No. 3 – November-December
2007
Welcome to the bimonthly newsletter of MedAsia:
Asian Centres of Southern Europe. This free e-publication is open to all.
Subscription details are at the bottom of the newsletter.
Transmission
of scientific knowledge between Asia and the Mediterranean
(27 - 28 November 2007)
Scientific meetings on the relations between Asia and Southern Europe are one of the priorities of the MedAsia
network. During this Spanish Year of Science in Asia, Casa Asia is devoting the
annual MedAsia conference to the dissemination of science between Asia and the Mediterranean. Researchers from the five member countries
will present the state of the art and will be able to share methodologies and
perspectives.
The aim of MedAsia is to promote cultural and academic
exchanges between private and public research institutions of Mediterranean
Europe (France, Italy, Portugal, Greece
and Spain)
dedicated to Asian Studies. Its objective is to make known the human and
material resources of each institution, facilitate the dissemination of
specific knowledge of areas of expertise, and encourage co-operation,
scientific research and technology transfer.
On this occasion, the conference organised by Casa
Asia and the Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània (IEMed) seeks to highlight the
intense and perennial contact and flow of scientific and technological
knowledge existent between East Asia and the
Mediterranean world. A process that began in ancient times,
endures to the present day and, without any doubt, will continue in the future.
The seminar will consist of three sessions, open to
the general public as well as to specialists.
MedAsia
News
Members Information
Scholarly events
Research reports
Publications
Art Exhibitions
Web
Sites
Credits
MedAsia News
>> Science and Culture. Comparing scientific
practices between the Mediterranean area and East Asia will be the first
session. It will include three conferences on the different concepts of the
mathematics in China and the one originated in Greece (Emmanuel Lizcano, UNED,
Madrid), on the foreign contributions to Indian arithmetic (Agathe Keller,
CNRS, Paris) and on the Portuguese project on the History of Mathematics, by
Luis Saraiva (Universidade de Lisboa).
>> Diffusion of science and technology
throughout History will be the second part, with six contributors on topics
such as Marco Polo’s trip and transmission of knowledge (Manuel Forcano,
writer and Hebraist, Barcelona), Exchange of astronomical knowledge between
the courts of Castille, Maraga and Beijing during the 13th century (Mercè
Comes, Universitat de Barcelona) and the Almanach Perpetuum by Abraham
Zacuto, written in Salamanca at the end of the 15th century and distributed
from Morocco to the Yemen (Julio Samsó). The afternoon session includes the
conferences on Images and perceptions of the 19th century scientific French
publications in non-European societies (Viviane Fayaud,
Réseau-Asie Imasie, Paris), the importance of animals, plants, prescriptions
and preparations taken during trips between both territories (Françoise
Aubaile, APSONAT-Musée de l'Homme, Paris) and on the historical elaboration of
the eastern knowledge in the Mediterranean culture, specifically in Chinese
medicine (Carlos Hugo Sierra, Royal
Holloway, University of London).
>> The role of religion and the flow of
scientific knowledge will be
the topic of the last part. The first panel will deal on the role of the Jesuit
Giacomo Rho in the Ming court (José Antonio Cervera, Instituto Tecnológico de
Monterrey, México), on the role of Byzantium as a center for distribution of
knowledge in both directions, both in sacred texts and science and
technological texts (Pedro Bádenas, Cervantes Institute, Athens / CSIC) and on
the Jesuit production of knowledge about Japan in Europe during the 16th and
17th centuries (Blai Guarné, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona). The second
panel, on Western teachings and basic arithmetic in China (1600-1800)
(Catherine Jami, CNRS, Paris and University of Cambridge), on Kangxi emperor
and his role on the Jesuit medicine in China (Beatriz Puente
Ballesteros, École Normale Supérieure, Paris and Universidad Complutense de
Madrid) and the Tartar map drawn by Jesuits in the service of Kangxi emperor
(1661-1722) (Davor Antonucci, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”).
