Our stand at the 25th anniversary edition of the Long Night of the Sciences included something for all ages. Here’s a taste of what we presented at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on 28 June 2025. A map of the Belt and Road Initiative’s land and sea routes, designed by Iaroslav Boretskii (ZOiS), helped visitors visualise the […]
Impressions from the Long Night of the Sciences 2025 Read More »
On 22 May 2025, Jana Hönke, professor and chair for Sociology in Africa at the University of Bayreuth, gave a fascinating talk based on the edited volume Africa’s Global Infrastructures: South–South Transformations in Practice. The talk examined Chinese projects within the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa. It asked how Chinese
Global China in/from Africa: Transforming Governance in BRI Frontier Zones Read More »
As the second phase of De:link//Re:link will focus more on the implications of the BRI in Southeast Asian countries, members of our network took part in the HU’s Indonesian Studies Day on 9 May 2025. Prof. Dr. Claudia Derichs, whose research focuses on Indonesia, chaired a roundtable on the subject of China, Indonesia and the
Performance, Politics and Shadow Puppets: Indonesian Studies Day 2025 Read More »
The conference marking the end of our first phase of funding took place at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on 23 and 24 May 2024. Titled ‘Local Roads, Global Belts’, the event covered the wide spectrum of research on the BRI that we have produced since 2021. The programme consisted of panels concieved by the partners in
Since the De:link//Re:link research consortium formed in April 2021, there have been dramatic political changes in (Eur)Asia. Among them the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan later that year, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The expansion of the BRICS group of nations added to significant shifts in international relations. These
New Phase, New Connections: Our Journey along the BRI Continues Read More »
Our very own PI Dr John Njenga Karugia (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) will give the next Silk Road Talk on 22 November from 4.15 to 5.45 p.m. The lecture will take place in the Department of Asian and African Studies at Invalidenstraße 118, Room 410. China and the European Union’s interests and competition across Africa are
We are delighted to anounce that Dr. Ibrahima Niang (Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar/ZMO, Berlin) will give the next Silk Road Talk on 25 October from 4.15 to 5.45 p.m. The lecture will take place in the Department of Asian and African Studies at Invalidenstraße 118, Room 410. The New Silk Roads celebrate their tenth
In the ten years since its conception, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has morphed into a trillion dollar global infrastructure enterprise. The attention it has been receiving is frequently mixed with suspicion about China’s presence on the global stage. However, any BRI project involves multiple actors beyond China and interacts with pre-existing infrastructure and conditions.
Podcast: Not just China: Regional Actors and the BRI in Pakistan, Georgia and Hungary Read More »
Belts, roads and initiatives – in plural – are being forged through China’s global infrastructural engagement. Countless ports, highways and railways are constructed, reconstructed and rehabilitated for connecting people in Asia with Africa and Europe for seamless trade and economic development. In this transregional roundtable, we bring these aspirations down to earth. We trace emerging
Our research fellow Prof. Dr. Aldin Mutembei will give the next in our Silk Road series of talks on 15 June from 6 to 8 p.m. It will take place online and in Room 410, Invalidenstraße 118.
