Modern Yoga Research as a Discursive Formation

The practice of yoga is on the rise, as much as its academic scrutiny. Scholars, especially within the disciplinary boundaries of religious studies, South Asian studies, Indology, anthropology, and sociology, have recently started to critically inquire into the birth and transnational developments of modern forms of yoga, tracing their genealogies and textual roots. This expanding literature has in turn contributed to the constitution of the emergent and multidisciplinary field of modern yoga research, or yoga studies. The primary aim of this article is thus to analyze the field of modern yoga research as a ‘discursive formation’ (Foucault [1971]1972), that is, an ensemble of texts constituting – or contributing to the constitution of – a specific object of analysis, namely modern yoga. In so doing, it also aims to contribute to the advancement of the discursive study of religion more in general. The article relies on a ‘discursive study of religion’ approach (e.g., von Stockrad 2003, 2010, 2013) with a focus on its archaeological leaning (e.g., Foucault 1965, 1972, [1963] 1973, [1966] 2002). More specifically, I underline the affinity that modern yoga research’s discursive references have with a number of discursive currents that characterize the disciplines it emerged from, such as radical historicism, cultural relativism, modernism, Orientalism and neo-colonialism. Finally, I conclude by summarizing the main results of this contribution and exploring their relevance to the self-reflexive development of the overlapping fields of cultural analyses and the study of religion.

Asian Studies Expert A. A. Semenov: Turkomstaris and Sredazkomstaris Periods (1921–1928)

The research featured the biography of Alexander A. Semenov (1873–1959), an outstanding expert in Asian Studies, who made a great contribution to Soviet and global oriental scholarship. The paper focuses on his work at the Turkestan Committee for Museums and Protection of Antiquities, Art, and Nature (Turkomstaris) and the Central Asian Committee for Museums and Protection of Antiquities, Art, and Nature (Sredazkomstaris) in 1921–1928. The research involved articles published by A. A. Semyonov in 1926 and 1928 in the Proceedings of the Central Asian Committee, as well as valuable data from publications made by Professor A. M. Mironov and Chairman of Sredazkomstaris D. I. Nechkin. A. A. Semyonov owed his education to the outstanding teaching staff of Lazarev Institute: V. F. Miller, N. N. Kharuzin, F. E. Korsh, and M. O. Attai. His scientific worldview was shaped under the influence of orientalist V. V. Barthold.

Elementary Algebra on Vedic Mathematics

The South Asian region has a long history of discovering new ideas, ideologies, and technologies. Since the Vedic period, the land has been known as a fertile place for innovative discoveries. The Vedic technique used by Bharati Krishna Tirthaji is unique among South Asian studies. The focus of this study was mostly on algebraic topics, which are typically taught in our school level. The study also looked at how Vedic Mathematics solves issues of elementary algebra using Vedic techniques such as Paravartya Yojayet, Sunyam Samyasamuccaye, Anurupye Sunyamanyat, Antyayoreva and Lopanasthapanabhyam. The comparison and discussion of the Vedic with the conventional techniques indicate that the Vedic Mathematics and its five unique formulas are more beneficial and realistic to those learners who are experiencing problems with elementary level algebra utilizing conventional methods.

Interview with Professor Chaitanya Mishra

Professor Chaitanya Mishra teaches Sociology to MPhil/PhD students at Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal. His research focuses on macrosociology, politics, social change, and social stratification. He is an author/co-author, and co-editor of 10 books and about 250 articles. He believes that all sciences should contribute to public education, and frequently contributes to public debates through the media. He started his career in 1978 as a researcher at the Institute of Nepal and Asian Studies, TU. In 1981, he was appointed the founder Chair of the Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology, TU. He has written on the development of sociological knowledge in Nepal, its disciplinary growth, empirical and theoretical orientations, as well as strategies that could be adopted to meet contemporary disciplinary challenges. His contributions have led to theoretical debates on the issues of development or underdevelopment of Nepali society as well as the nature and causes of economic and political divisions and alternative trajectory of change. Professor Mishra served as a member of Nepal’s National Planning Commission (1994-95), founding president of Nepal Sociological Association (2017-18), Fulbright Visiting Professor and Hubert Humphrey Professor of Sociology at Macalester College (2015-16), and founding Executive Chair of the Policy Research Institute (2018-19) of the Government of Nepal.

