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Asian Nationalisms Project

Asian Nationalisms Project

Lead Researcher: Radhika Desai, CAPI Faculty Research Fellow, 2002-03

Time frame: September, 2003 - December, 2004

Website: Asian Nationalisms Project Website

Research overview:

Nationalisms in Asia have recently been as complex and volatile as their implications for Asia and the world are momentous. However, current scholarship has failed to register their dimensions and implications. Most accounts discount nationalisms' importance, even their possibility, in the post-cold war, globalizing world which is deemed to have diminished the importance of borders and entire apparatuses of nations and states - national cultures, identities and governments (e.g. Hobsbawm 1996, B. Anderson 1996). If the trajectory of nationalisms in Asia in the 20th century was intimately tied to imperialism, the emergence of Communism, and, by implication, Non-Alignment, with the demise of Communism in Europe and its excoriation in China, nationalisms in Asia have become demoted to a minor concern. What now holds popular attention is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in West and Central Asia in particular.

Other accounts, captive of Samuel Huntington's much vaunted "Clash of Civilizations" thesis, hold that the main forms of geo-political confrontation are defined in terms of civilizations. This view ignores both the internal specificities and the international importance of concrete national formations, as well as downplaying the range of relations possible among states. Major policy-makers and analysts have seen current events surrounding the War on Terrorism, mistakenly in the Research Team's view, as confirming this thesis.

Taking place over a period of three years, from July 2003 to June 2006, the Asian Nationalisms Project included two highly interactive workshops featuring leading Asia scholars from around the globe, and ongoing discussion and collaboration among the research team members. 

Main research team:

  • Dr. Radhika Desai, formerly with the Department of Political Science, University of Victoria
  • Dr. Gregory Blue, History, University of Victoria
  • Dr. Michael Bodden, Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria
  • Dr. Joe Moore, Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria

Affiliated researchers:

  • Delia Aguilar, Women's Studies, University of Connecticut, USA
  • Ann Anagnost, Anthropology, University of Washington, USA
  • Benedict Anderson, Anthropology, Cornell University, USA
  • Mohammed Bamyeh, Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, USA
  • Joshua Barker, Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada
  • Timothy Brook, History, University of Toronto, Canada
  • Uradyn E. Bulag, Anthropology, City University of New York, USA
  • Martin Bunton, History, Unversity of Victoria, Canada
  • Timothy Cheek, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Georgi Derluguian, Sociology, Northwestern University, USA
  • Arif Dirlik, History and Anthrpology, University of Oregon, USA
  • Andrew Harding, Law/CAPI, University of Victoria, Canada
  • Mushirul Hasan, History, Jamia Millia Islamia University, India
  • Laura Hein, History, Northwestern University, USA
  • Lamia Karim, Anthropology, University of Oregon, USA
  • Shoichi Koseki, History, Dokkyo University, Japan
  • Pramod Kumar, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, India
  • Diana Lary, History, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Mary Layoun, Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
  • Jayant Lele, Political Studies and Sociology, Queen's University, Canada
  • Hy Van Luong, Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada
  • Haideh Moghissi, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Canada
  • Saeed Rahnema, Political Science, York University, Canada
  • Epifanio San Juan, Jr. Philippines Cultural Studies Center, Connecticut, USA
  • Sumit Sarkar, History, Delhi University, India
  • Mark Seldon, Sociology, Binghamton University, USA
  • Farzana Shaikh, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, UK
  • Jonathan Spencer, Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Suh Sung, Law, Ritsumeikan University, Japan
  • Romila Thapar, History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
  • Thongchai Winichakul, History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
  • Wu Guoguang, Political Science and History/CAPI, University of Victoria, Canada

Key project outcomes: