The Asian Studies Parade

"A multi-national and delightfully collaborative field of scholarship today, Asian studies in the Western academy were originally implicated in the conquest and colonization of Asia. That story has long been told, and its complicities exposed. Paul van der Velde's The Asian Studies Parade does something more. Drawing on research and publications crafted over a forty-year career, van der Velde provides a far-ranging and at times breathtaking overview of the transformation of Asian studies from colonial instrumentality to cross-cultural celebration. The author roams widely but always insightfully, taking us from Japan and Taiwan to the Netherlands East Indies, as well as Asian studies in contemporary East Asia and Europe. Few books provide a better sense of where the field of Asian studies came from and, no less important, where it should go today. . Bob Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs, Boston University. To general readers, the book opens a window on the wide field of Asian Studies. To academics, it is a convenient handbook on Asian Studies. The book presents a panoramic view of Asian studies in terms of up-to-date review with historical roots as well as a combination of both theoretical and methodological approaches. . Lisheng Dong, Professor of Comparative Politics, Tartu University, Estonia, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China. "