For more information visit http://www.iemed.org/ and www.casaasia.es
Members Information
>> Human Security in the East West Dialog. The fourth edition of the East West Dialog focuses
its debate on a topic that is gaining increasing importance these days, Human
Security. The debates organized by Casa Asia with the participation of Nobel
Prize winners, Ministers and former Prime Ministers, that started years ago
with the Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, will discuss for two days on
migrations; women and peace processes, and energy and democracy, especially the
increasing role of nuclear power. As in previous years, young participants for
East and West will inquire and raise their questions to the participants, among
them Jorge Sampaio, president of the High Level Group of the United Nations for
the Alliance for Civilizations, Shashi Tharoor, the Indian writer that was a
candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as General Secretary of UN; Kassym-Jomart,
Tokayev, president of the Kazakhstan Senate; John Esposito, director and
founder of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown
University, Vishakha N. Desai, president of Asia Society; Attiya Inayatullah,
member of the Parliament of Pakistan and other former high officials, like
Hong-Koo Lee, Korean Prime Minister; Jorge Quiroga, president of Bolivia,
William J. Perry, Secretary of Defense of the United States, Hitoshi Tanaka,
from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Jaswant Singh, Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Finance Minister of India or Federico Mayor, Secretary
General of UNESCO. Many institutions collaborate in the Dialog, like UNESCO,
the Club of Madrid, the CIDOB Foundation, the Three Cultures Foundation and the
Association of United Nations for Spain and this year , furthermore, the
Universal Forum for Cultures at Monterrey, Mexico, will hold a roundtable on
identity and diversity into the East-West Dialog, a few days before the
Barcelona event,. For more information, e-mail gpatinlaloy@casaasia.es or visit http://www.casaasia.es/dialogo
>> Aesthetic perceptions in the Mongolian
context. Anthropology seldom uses the concept of aesthetics, the perceived
non interest without function and merely used for contemplative uses, as
defined by Kant. However, the "Altai" young scholars' network thinks
that this concept can help a better understanding of fundamental themes in Mongolia, since
among the Mongols and Kazakhs, the beautiful, the properly done or the correct
gesture appear as one of the basis of daily life. The MSH & CNRS from Paris, with the
sponsorship of the Asia Network Paris, have organized a workshop to discuss the
way the notion of "aesthetics", though somewhat uncommon in cultural
anthropology, may enable new analytic approaches in the Mongolian context. More
information at is available at http://csmc.no-ip.org/~ymen/
>> State-of-the-art of Research on Central Asia. After the success of the latest
conference of the Reseau-Asia IMASIE Conference, there will be a new encounter,
again focused on research and academic circles. Workshops on Central Asian
realities and potentials, a new occasion to exchange initiatives and to try to
coordinate the different aspects of research about Central Asia, in which many
of the best specialists in Central Asia are due to participate. For more
information visit http://www.reseau-asie.com/cgi-bin/prog/index.cgi?langue=en
>> Encounter of Philippine Scholars in Madrid. The third
Tribune Philippines-Spain has allowed the visit to Spain
by a number of Philippine scholars, whose presence will be used in order to
interact with those from Spain.
