The decline of Asian Studies in the West and the rise of knowledge production in Asia: An autoethnographic reflection on mobility, knowledge production, and academic discourses

Abstract

In recent years, the discipline of Asian Studies has struggled to adapt to a changing world and has seen a decline in student interest. A discourse about this issue has emerged that attributes this “crisis” in Asian Studies to various supposed faults in its forms of knowledge production, and that looks with hope to Asia for new forms of knowledge about the region. This paper takes issue with this discourse by employing an autoethnographic narrative to examine the ways in which mobility has affected the discipline of Asian Studies. It traces a path, followed by this author and many others, from an affective fascination with a foreign society to the professional production of knowledge. It then examines how this professional knowledge production has transformed under the influence of different forms of mobility (state-sponsored, private, and global digital), transformations that have led to the current “crisis” in Asian Studies.

Transnational identity: The struggles of being and becoming a Japanese female professor in a neo-kokusaika phase of Japan

“…However, once within the group, shared attributes do not carry as much weight in the way hierarchical relationships are being built or negotiated because the hierarchy within the group is determined and controlled by the group’s specific and contextual rules (Nakane, 1967: 41–47). This is, by no means, exclusive to Japan, as Liam Kelley in this Special Issue (2020) has described the hierarchical structure and the specific process of academic socialization in the case of Asian Studies at American universities.…”

Disciplining transnationality? The impact of study abroad educational experiences on Turkish returnee scholars’ lives, careers and identity

“…Take, for instance, the case of Kazakh returnees’ and a small group of Chinese returnees’ reintegration experiences into the local academic environment (Guo and Lei, 2019; Kuzhabekova et al, 2019). They had difficulties in being accepted into the local scholarly communities due to the gatekeeping role of seniors in the academic environment, who were reluctant to ‘acknowledge the advances that junior [overseas-trained] scholars were making’ (Kelley, 2020: page no, in this Special Issue). What was more important, particularly in the Kazakh context, was not that the returnees held degrees from Western institutions, but their ‘having better connections with the local and regional scholarly communities’ (8).…”

Emotion labor and affect in transnational encounters: Insights from Western-trained TESOL professionals in Saudi Arabia

“…. for a white male to predict his gradual extinction from the field and to declare that Asian Studies would soon be the domain of 'heritage students,' the children of immigrants" (Kelley, 2020). Kelley's observation echoes much existing scholarship in TESOL, in which it is rare to find studies that put White native speakers at the center of inquiries without also attributing negative attributes to them and reminding them that they are on the wrong side.…”