Research

 This research module pursues a systematic theorization of material, ideational, and institutional structures and their changes in historical East Asian international orders from the early modern period to the early years of the 20th century. Compared to the established studies in early modern and modern Europe, the studies of material, ideational and spatial structures in East Asia remain rudimentary and undertheorized. The existing studies so far focused on comparing distinctive East Asian organizing principles with the European sovereign states system and balance of power. Drawing on the burgeoning historical scholarship on East Asian international orders, this module sets out to investigate operating components of material, ideational, and institutional structures and their continuity and transformation at critical historical junctures. The research areas include:

• Intellectual and conceptual history of East Asian international law and thought

• Interconnected Maritime Powers (or Maritime Order) in East Asia and Beyond

• Power, Diffusion, and Topos in East Asia

• Status and institutional hierarchies in East Asian international orders

This research module explores racial and gendered inequalities in historical East Asian international politics. 

 The research areas include:

• Decolonizing and pluriversial approaches to race and gener

• Reassess the racialized and gendered violence during Japan's imperialism and wartime occupation 

• The role of gender norms and women in developing international society 

• How Japan's colonial rule imposed racial hierarchies in East Asia in the context of Western racial ideologies 

• Eurocentric racial biases in international institutions and law