Eurasia Crossings (February-March 2024)

21.06.2024

Asia's prominence in our globalized world lies in a series of factors, such as its large population, long history, complex and diverse societies, and growing economic and cultural importance. As peoples and nations become increasingly interconnected, successful future leaders and scholars in all fields will benefit from knowledge of this key region. This Asian Studies lecture series Eurasia Crossings: Dynamics of Cross-Cultural Encounters between East and West was a joint initiative by the Centre for History of the University of Lisbon and the Eurasia Foundation (from Asia) that aimed precisely at stimulating debate between renowned scholars and students on the dynamics of contact between East and West in the wider Eurasian space, delving into the historical, cultural, political and economic forces that have shaped modern Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, etc.) and its relations with Europe.

In 2008, a degree in Asian Studies was created at the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (FLUL). Since then, this field has experienced a consolidated development within FLUL’s Area of History, namely in the Department of History and in the CH-ULisboa, providing knowledge that reflects the complexity of the Asian continent, including realities such as China, Korea, India, Iran, Asian Islam, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Thus, this cycle mirrors the relevance of FLUL Asia Studies and it is connected with the activities of a dynamic nucleus of lecturers, researchers, and students interested in building international bridges of scientific and academic collaboration.

Due to the organizing efforts of António Hawthorne Barrento, Elisabetta Colla, Kang Youn- Ok, Luís Filipe Barreto, Pedro Lage Correia, Sato Yoji, and Maida Monteiro, Eurasia Crossings was a privileged forum in which topics and concepts such as the Silk Road, Hinduism in China, travel and tourism, environmentalism, slavery, written and printed cultures, Macau and the Lusophone world, Enlightenments, educational models, Christianity, Sinosphere, and One Asia were addressed. Finally, a word of gratitude is in order to our long list of 15 speakers who took their time to share with all of us new perspectives and knowledge: Elisabetta Colla, António Hawthorne Barrento, Antonio Ortega, Lúcio de Sousa, Kang Youn- Ok, Zhou Miao, Rui Loureiro, Marília Lopes, Mikko Toivanen, Willy Vande Walle, Chung Joon-Kon, Pedro Lage Correia, Desmond Cheung, Juan José Ciruela Alférez, and Sato Yoji.