At present, the rising significance of international relations has been accompanied not only by globalization but also by the transnational trend. No exception is Northeast Asia which is experiencing a complicated mixture of conflicting factors like the co-existence of the legacies from the cold-war era and the present post-cold war phenomena, and the parallel between modernization and post-modernization. A variety of agents—states, local governments, varied NGOs, corporations, and individuals—have been engaging in this transitional trend in almost all areas, ranging from capital, economy, and labor, to theoretical, ideological, cultural, and environmental and human rights-related issues, which leads to the phenomenon of “porous borders.” Currently, Northeast Asia is experiencing the formation, transformation, and reformation of multilayered networks and multiple identities among various agents.

 In order to provide a comprehensive account of complicated transnational phenomena in Northeast Asia, it is essential to explore the intellectual foundations underlying them, to examine transnational social and cultural trends, and to investigate the changes in institutional orders. The Asiatic Research Institute (henceforth, ARI), Korea University, set up three research divisions, each dealing with one of the aforementioned three—intellectual, socio-cultural, and institutional—topics. These three divisions are cooperating with each other to extend our horizon regarding the past, present, and future of Northeast Asia. Based on reflective examinations of existing research on Northeast Asia, ARI is viewing it as “Transnational Space,” investigating both conflicts together with cooperation as well as similarities and differences among the Northeast Asian countries, and will search for an alternative vision for order in this region. 

The following describes the research objectives of each division of the ARI's Humanities Korea Project.

1) Outline

The Division of Thoughts puts focus on explaining the transnational trend in Northeast Asia through exploring its intellectual foundations. In order to deeply understand the possibility of, as well as the limit of, the formation of Northeast Asian regional community, it is indispensable to scrutinize the connections between the collective identities of the past and those of the present constituted by the mixture of varied individual, national, and international elements. For contemporary Northeast Asia is a dynamic space in which, owing to increasing transnational exchanges, a variety of identities are being expressed. 

 The Division of Thoughts addresses the following three topics, thus illuminating the intellectual foundations of Northeast Asian transnational space: (1) Understanding of Human Being at the Individual Level, (2) Collective Consciousness at the Social Dimension, and (3) Transnational Identities at the International Level.

This task is from a comparative cultural perspective, to reconstruct various understandings of human being characteristic of the Northeast Asian traditions. The specific objectives are as follows: (1) analyzing common features as well as differences with regard to understandings of human being in a comparative method, which are expressed and/or articulated in intellectual and religious traditions like Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism; (2) examining the continuities as well as changes in relation to understandings of human being after the influx of the Western civilizations; and (3) ultimately offering a comprehensive epistemological framework in which to explore the regional identities of Northeast Asia .


(2) Collective Consciousness at the Social Dimension

This task is from a comparative cultural perspective, to reconstruct various understandings of human being characteristic of the Northeast Asian traditions. The specific objectives are as follows: (1) analyzing common features as well as differences with regard to understandings of human being in a comparative method, which are expressed and/or articulated in intellectual and religious traditions like Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism; (2) examining the continuities as well as changes in relation to understandings of human being after the influx of the Western civilizations; and (3) ultimately offering a comprehensive epistemological framework in which to explore the regional identities of Northeast Asia . 



(3) Transnational Identities at the International Level
This task is to test the viability of Northeast Asian transnational space through investigating the Northeast Asian intellectual origins which may provide underpinnings to construct transnational identities. The specific objectives are as follows: (1) exploring the intellectual and religious foundations of Northeast Asian civilizations like Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism with which to form Northeast Asian transnational identities; (2) studying Pan-Asianism which emerged during the early modern period to the present discourses on Northeast Asian community from a comparative perspective, and (3) ultimately offering a practical model in which to envision and realize Northeast Asian transnational space for the future.

2) Objectives

The Division of Societies and Cultures undertakes the following three tasks: (1) Migrations and the Exchange of Human Resources, (2) Networks and Communities, and (3) Cultural Exchange and Multi-cultures.