As a consequence, Vicente
Rafael (University
of Washington), Fernando Zialcita
(Ateneo de Manila), Benito
Legarda (National Historical Institute), John Blanco (University of California,
San Diego) and Jose Arcilla, SJ (Ateneo de Manila) will hold a conference with Spanish and
French Philippines specialists at the Casa Asia premises in Madrid. Under the title of The
Construction of the Philippines, panels are organised around this idea,
such as “The definition of the Philippine Identity” or “The role of the
Church”. The encounter is organized jointly by CSIC and Casa Asia, where the
encounter will take part, on the 3rd of December. For more information e-mail elizalde@ceh.csic.es
>> Dance and the Euro-Asia relations. Certainly, one of the most original initiatives from
the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) is conceiving dance as an avenue for new
inspirations in order to strengthening mutual relations. The Project “Pointe to
Point” is one of the Young Artist Exchange initiatives that aims to empower aspiring young artists from Asia and Europe to reflect upon their views of contemporary
society through their individual artistic expressions. The project
has evolved into the idea of treating dance and music on an equal basis and is
committed to providing young people with a process-oriented platform for
artistic exchange and dialogue through the arts, such as inquiring into the
relationships between tradition and contemporaneity, between music and dance, and
dance itself in urban and rural contexts. The program for this year
seems especially promising with a research trip to observe the dances of the
Miao minority, in the Chinese province
of Guizhou, taken by
twelve selected choreographer-dancers, six selected composer-improvisers and
four artistic advisors to facilitate and give artistic advice to the
participants during the whole period of the project. After that, the results
will be seen during five days of intensive artistic collaboration in Beijing that will include
a public presentation. For more information visit http://www.asef.org/index.php?option=com_project&task=view&id=1036
Scholarly events
>> Ming China and the Portuguese. The
always active Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau, attached to the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Universities, offers a new course with the
aim of divulging the context of the historical relations between Chinese and
Portuguese in a wide context. Until next December 18th, a course coordinated by
Luis Filipe Barreto on “The Portuguese-Chinese Relations during the Ming
Period” will take place, offering both the international and intercultural
context of the contacts as well as a comparison with the present situation in
order to improve contacts. The same idea provoked also the recent conference
organized by the same center on ‘Macau during
the Ming Period’ with the presence of the most important specialists on the
topic, such as Roderich
Ptak, Manel Olle, James K. Chin or Paolo Santangelo,
alongside the most important Portuguese specialists. www.cccm.mctes.pt
>> The IAHA Conference celebrates its 20th
anniversary. One of the most traditional (and crowded) summon for Asia
Scholars is on the run for its 20th meeting, the International Conference of
Historians of Asia (IAHA), that will be held in the Jawaharlal Nehru University
next 8th-11th of December, 2008. Convened by prof. Deepak
Kumar of the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences,
who has attended the IAHA Conference for many years. For more info visit
http://www.jnu.ac.in/conference/IAHA
>> New Encounter of Philippine specialists.
After the former was held in Leiden, The Netherlands, the forum for scholars
engaged in research on the general field of Philippine Studies, ICOPHIL will again
gather in the Philippines, next 23-26 July 2008, organized by the Philippine
Studies Association (of the Philippines) and the Philippine Social Science
Council (serving as conference secretariat), and two of the most prominent
members of the Philippine Studies International Council, Bernardita R. Churchill
and Belinda A. Aquino. The conference will be held at the Philippine
Social Science Center in Quezon City (Metro Manila) and aims at reflecting
"on developments and discourses that shed light on Philippine realities in
a global era," as well as "chart new directions for the 21st
century," and encourage "creativity and innovation with regard to
both intellectual content and presentation." The topics suggested for
presentation either in panel or as individual papers are the following:
Theories and Dimensions of Analysis in Philippine Studies; Changing Philippine
Institutions, Ideologies, Practices, and Technologies; Problematizing the
Nation and the State; Globalization Issue; Histories, Cultures, Identities;
Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Studies; Archaeology and Heritage Studies;
Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Studies; The Philippine Diaspora; Gender
and Sexuality; Human and Ecosystem Well-being; Education in the 21st
Century; Population Studies; Philippine Media; F/Pilipinolohiya; and similar
topics. For inquiries nitachurchill@hotmail.com.
