Mega Region, Micro Impact of Asia... in Cultural Terms

What is it about?

Even though Asia has 2/3rds of the global population and over half the global economic activity, Asia's share of qualitative and interpretive scholarly research is minuscule; and this shrinks further when we consider qualitative work emanating from Asian scholars and universities. This is a "mega imbalance" that needs to be addressed, especially since Asia has cultural reserves it can contribute to global knowledge. We propose some ways of addressing the mega imbalance.

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Why is it important?

Asia in general is seen as an economic powerhouse but a weak region for innovation. If Asia also decides to ignore qualitative-interpretive approaches, and decides slavishly to ape positivist-empiricist methods only (in the mistaken notion that only such methods produce useful knowledge); then this will further reinforce the view that Asia is weak in terms of innovation. Alternately, if Asia leads with qualitative-interpretive approaches, it can carve out a rich cultural innovation space.