Asian Diversity in a Global Context > About the Conference

Asian Diversity in a Global Context

ADI conference and PhD course at the University of Copenhagen, 11-15 November 2010

Asia is shaping up to be a leader in global development in the new millennium. Some argue that the centre of gravity of the world’s economy is shifting from West to East. Many Asian countries are investing heavily in research and development (especially in IT and biotech) transforming ‘made in’ economies into ‘designed in’ economies. And, in the process, levels of income, education and health-care have continued to rise for a large part of Asia’s fast-growing middle class.

Yet this well-known narrative of development and progress in Asia masks a diversity that permeates the political, social, cultural and economic arenas in individual Asian countries. Although many have highlighted the role of strong states in instigating and sustaining economic development and social coherence, nevertheless, separatist conflicts, emerging political movements and widening socio-economic inequalities pose challenges to Asia’s political and social stability. On the medical front, an ongoing epidemiological transition has resulted in a ‘double burden of disease’ as national health agencies continue to tackle infectious diseases of the ‘poor’ while increasingly grappling with lifestyle diseases of the ‘rich’. Moreover, conflicting forces operate in creating cultural and social change: individuals and groups negotiate cultural, religious and linguistic diversity in the midst of citizenship projects aimed at fostering a strong sense of nationalism. This further relates to the fact that there are still several inter-state security and culture disputes in Asia that continue to pose challenges to the question of maintaining not only regional security, stability and development, but also challenges to the safety and well-being of the entire world’s population.

How are Asian societies coping with such ongoing socio-economic, cultural and political transformations? And how are relations and interactions between Asia and the rest of the world unfolding as a result? These central questions lie at the heart of the conference Asian Diversity in a Global Context, which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in November 2010.

The dynamics of continuity and change in Asia cannot be sufficiently understood from the perspective of a single discipline. The conference will therefore host a number of cross-disciplinary workshops and panels under the common theme of the dynamics of diversity in Asia with participation from a cross-section of disciplines the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The goal is to generate deeper and fuller insight into the political, social, cultural and economic changes facing Asia in the 21st century.

Structure of the conference