lyndy@hawaii.edu., ICOPHIL Secretariat, icophil@pssc.org.ph
and webinfo, www.pssc.org.ph/icophil
>> Iberoamerican Network on East Asian
Studies. The projects in order to coordinate research on East
Asia are increasing, and after the Spanish Forum for Research on Asia Pacific
held its first conference in Granada (http://www.ugr.es/~feiap/index.htm), a new network has been created among a large number
of centers from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, the Red de
Investigación Iberoamericana en Estudios de Asia Oriental (REDIAO). Two are
from Argentina (Centro de Estudios Asiáticos, Universidad Nacional de Rosario
and Programa de Estudios de Asia Oriental, Centro de Estudios Avanzados,
Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), one from Peru (Centro de Estudios Orientales,
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Perú), two from Mexico (Centro de Estudios
de Asia y África, El Colegio de México and Instituto Asia Pacífico, Tecnológico
de Monterrey), five from Spain (Centro de Estudios de Asia Oriental,
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Fundació CIDOB, Barcelona; Instituto de
Estudios Internacionales e Interculturales, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona;
Instituto Galego de Análise e Documentación Internacional (IGADI) and Panel de
Expertos sobre Asia Pacífico, Observatorio de Política Exterior Española) three
from Brazil (Centro de Estudos Asiáticos, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais;
Nucleo de Estudos Asiáticos (NEASIA), Universidade de Brasilia and Centro de
Estudos Japoneses, Universidade de São Paulo) two from Portugal (Instituto de
Oriente, Universidad Técnica de Lisboa and Instituto Portugués de Sinología,
Porto) and one from Chile, the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales,
Universidad de Chile. REDIAO
aims at creating a space for communication and cooperation among the differe! nt centers and networks, organising conferences and seminars
and the publication of a yearly journal on-line, and has received funding from
the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. The Centro de Estudios de
Asia Oriental at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid coordinates it. For more info visit www.rediao.org
>> Christianism in Japan. After two colloquiums
about Christianism in China and in India, the Center for Ultramarine History
(Centro de Historia de Allem-Mar, CHAM) of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa
and the Portuguese Congregation of the Divine Verb (Congregaçao do Verbo
Divino) organize a conference with the aim of making known the past and the
present of Christianismo no Japão. The colloquium will be held in Fatima
by the Next 17-18 November with the title “Christianism in Japan. Christ
universalism and Japanese culture”, and will have conferences of different
topics, such as Shintoism, Buddism and cultural homogenization, new religious
movements, the historical discourse of Christianism in Japan, State and
Religion, the dialog of Christianism with other religions, and the Christian
contributions to Japan, both in art, migration and teaching. Furthermore, some
of the most famous researchers will take part in the event, such as James
Heisig (Nanzan University), Juan Masía Clavel (Sophia
Unviersity), José Miguel Pinto dos Santos (CHAM) or Pedro Lage Reis Correia
(CHAM). cham@fcsh.unl.pt
Research reports
>> Resources for Research on Colonial India.
Good news for South Asia historians: Focus on Global Resources, the
publication of The Center for Research Libraries, devotes the latest issue to
resources for the history of South Asia. The
issue starts with the Cartographic resources at the Digital South Asia library,
such as the Imperial Gazetteers of India (1909, 1931) or the Historical
Atlas of South Asia published by Joseph Scwartzberg in 1992 (Oxford, Oxford
University Press); it includes also the historical journals to be found in
Urdu, a compilation of Sources on Early Colonial South Asia, the recent
acquisitions of the Center and the new tool to survey data from the Center for
South Asian Libraries. To download FOCUS, visit http://www.crl.edu/FOCUS/TOC.asp?id=41
>> What about European studies (and images) in Asia? The
European Studies in Asia (ESiA) network, that embraces all academics and
institutions specializing in European studies in Asian countries and endeavors
to facilitate the creation of new synergies within Asia as well as between Asia
and Europe, organizes a new workshop. The
Future of European Studies in Asia will be the topic of the gathering to be
held in Manila next 5th-7th of December 2007, in order to share
experiences and explore possibilities for future co-operation; in particular,
in the field of curriculum development. Organized by ASEF, the National Centre
for Research on Europe (NCRE), the University
of Warsaw and Ateneo de
Manila University, the workshop will also feature major research, “EU through
the Eyes of Asia,” to scientifically measure the perceptions of the EU in the
Asian region, undertaken in collaboration by different universities. For more
information, visit http://www.asef.org/index.php?option=com_project&task=view&id=1052.
