Description

Purpose of grant:                            For Port City Environments in Global Asia: Research and Pedagogy for Redesigning Studies of Asia .   Amount recommended:                A three-year grant of $450,000.   Summary:                              The NYU Global Asia program was launched with HLF support in 2018. The program involves an interdisciplinary network of faculty and students at NYU campuses in New York, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi working on Asia in global, connected frameworks. The program conceives Asia as a space of mobility, connectivity and interaction spanning regions from the Mediterranean to the Pacific before the 16 th century and, post-1500, extending around the globe. With a focus on the dynamics of changing Asian spaces over time, it is stimulating new ways of understanding the historical legacies in which many current issues are rooted and encouraging critical questions around topics of migration, trade, cultural mingling and exclusion, inequity and discrimination, ethnic and transnational politics, empires, religion, pandemics, technology, and changing natural environments.
In the initial phase, through colloquia, workshops and conferences, the three campuses and partners in Asia, Europe and the U.S. formed clusters for teaching and research across humanities, social sciences, digital arts, and environmental studies. The pandemic increased virtual activity, which revealed new possibilities for interaction. In the second phase for which funding is sought, the network would collaborate to generate courses, publications and digital materials for a NYU Global Asia curriculum, and open-access resources for wider use. Curriculum development would further plans for an undergraduate minor in Global Asia within NYU’s History Department, and an interdisciplinary Master’s program.
Port cities, connective nodes in networks stretching inland and overseas, have served as one lens for the program’s explorations. China’s long history of connection along the Silk Roads and throughout the Indian Ocean is another, and in phase two the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would engage several clusters. Supported work would also encompass topics including racial capitalism, Afro-Asian America, New York City immigrant experiences, and pandemic mobility and inequity.
Funds would support colloquia; workshops for senior capstone projects, Master’s and doctoral theses, course development, and publications; the creation of online resources; a Shanghai-based summer school on the BRI; student fellowships and assistantships; and research.
Recommendation:                          That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a three-year grant of $450,000 to New York University to support Port City Environments in Global Asia: Research and Pedagogy for Redesigning Studies of Asia .   https://wp.nyu.edu/cga/ https://cga.shanghai.nyu.edu/ https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/research/faculty-labs-and-projects/global-asia-initiative.html