Speaker: Prof. Dr. Christine MOLL-MURATA, Ruhr University Bochum

Co-speaker: Prof. Dr. Markus TAUBE, University of Duisburg-Essen

The Research Training Group GRK 2833 “East Asian Futures: Visions and Realizations on National, Transregional and Global Scales” (EAF), directed by Prof. Dr. Christine MOLL-MURATA and Prof. Dr. Markus TAUBE, aims to train doctoral researchers about conceptions relating to the future in East Asia. It is based at the Faculty of East Asian Studies of Ruhr University Bochum and at the Institute of East Asian Studies of the University of Duisburg-Essen, at the two big research centres for East Asian Studies in North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany, joined together in the research initiative Alliance for Research on East Asia (AREA) Ruhr.

The programme develops and applies an analytical model of conceptions of the future, complementing research in the humanities (history, linguistics, philology, religious studies) with research in the social sciences (economics, political science, sociology).

Doctoral dissertations in this research training group study and explain how projections and conceptions of the future have emerged, on what premises they are based, and how they have been and continue to be applied to the paradigmatic fields of (1) language, religion, and ideology, (2) self and society, (3) resources and technology, and (4) sovereignty and governance.

Research focuses on the period between 1850 and the present, with recourse to earlier intellectual heritage where necessary. The analyses include projections of the future by East Asian states and polities (China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan) in relation to each other, to Europe, and the world.

The programme opens up a new field of research in East Asian area studies, combining a macro-regional perspective with a focus on the modern and contemporary periods.

The support of the German Research Foundation DFG is gratefully acknowledged.