Projects / Programmes
Asian Languages and Cultures
January 1, 2019
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.06.00 |
Humanities |
Culturology |
|
| 6.05.00 |
Humanities |
Linguistics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H640 |
Humanities |
Languages and literatures of South and South-East Asia, Chinese |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.04 |
Humanities |
Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
Asian languages, Asian cultures, Asian histories, Asian philosophies, Asian politics, Asian social systems, cultural identities, global exchanges, regional studies, intercultural research, comparative cultural studies, international relations
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
April 17, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
167 |
224 |
195 |
1.17 |
| Scopus |
201 |
401 |
328 |
1.63 |
Researchers (21)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The Asian region, which stands in the center of our research interests, represents an increasingly important area of explosive economic development, as well as political and social transitions, influencing not only the inner structure of Asian societies, but also the international relations on the global level.
The research program plans to continue developing and upgrading the previous research carried out within the group research program Asian Languages and Cultures. During the last period of our research work (2014-2018), most of our research group members focused on investigating East Asian (particularly Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean) cultures and societies. The group includes a member specialized in Indian philosophy and culture, whose investigations complement the results of other experts and place them within a comparative and broader Asian perspective.
The basic design of the proposed program is oriented towards investigating historical developments, political, ideational and economic circumstances, as well as cultural and linguistic characteristics of Asian societies. This interdisciplinary program embraces studies that encompass different disciplines within the broader field of humanities and social studies. It aims to combine various specific studies that deal with the different aspects of Asian regions in terms of the relationship between ideational and material paradigms defining the researched social realities.
Our studies primarily contain analyses and evaluations of material in native Asian languages. However, they also build on information, data and theoretical paradigms available in Western literature. This kind of approach is of utmost significance, since the use of primary sources in native languages enables us to gain a more objective insight into the reality of the societies in question. Members of the program group have active knowledge of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and Sanskrit. However, in the context of the program, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian studies are mainly cultural studies, rather than philological ones.
Our research concentrates on essential problems and conditions, defining the prevailing models of social realities as bases for the formation of various cultural identities. Proceeding from our previous research results, we aim to further improve and deepen our knowledge in these fields, as a better understanding of these regions will most certainly represent a valuable contribution to the improvement of relations between Slovenia and Asian countries.
Such a research agenda enables us to transcend narrow and particular national perspectives and their corresponding ideologies. The originality of our research results is ensured by the specific multidisciplinary approach. The analysis of the various aspects of Asian social realities, carried out under the precondition of mastering native languages, guarantees the transcendence of traditional discursive demarcation lines in the humanities.
Significance for science
Due to its explicit interdisciplinary design within the broader area of Asian studies, which encompasses a wide range of disciplines from related fields (linguistics of Asian languages, Asian philosophies, theory and methodology of intercultural research, comparative anthropological and cultural studies, Asian religious studies and social sciences), the research program group has a great impact on the development of theoretical tools for establishing new interdisciplinary methodologies and practical strategies and efficiently overcoming the traditional disciplinary boundaries. These theoretical and practical frameworks are partly based on the already existent - but in Slovenia perpetually understudied - approaches which were explicitly designed to transcend the boundaries between different cultures, as well as between different scientific disciplines. However, for the best part they are the result of an active collaboration between members of the research group engaged with concrete inter- and transdisciplinary issues that accompany the research process.
Furthermore, the program group establishes connections between disciplines that are said to be explicitly theoretical in nature (e.g. most of humanities) and those that are said to be explicitly empirical in nature (e.g. anthropology and ethnology, as well as processing, evaluating, archiving and digitalizing artistic artifacts). In this regard, the project intends to use concrete examples to demonstrate why humanities and social sciences can be of interest to applicative sciences (and vice versa) and how to soften the (inter)disciplinary barriers. The research project will also contribute significantly to the development of each individual discipline, broadening and enriching their horizon on both the formal (methodological) as well as the substantial (thematic) level. Finally, by collaborating with foreign project partners as well as other experts on Asian studies from Europe, America and Asia, we will expand the international academic networks of all participating disciplines and institutions.