Armenia, Caucaso e Asia Centrale. Ricerche 2021

Consistently with a consolidated tradition within the series «Eurasiatica», the volume aims to intercept and represent the main research trends in the academic debate about the region across the Caucasus and Central Asia unfolding in the Italian academic environment and involving both national and international scholars. In this perspective, the volume presents a series of essays that draw inspiration from papers presented in the context of the main annual conferences and conventions focused on Caucasian and Central Asian studies. Accordingly, the volume hosts contributions shaped by different disciplinary matrices, ranging from historical and philological to linguistic, literary and political studies.

Gastronomy as a Sign of the Identity and Cultural Heritage of Tourist Destinations: A Bibliometric Analysis 2001–2020

Gastronomy represents a significant part of the cultural heritage and identity of tourist destinations; however, related scientific literature is scarce. Considering these aspects within the field of tourism and hospitality, and selecting the articles written in English indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus from 2001 to 2020, the objective of this research is twofold: (1) to present a bibliometric analysis of the literature on gastronomic heritage (71 articles); and (2) to analyze some aspects (main topics, frequency of key terms, methods, and data sources) of the research on case studies in Asia and Europe (46 articles), as they are the most prominent regions on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity (UNESCO). The study shows the temporal evolution of the literature on gastronomic heritage in parallel with UNESCO’s actions on cultural heritage. The results reveal that most articles relate gastronomic heritage to the sustainability of tourist destinations, and that European case studies address sustainability more than Asian studies do. Regarding the methodology to analyze Asian and European case studies, qualitative research predominates. Within quantitative studies, the use of online content generated by consumers and marketers as a data source is rare.

Ulbe Bosma, The Making of a Periphery. How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter of Labor. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. ISBN 9780231188524 and ISBN 9780231547901

Many books have been written about the incorporation of the Caribbean region, South Asia, Africa and Latin America into the global economy. Remarkably, few have dealt with Island Southeast Asia or Maritime Southeast Asia as a macro-region. For the Caribbean nations, it has been amply discussed how the legacies of the plantation economies consisted of meagre economic growth and massive unemployment. Conversely, scant attention has been given to the question how societies in Island Southeast Asia were turned into providers of cheap commodities and how this impacted their long-term development prospects. This silence is even more remarkable considering some striking parallels with Caribbean socio-economic trajectories. Today, emigration of millions is the fate of Island Southeast Asia, as it is for the Caribbean region. To break the silence and to invite further discussion I wrote The Making of a Periphery: How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter. After reading the review by Dr Aguilar on this book in a previous issue of this journal, I felt that it could be worthwhile to highlight some of the main points of my argument about the peripheral integration of Island Southeast Asia in the global economy. I am grateful to the editors of the International Journal of Asian Studies for granting me the opportunity to do so.

Afterword: Transnational Asian Studies—Toward More Inclusive Theory and Practice

Based on the articles in this “Global Asias” forum, this essay proposes that in order to build a meaningful bridge between Asian studies and Asian American studies, we must first face what needs to be critically overcome in Asian studies itself: persistent white male domination of the field, on the one hand, and historical role that the United States has played in Asia, on the other. One possibility is to adopt a transnational Asian studies approach, which advocates bringing Asian studies and Asian American studies together while also envisioning radical interdisciplinarity across Asian studies and African American studies, Latino/a studies, and Asian American studies. The key to pursuing such an approach would be to create a teaching and research environment of inclusion and collaboration.

The Challenge of Studying the Pacific as a “Global Asia”: Problematizing Deep-Rooted Institutional Hindrances for Bridging Asian Studies and Asian American Studies

This essay aims to address the structural barriers that deter the study of “Global Asias”—or even something smaller in scale, the study of the “Pacific”—in the context of the institutional split between Asian studies and Asian American studies.