Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements

Initiated in spring 2019, the research project “Knowledge Unbound: Internationalisation, Networking, Innovation in and by the Max Weber Stiftung” aims to open up innovative fields of research and to further internationalise the research activities of the MWS Institutes through cooperation and networking within the Foundation and with external partners. The research project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and will initially run for three years. "Knowledge Unbound" focuses on the following regions: Europe, Africa, the Near and Middle East, and the Pacific region. These geographic spaces are re-examined and related to each with a focus on their entangled and disentangled streams of knowledge. The project is made up of various research groups.

The DIJ participates with its researchers Yufei Zhou and Sonja Ganseforth in the project’s sub-module "Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements". Together with the DHI Moscow, the DHI Washington with its Pacific Regional Office Berkeley, our research group in Singapore, and the China Branch Office in Beijing, this research group is focusing in particular on two themes: "Migration and Mobility" and "Environment, Climate, Energy". As these are cross-border phenomena, a transnationally oriented research group is especially suited to analyze these themes. The Pacific was chosen as the geographical focus because of its rapid and globally significant developments.

More information on "Knowledge Unbound":

Podcast (April 2022) "Herausforderungen und Höhepunkte von 'Wissen entgrenzen' – Resümee" with Franz Waldenberger (DIJ Tokyo), Sandra Dahlke (GHI Moscow), Simone Lässig (GHI Washington), Birgit Schäbler (OI Beirut)

Podcast (March 2022) "Wissenstransfer im pazifischen Raum: Die Geschichte chinesischer Archive und der ostasiatischen Sozialwissenschaften" with Yufei Zhou (DIJ Tokyo) and Christina Philips (MWS China Branch Office)

Report (March 2020) "Kick-off meeting of the Submodule 1b 'Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements'"

Project Overview "An International Research Project by the Max Weber Stiftung – Foundation German Humanities Institutes Abroad"

External partners of this project:

• National University of Singapore
• Beijing Foreign Studies University
• University of California, Berkeley
• École Française d’Extrême Orient
• Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
• Hokkaido University
• Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München
• East-West Center, University of Hawaii