>> Film and Euro-Asian exchange. A parallel initiative by ASEF to improve mutual
understanding is the SEA-IMAGES (Synergy Europe-Asia) website for the promotion
of film exchange between Asia and Europe, aimed at creating a unique pool of
information on Asian film industry and its independent sector, classifying data
on the numerous and diverse European film industry and providing useful
information for independent film makers from Europe and Asia (calls for
entries, film events, articles etc). http://sea-images.asef.org/index.asp
>> The evolution of Japanese National Image. The perception problems of have been recently defined
as the main strategic menace for China,
but Japan
has faced similar problems for many years, much earlier than Chinese. The Japan Foundation
Center for Global Partnership (CGP)
and the Japanese American National
Museum have
decided to organize a third U.S.-Japan public symposium on the topic "Is
the Image of Japan Changing? - Perspectives of Japanese Americans in
Media" where academics will be exempt from attending, allowing politicians
to pronounce most of the speeches, such as U.S. senator Daniel K. Inouye and
Yasuchika Hasegawa, Chairman of Committee on U.S. Affairs, providing the
keynote speeches. The Japan Foundation Center
for Global Partnership and the Japanese
American National
Museum are the
organisers. http://www.jpf.go.jp/cgp/e/index.html
Publications
>> More resources about India from Pondicherry.
This former French colonial outpost in the Indian coast of Coromandel (the
English rendition of "Chola Mandalam" which means the land of the
cholas, a dynasty that ruled the southeast coast of India for centuries) has a
active institute that revived the old links through interesting resources, such
as a recently published a book in English and a trilingual DVD in English,
French and Tamil. Studies on fortification in India, by Jean Deloche
(EFEO, 2007) brings together essays on some prominent defensive works which
have been constructed over many centuries across the Indian subcontinent,
analyzing building techniques, the evolution of military technology and
establishing a typology of the structures. Deloche, former head of the centre
for History and Archaeology, Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient and one of the
most important specialists in Indian History, draws attention to the considerable
skills and ingenuities of Indian fort builders. On the other side, the DVD Bittersweet
waters: irrigation practices and modern challenges in South India, written
and directed by Nathanaël Coste and Nicolas Ploumpidis (IFP, 2007, 53 minutes)
deals with the issues of water management in South India, showing how its
dynamics have evolved over the last few decades and how access to water has
brought prosperity but also led to bitter experiences. Thorough this example,
it portrays an agrarian society that is undergoing rapid and profound change
and finds itself faced with acute ecological, social, economical, cultural and
political choices for the future. http://www.ifpindia.org/
>> Abstracts on Muslim civilizations. A
new project has been conceived in order to bridge the gap between Muslims
societies and the rest of the world. The Muslim Civilizations Abstracts
will allow the diffusion of scholarly literature in various languages by
providing systematic bibliographic indices and abstracts of works concerning
Muslim civilizations. The works will be selected for their contribution to
scholarship, both in original research or analysis, to advances in relevant
methodology and for their contributions to the understanding of intellectual
and social problems affecting Muslims. Furthermore, the abstracts will be
provided, besides English, in Arabic, Bengali, Malay/Indonesian, Persian,
Turkish and Urdu. The first phase of the project (2006-08) aims at compiling a
substantial and comprehensive annotated bibliography of modern encyclopedias on
and from the Muslim world. The Aga
Khan University
- Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations (AKU-ISMC) is in charge of
the project. For further details, visit http://www.aku.edu/ismc/abp.shtml.
Art Exhibitions
>> The first Europeans represented by Chinese. Coinciding with the Conference on Macau
during the Ming Period and with the course on Portuguese-Chinese relations
during the Ming period, the Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau (CCCM),
offers a new exhibition that will be held until the month of December. The
title is ‘The inverted mirror: Asian images of
Europeans, 1500 - 1800’
showing portraits and representations of the way Chinese perceived the arrival
of the new “Barbarians,” both the “Southern” (Iberians) and those “red-haired.”
