CURRENT PHASE OF DE:LINK// RE:LINK (2024–2027)
In the second phase of De:link//Re:link (2024–2027), we are concentrating on the spread of languages and culture, which could in itself constitute a type of infrastructure, as well as the consequences of the significant political changes that have taken place in (Eur)Asia since the project began in April 2021. Among these shifts are the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the expansion of the BRICS group of nations.
Each De:link//Re:link project partner concentrates on a different aspect of these changes, as shown in this outline of the new thematic lines.
Thematic Lines
During the initial phase of De:link//Re:link, the project was divided into three intertwined thematic lines (TLs; see Previous Phase). For the second phase, two of the thematic lines – one focusing on the cultural politics of infrastructure and the other on multilingualism and language hierarchies – have been merged in order to examine language, art, and culture as a kind of infrastructure in themselves. The other thematic line, which looks at the fault lines in the social contract, has been expanded in terms of its sociological scope.
The two current thematic lines are summarized as follows (for more detail see the article ‘New Phase, New Connections’). As in the first phase, these lines serve as overarching and structuring approaches and bring together diverse individual research projects.
TL1: The Chinese Dream and the “New Silk Roads”
The first phase of the project looked at the changes from a sociological perspective but also in terms of art and culture. Following on from previous research and the publication New Silk Road Narratives, the second phase of research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin considers how China’s cultural and artistic initiatives facilitate the (de)construction of specific narratives while also driving regional development both inside and outside of the People’s Republic.
China in Southeast Asia. Linguistic, Cultural, and Educational Visibility
Lead researcher: Claudia Derichs; cooperation partner: Amanda tho Seeth
Transregional Memory Politics, Memory Ethics and the Political Economy of the Belt and Road Initiative
Postdoctoral researcher: John Njenga Karugia
New Dynamics in the Cultural Field of Dar es Salaam: A Comparative Case Study of the Confucius Institute and the Goethe Institute in Tanzania
Doctoral researcher: Daniel Koßmann; supervisor: Susanne Gehrmann
In and Out of Colonial Classrooms: Tracing the History of Art Schools in South Asia
Doctoral researcher: Tanya Talwar; supervisor: Eva Ehninger
TL2: The BRI in Changing Geopolitical Contexts: Local Dynamics and Impacts of China’s Engagement in (Eur-)Asia and (East) Africa
This section is divided as follows.
China’s New Silk Road Initiative in North Rhine-Westphalia and Pakistan
Lead researchers: Katja Mielke, Conrad Schetter (BICC)
Doctoral researcher: Nadia Ali
Russia’s War against Ukraine and the Consequences for China’s Infrastructure Ambitions in Eurasia
Lead researchers: Julia Langbein, Gwendolyn Sasse (ZOiS)
Doctoral researcher: Valentin Krüsmann
Transregional East Africa: The Impact of the BRI and the Appeal of BRICS
Lead researchers: Kai Kresse, Ulrike Freitag, Abdoulaye Sounaye (ZMO)
Doctoral researcher: Kadara Swaleh