Among other issues, the research program group aims to address the recent concerns that have been raised about how certain elements of Asian cultures and societies have been conceptualized and appropriated in Western academia. In addition to the conceptual ambiguity and unsuitable methodological approaches, critics have claimed that interpretations based upon such approaches diverge significantly from the native traditional conceptualizations as well as methodological and theoretical frameworks, and thus run the risk of incorrigibly distorting the original material. In order to address these issues and account for their impact on contemporary Western humanities, this research program group aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the central ideas and issues underlying the specific characteristics of Asian societies and cultures through an innovative approach, which has been developed by combining the following three dimensions:
(a) Cultural-historical dimension
- (inter)textual criticism and historical reconstruction
- socio-anthropological research and post-colonial as well as cultural studies
(b) Philosophical dimension
- epistemological analyses
- phenomenological analyses
- modern and current interpretations of traditional and ancient conceptual connotations
(c) Linguistic dimension
- corpus-based research
- pragmatist and rhetorical analyses
- historical and social linguistics
- discursive translations
The novel approach to theoretical and applicative researches is closely linked to the general and basic methodological framework applied by the program group. Regarding this framework, it is important to bear in mind that the understanding of the so-called »non-European cultures« is inextricably interwoven with the diversity of languages, traditions, histories and socialization processes. The interpretation of the various aspects and elements of these cultures is infl
Significance for the country
The proposed program has a considerable socio-economic impact, especially in the areas of economic exchange and business interactions with the Asian region, in particular between the Republic of Slovenia and the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and India. The research outcomes will also be important for the continuous support of the present cooperation as well as for the establishment of new contacts in the field of cultural development and the preservation of cultural heritage.
Incorporating research sources in native languages enhances access to autochthonous information and knowledge as regards the quality of life and the specific conditions by which this is determined in Asia. Cooperation with Asian partners provides further possibilities for deepening academic collaboration and exchange with these regions. The inclusion of junior researchers and PhD students provides an opportunity to educate future academic staff in the fields of Sinology, Japanese and Korean studies. The research program will also help us establish new elective subjects in Asian culture and social realities, modernities and traditions at the Department of Asian studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.
One of the main goals of the research program group is to establish new paradigms for intercultural studies. Throughout the 20th century, these studies were dominated by Euro- and anthropocentric theoretical approaches and research methods, which were individualistic, efficiency-oriented and positivist in nature. Even today the standard academic views of intercultural studies are (at least latently) skewed by Western referential frames and as such fail to represent the full range of conceptual positions that can produce and establish a body of knowledge. The proposed project thus also represents an attempt to lay the groundwork for specific methodologies that could serve as a new theoretical framework for such studies. In accordance with the basic postulates of such methods, the program sheds new light on certain core assumptions of academic inquiry, which will lead to a new direction in the studies of Chinese culture and ideology. Ultimately, the members of the research program group will continue to actively engage with the possibilities and challenges of Asian scholarship, through which they will develop new models of intercultural knowledge.
The cultural part of the research challenges the current use of general (i.e. Western) research methods applied in Asian history, sociology, literary theory, philosophy, linguistics and history of art. It is founded as a critique of the dominant Western historical approaches, which are found to be prevailing even within Asian academic circles. This situation makes the origins and development of a specifically modern comparative perspective a primary academic issue. The research reflects the awareness that there is a growing need for intercultural comparison, especially in light of the global expansion of international and intercultural communication, which is not limited merely to economy and politics, but can also be found in various fields of cultural life. In our research of the theoretical underpinnings of the historical conditions that defined the Asian modernization processes, we aim to modify the European tradition of comparative social and cultural studies in favor of modes of thought (concepts, relations, theoretical elucidations) which are operative in, and specific to, Asian cultures.
The research program group is also going to analyze the cultural differences in comparative and intercultural studies. In order to establish the key comparative premises, our research draws from the basic considerations in regard to historical memory as the universal cultural means for orienting human life in its temporal dimension. Based on these fundaments, we were able to establish a theory of historical consciousness and its constitutive factors, procedures and f
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
