Sites of Asian Interaction Ideas, Networks and Mobility

A focus on the sites of Asian interaction enables this volume to shed new light on the growing field of diaspora studies. Research on Asia's many diasporas has enriched the older literature on migration to illuminate the links of kinship, affect, trade, and information that connect locations across Asia, and beyond. But where many recent works on particular diasporas have tended to look inwards - at how distinctive diasporic cultures maintained a sense of 'home' while abroad - the volume's focus has been on how different diasporas have come into contact with each other in particular places, often for the first time. It also engages with research in the fields of urban studies and urban history. The articles develop the already rich historical literature on port cities across Asia – the quintessential sites of Asian cosmopolitanism – as well as more recent work on the 'moving metropolises' and 'mobile cities' of contemporary Asia.

Acknowledgements; Introduction Tim Harper and Sunil S. Amrith; 1. Singapore, 1915, and the birth of the Asian underground Tim Harper; 2. Living in the material world: cosmopolitanism and trade in early twentieth century Ladakh Jacqueline H. Fewkes; 3. Nation, race, and language: discussing transnational identities in colonial Singapore, circa 1930 Chua Ai Lin; 4. Intimate interactions: Eurasian family histories in colonial Penang Kirsty Walker; 5. Citing as a site: translation and circulation in Muslim South and Southeast Asia Ronit Ricci; 6. Popular sites of prayer, transoceanic migration, and cultural diversity: exploring the significance of keramat in Southeast Asia Sumit K. Mandal; 7. Connecting people: a Central Asian Sufi network in turn-of-the-century Istanbul Lâle Can; 8. 'Enough of the Great Napoleons!' Raja Mahendra Pratap's Pan-Asian projects (1929–39) Carolien Stolte; 9. Chinatowns and borderlands: inter-Asian encounters in the diaspora Evelyn Hu-Dehart; 10. Creating spaces for Asian interaction through the anti-globalization campaigns in the region Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem; Index.

Tim Harper is Reader in Southeast Asian and Imperial History at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Sunil Amrith is Reader in Modern Asian History at Birkbeck, University of London.