Research

The structural changes accomplished by the construction of CATS open up the possibility to break new ground in Asian Studies research. This is timely and necessary because very different research cultures exist in Europe and Asia, and accordingly, dialogic alternatives to once-dominant Europe-centered discourses and models are being established. CATS is doing so in the following fields:

Socio-economic Dynamics of Power, Government Art and Administration Researchers focus on international relations and global interdependencies with and in Asia, engage in comparative analysis of the (foreign) policies of Asian states, their economic and political reforms, and the relationship of China, India and Japan to their respective regional neighbors.

Social and Demographic Change, Urbanization and Migration: Researchers focus on the more or less dramatic forms of social and demographic change as seen in rapidly changing models of social organization, transitions from agricultural to industrial forms of economy, or supra-regional migration flows. This field of research also explores strategies for dealing with dynamically developing megacities and megaregions in terms of urban planning and population migration.

Cultural Heritage, Knowledge and Education: Researchers focus on the changes that texts, languages, objects, images, concepts and spaces have undergone over time. Questions of cultural heritage (material and immaterial), knowledge systems as well as the history of science will be addressed, taking into account tensions between tradition and modernity, city and country,and studying changing public spheres and media in the context of globally connected cultural and educational markets. Religions as well as literary, musical and artistic models and their multidimensional transformations in Asia and Europe through history and the present are examined.

Human, Environment and Health Changes in the environment and their effects on humanity are studied with regard to their dynamic interdependencies on different spatial and temporal scales and analyzed with regard to their material, institutional, legal and political implications. Researchers will study how knowledge is generated, transmitted, institutionalized, contested and defended in the fields of science exploring the animate and inanimate world, including a focus on healing traditions from Asia.

CATS inner courtyard with entrance to the library ​