Panel presentation :

In his book “Asia as Method”, Kuan-Hsing Chen (2010) provides a weighty critique of the contemporary scholarly practices that builds on and endorses the Western hegemony of knowledge production, and calls for intellectual reorientation to challenge such hegemony. His main field of enquiry is cultural studies, but his mode of thinking resonates across other social science disciplines. Rather than being singularly influenced by Western hegemony of knowledge production, Chen's “Asia as Method” aims to facilitate more dialogues within Asia by forming e.g. an inter-Asian network of scholars. However, what does this also mean for a broader network of critical scholars, involving those “working from distance” outside Asia? How does this reorientation of knowledge production square with the current establishment that favours English-based academic publications? What does knowledge production within and outside the Western institutions mean for theorisation of various phenomena located in Asia and for making contributions to the betterment of studied societies? What is the role of those researchers working on the boundary (e.g. critical Asian scholars trained and working in the West)? The proposed panel on “Asia as Method: Knowledge Production, Praxis and Academic Activism” aims to address these questions by bringing together both established and early career researchers (3 professors and 3 doctoral students) working in the disciplines of anthropology, geography and urban studies, enquiring the intellectual meaning of conducting empirical studies on Asia. The geographical basis of the panel members encompasses South Korea, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.