Speaker :
Dr. Kien Nghi Ha is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Asian Studies of the University of Tübingen. He teaches Asian German Studies and Asian Diasporic Studies and works also as writer and curator on postcolonial criticism, racism, and migration. Right now, he is curating the forthcoming film program “Asian Presences in the Colonial Metropolis Berlin” (April – June 2023). An edited book with the same title is planned for the end of 2023. He is also the author and editor of several other books. Most recently, the anthology Asiatische Deutsche Extended. Vietnamesische Diaspora and Beyond (2021) was published as an expanded new edition. His research was awarded with the prestigious Augsburg Science Prize for Intercultural Studies among other grants and fellowships. 

 

 

Abstract: 

The term “Asian Germans” goes back to the anthology “Asian Germans. Vietnamese Diaspora and Beyond” (2012), which was re-released in 2021 as an extended edition. In my lecture I will outline the history of Asian migration to Germany and discuss the program of the self-designation “Asian Germans”. This term reflects historical experiences with anti-Asian racism, which, in addition to exoticization and social exclusion, is also linked to massive racist violence such as the pogrom in Rostock-Lichtenhagen (1992) against the Vietnamese community. The concept of “Asian Germans” also represents a self-constructed form of cultural and political identity that recognizes the diversity and differences within the Asian diaspora and offers solidarity and cooperation on this basis. But there is also the fear that this concept is too broad and over-arching to address specific concerns of certain immigrant communities, which are mostly based on national and religious identifications. Another topic of discussion is the question if the term “Asian” is an adequate signifier of collective identification? Some efforts have recently been made to establish Asian German Studies as a new research direction. Instead of reproducing the dominant White view of the German majority society this scientific approach aims to center Asian Germans and their perspectives. Against this background, I would like to finally discuss the question: What is Asian German Studies and what scientific and socio-political potentials are associated with it? 

 

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Responsables scientifiques de l'événement : Ya-Han Chuang (Sciences Po CERI), Juan DU (CY Université, IFRAE Inalco) et Hélène Le Bail (CNRS, Sciences Po CERI, associée à Ifrae)