Axis of Knowledgeinternational conference at the University of Ghana, Legon from September 24-26, 2015. “Africa-Asia,” organized by A-Asia in cooperation with the International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS), ” was the first ever conference held in Africa bringing together a multi-disciplinary – multi-sector ensemble of scholars and institutions from the continent and the rest of the world with sharing focus on Asia and Asia-Africa intellectual interactions.
With fellow CGT member and Columbia University professor Mamadou Diouf, they sought to assess the prospects for Asian Studies in Africa in a global context by addressing a number of theoretical and empirical questions: How should Asian studies be framed in Africa and African Studies in Asia? Is Asian studies relevant for Africa? What is the current state of capacity (institutional, intellectual, personnel, and so on) for Asian studies in Africa and can this be improved and how? How does (and must it?) Asian studies dovetail into the broader field of ‘Area studies’, as it has been developed mainly in Western institutions? Are new narratives required for understanding the very visible contemporary presence of Asia in Africa and Africa in Asia? What are the historical origins of this transregional connection? What is the current state of research on Africa-Asia (transnational) linkages?
Thank you Professor Gluck and Professor Diouf for representing Columbia University and the Committee on Global Thought!
Panels and Roundtables chaired and participated by Professor Carol Gluck:
A-ASIA~IIAS ROUNDTABLE 1
ASIA THROUGH AN AFRICAN LENS: RETHINKING THE DISCOURSE ON ASIAN STUDIES
Roundtable sponsored by the IIAS Initiative ‘Rethinking Asian Studies in a Global Context’ supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
A-ASIA~IIAS ROUNDTABLE 2
TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE MODEL OF ASIAN STUDIES IN AFRICA
Roundtable sponsored by the IIAS Initiative ‘Rethinking Asian Studies in a Global Context’ supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation