Editor’s Reflections: Academic Indigenization

Authors

Honggang Yang, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Abstract

Excerpt

The movement for academic indigenization has been growing swiftly in the social science fields over recent decades. From a historical, sociological perspective, for example, Lee (2000) recognizes that Western social sciences were implanted in East Asian countries like many other developing societies where there were abundant cultural traditions and indigenous frameworks of understanding human interrelations. As early as the 19th Century, several Chinese intellectuals had called for “Eastern Way and Western Technology” or “Chinese Body and Western Utility” in their search for solutions to “saving the nation” from feudal corruptions and imperialist invaders. These thinkers and reformers were trying to better the fit between Western theory and China reality.

Author Bio(s)

Honggang Yang is the Dean and Professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) at NSU. He is an anthropologist by training, and worked for The Carter Presidential Center of Emory University. He chaired and taught in the Antioch program in conflict resolution. He has served on several leadership councils and boards, and is currently on the editorial boards for Conflict Resolution Quarterly, and American Review of China Studies. In 1998-1999, he launched the distance learning programs in conflict resolution at the SHSS with the support of his colleagues and students. His specialties include reflective practice, distance and experiential learning, and ethnographic methods.

Keywords

academic indigenization, China reality, East Asian countries, globalization, social science fields, Western theory

Publication Date

5-2004

DOI

10.46743/1082-7307/2004.1047

Recommended Citation

Yang, Honggang (2004) "Editor’s Reflections: Academic Indigenization," Peace and Conflict Studies: Vol. 11: No. 1, Article 6.
DOI: 10.46743/1082-7307/2004.1047
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs/vol11/iss1/6