(Anglo-Saxons) http://www.cccm.mctes.pt/index.php
>> Interior decoration from Japan
to the Iberian Peninsula. The Japanese
world for folding screens, byōbu「 屏風」, entered into Spanish and Portuguese languages during
the earlier contacts in the 16th and 17th centuries as “Biombo” and serves to
show the importance of that decoration both in Asia and Europe.
The Suntory Museum of Art has organized an exhibition to spotlight this
interior decoration and examine again its history and role in Japanese culture
from a global perspective. The exhibition includes, furthermore, restored
screens of which originals were presented to foreign governments or separately
owned by various collectors. For more info and excellent photographs http://www.suntory.com/culture-sports/sma/exhibition/07vol03/index.html
>> The gadget converted into an object of art, and back into product
of consumption. Casa Asia presents a group of lithographies, objects and
gadgets by Takashi Murakami (Tokyo,
1962), the Japanese artist that has better transformed the object art into a
product of consumption available to a broad public all over the world. Murakami
has broken the borders between “high” and “low art” by focusing on the way to
produce the artwork and by diffusing it through the market with a broad
invasive offer, but first he specialized first in traditional Japanese art,
with a PhD on Nihonga, a 19th century mixture of styles, passing later to focus
his art and interests on the mass culture. His way of mixing tradition and
modernity, old styles of matching ideas and mass culture has become a success,
and now Murakami has achieved an unconditional clientele worldwide, converting
(with Haruki and Ryū) this not-so-usual family name into a sort of icon of
the most recent Japanese ability to innovate. The exposition will be held until
the month of December in Madrid’s
Casa Asia. www.casaasia.es
>> God(s) Instructions. In a Europe that has
become a melting pot of religions, which return with strength to our society,
the Villa Cultural Centre hosts an exhibition that echoes the multiple ways
that millions of people have of living their faith. The display would like to
discover the religious experience, focusing on its universal nature (its
question marks) as well as on its personal nature (its multiple practices).
Casa Asia collaborates in the organization of the exhibition. More info www.casaasia.es
Web Sites
>> Philippine culture and heritage on the
web. A private initiative is providing a new impulse to preserve and
propagate Philippine culture and heritage through two different websites where
a numerous team of workers is downloading information. On one side, www.filipiniana.net provides photographs, postcards, stamps, maps, and
prints that include arcane and rare books on the country in Spanish, Tagalog
and English. It has recently celebrated its first anniversary and includes a
blog and forums. On the other sites, wikipilipinas, the free encyclopedia
featured as the wikipedia.net, with a total pf 44,547 pages in the database, of
which 11,264 files have been uploaded. For more info, www.wikipinas.net
http://www.uam.es/otroscentros/asiaoriental/especifica/biblio/default.htm
>> China in the Spanish
libraries and archives. Thanks to grants from the Spanish Aid Cooperation,
the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid has compiled information on the books
related to China in the
archives and libraries in Spain.
It is difficult still to know all the belongings of each library, since many of
them, specially those belonging to religious orders, have bibliographic fiches
whose information is scarce, but the website allows us to create an idea of the
resources regarding history and Chinese thought located in Spain. Hopefully,
this project will help in completing the information of the fiches and
digitized its contents. http://www.uam.es/otroscentros/asiaoriental/especifica/biblio/default.htm
>>A non-profit think-tank on India. South Asia Analysis Group, which aims at advancing
strategic analysis on South Asia thinking, offers
a website complete with up-dated and scholarly information for decision makers,
strategic planners, academics and the media. Its concept of strategic analysis
is a broad one, including both the mobilization and application of all
resources to understand national and international security. For more info
visit http://www.saag.org/
Credits
This Newsletter is published by Casa Asia on behalf of
MedAsia. Please visit our website to learn more about us and our work.
If you wish to contribute to the work of MedAsia, or if you are involved in
promoting or researching Asia we would like to
hear from you.
Editor: Florentino Rodao
Contributors: Manel Olle, Gaelle Patin Laloy, Lola Balaguer, Elisabetta Corsi and Pedro Lage Correia.
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