What is Asian German Studies? (original) (raw)

2020, The German Quarterly

The German Quarterly 93.1 (Winter 2020) ©2020, american association of teachers of German is asian German studies? aren't the "German" and "asian" parts so different in size, history, and their internal diversity that a comparison can only be out of balance? What methodologies or research trends have been informing asian German studies? how can research connections made between asian-and German-language literatures and cultures yield insights that can be useful for related fields? What is the relationship of asian German studies to asian american studies, turkish German studies, arab German studies, afro-German studies, multicultural German studies, or global German studies? historically and theoretically speaking, asian German studies benefits from area studies and postcolonial studies. area studies, which emerged during the Cold War and made geography into its organizing principle, effected a move beyond disciplinary boundaries-for instance by connecting the social sciences and the humanities in order to understand asia, africa, europe, and the americas as areas much larger than a single nation-state. Multiple disciplines also became involved: political science, history, geography, economics, religious studies, linguistics, and literary and cultural studies all started to work together in creating an interdisciplinary synergy that turned out to be useful to understand cultural and political commonalities and differences beyond national borders. edward Said's field-defining Orientalism (1978) and its reception in postcolonial studies drew scholars' attention to hybrid cultural experiences and uneven power balances in former european colonies. Unlike area studies, the cultures examined by postcolonial studies, such as india and Britain, are not necessarily geographically adjacent to each other, but they are historically and linguistically connected through centuries-long colonial encounters and their postcolonial repercussions. key concepts such as hybridity, cultural difference, mimicry, and subalternity have had an impact on literary and cultural studies across disciplines. yet, while anglophone, Francophone, latin american studies, and asian american studies are directly associated with european settlements, colonial encounters, slave trade, economic exploitation, warfare, and migration, asian German studies, quantitively speaking, could claim few direct colonial entanglements as its subject matter. While Wilhelmine Germany had comparatively short-lived and small-scale colonial settlements in africa, asia, and on the Pacific islands, the lack of a "Germanophone" literature in asia-and this is probably a good thing-does not provide asian German studies with the kind of historical foundation that informs anglophone, Francophone, latin american studies, or asian american studies. hence, the theoretical concepts gained from postcolonial studies based on different historical circumstances may be of limited use for asian German studies. at the same time, while area studies usually focuses on one extensive and connected geographical and cultural landscape in asia, africa, or america, in the case of asian German studies, a different paradigm is needed. transnational or transcultural studies could offer an alternative for asian German studies. yet these disciplines also borrow from area studies and postcolonial theory, and that limits their scope as well.