Evening Qur'anic Study, Madiun, East Java. Photo by Robert W. Hefner Used with permission.
This issue opens with a wide-ranging exchange that explores competing visions of the interconnections among Asian countries and the meaning of “Asia” as a region. The forum, titled “Asia Redux,” begins with a think piece by historian and cultural theorist Prasenjit Duara focusing on the ways in which Asian intellectuals of the twentieth century thought about the things that unite and divide the continent. This is followed by spirited rejoinders to and elaborations of his argument by five scholars in different areas of Asian studies: Wang Hui, a public intellectual and analyst of modern Chinese thought; Tansen Sen, a specialist in Chinese ties to South Asia during what he refers to as “premodern” times; Amitav Acharya, who, among other things, heads a center devoted to...
