Asian Dynamics Initiative

Blog Entries

A tribute to the men of Khamyab

Aziz Hakimi, Chr. Michelsen Institute, writes about the situation in Afghanistan and it's effect on…

Being a badinjan-e rumi is better than not being at all

Reflections on the life of an Afghan Minister by Magnus Marsden, Professor of Social Anthropology,…

Calm in the Eye of the Cyclone

Blog post by Jakub Polansky on the situation on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border.

Covid-19: The test of Pashtuns’ mechanical solidarity

Naveed Ahmad Shinwari has written a blog post about tribal Pashtun society and social solidarity…

The time to "sober up" has arrived

Blog post by Saba Karim Khan from the Social Science division at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Covid-19, International Trade and Global China: Reflections from Yiwu

In this blog post, Magnus Marsden, PI of the TRODITIES project, shares some thoughts on the…

Trodities supports CJAS relaunch

TRODITIES project members took part in the relaunch of the Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies…

Closer to Home: Yiwu in the UK by Magnus Marsden

While conducting research for the TRODITIES project in China, Afghanistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia an…

REFLECTIONS ON FIELDWORK – PART 2

"A drive through north western Afghanistan" by Magnus Marsden. I am often asked what it is like to…

REFLECTIONS ON FIELDWORK – PART 1

"Persian New Year in Yiwu and Iranian Special Tea in Karachi" by Magnus Marsden. One of my most…

After Bukhara: Central Asian trading networks in Afghanistan and Beyond

The BBC has published Magnus Marsden's article in Persian. Here you can read the English version.

Vietnamese diasporas and cultural transactions in Eastern Europe

Project member, Marina Marouda (University of Sussex), investigates Vietnamese traders in Chinese…

Opening of the exhibition: “Yiwu and Global Traders: Goods, Routes and Markets”

The project's new exhibition curated by Dr Diana Ibañez Tirado (University of Sussex) at the Facult…

Yiwu-London by train

Magnus Marsden and Diana Ibañez Tirado discuss the new Yiwu-London connection by rail.

TRODITIES Research Workshop

ERC research workshop 'Trust, Global Traders, and Commodities in a Chinese International City’ to…

The Regional Connectivity as a Site for the Ethnography of Diplomacy

Magnus Marsden reports: Notes from the filed, Afghanistan Oct-Nov 2016

Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Magnus Marsden reports: Notes from the field: Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nov-Dec 2016.

TRODITIES expands its cooperation with Chinese institutions

The China International Electronic Commerce Centre (CIECC) sought to promote further collaborative…

'Traders or Smugglers?' by Magnus Marsden

Post-fieldwork reflections on the proliferation of ethnic stereotypes in reporting by Global Witnes…

Magnus Marsden writes from Istanbul

Fieldwork in the city of Yiwu has resulted in new leads bringing Professor Magnus Marsden to Turkey…

TRODITIES in Public Focus in China

Official opening meeting at the Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College.

New Partnership in China!

The TRODITIES project establishes formal collaboration agreement with the Yiwu Industrial and…

The last events of 2015 – December visit to St. Petersburg

The last joint project activities in 2015 took place in St. Petersburg where Magnus, Diana and Vera…

‘TRODITIES’: First Meeting at the University of Sussex, 26-27 November 2015

Our first project meeting at Sussex was the very first opportunity for us all to meet up. The…

“We come here and cry!” Emotion, trade and urban identity in pre-conflict Aleppo

This paper discusses the importance that Aleppine merchants and shopkeepers in pre-conflict Syria…

Socioeconomic rights to trade and urban citizenship or ‘what does it mean to be a citizen in the land we used to call Syria?’

Team member Paul Anderson, University of Cambridge, discussed trade and citizenship in Aleppo at a…

Caroline Humphrey to give a paper

Caroline Humphrey, one of project’s Team Members (TM), has agreed to give a paper "Real Estate…

First common project meeting

We have finally confirmed the dates for our first common project meeting at the University of…

The Fredrik Barth Honorary Lecture 2015 ‘Revisiting Entrepreneurs: Afghan trans-regional trading networks across Eurasia and beyond’

The project formally started on the 1st October, but it also had a kind of launch today when Magnus…