Overview

Ideational undertows of post-colonial Asian development

This sub-theme is concerned about the ideational undertows of post-colonial Asian development experiences. How for example did countries like Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia and Singapore engage ideationally with modern notions of socio-economic organization such as democracy, communism, capitalism, neo-liberalism etc? 

• Was there resistance or accommodation?
• What was the nature of these?
• How does this compare with the African experience? 

In this sub-theme the focus is on the ideational sphere or symbolic realm of knowledge, values, meaning making, or discourses in framing and shaping the future in these two regions.