Publications

The IZO maintains two series of publications: the book series "Frankfurt East Asian Studies" (FEAS) published by Iudicium and its own freely available digital working paper series. In addition, the bilingual Annual Reports provide a comprehensive overview of activities of the IZO and its active members, including individual publications and lectures. Current research contributions from IZO participants can be found in the IZO Research category.

Frankfurt East Asian Studies (FEAS) Series

The series of Frankfurt East Asian Studies is jointly published by the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO) at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and Iudicium publishers. This book series promotes interdisciplinary research into the modern cultures and societies of East and Southeast Asia in their historical contexts. As the IZO's approach is an interdisciplinary one, the book series is open to a variety of research methods which include, but are not limited to, philological, historical and cultural methods as well as those of social sciences, jurisprudence and economics. Below is a list of books that have been published so far.

Swantje Heiser-Cahyono
Framing climate risk insurances in the Indonesian news print media
Frankfurt East Asian Studies Series 5


In the context of global climate change, climate risk insurances are generally highlighted as a key element of adaptation to and management of global climate risks. This research is concerned with Indonesia's approach to such insurances and discusses the country's motivation to implement a national climate risk insurance programme. By drawing on media theories on frames and framing and by using frame analysis, this study identifies six frames that the Indonesian government and/or Indonesian journalists apply with regard to interpreting climate risk insurances, and locates the results in the wider international discourse. In addition, the analysis of both governmental and journalistic frames also allows to assess the present relation between the government and the press, which looks back at a very specific interconnection due to Indonesia's socio-political history.  


2021 · ISBN 978-3-86205-380-3 · 96 pages, kt. · EUR 16,00

More information on the publisher's website.


Amelung, Iwo / Schreijäck, Thomas (eds.)

Religions and social change in China

Frankfurt East Asian Studies Series 2

In recent years the People's Republic of China has seen a dramatic revival of religiosity. Religious traditions that had been considered obsolete long since have sprung up again and new religious movements attract many followers. At the same time more and more worshippers flock to the Christian churches – not only to the officially recognized ones but also to non-institutionalized underground and private churches. 

The present volume, which is the outcome of a series of lectures at Goethe University Frankfurt organized by the teaching project “Intercultural Theology" and the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies, is devoted to this phenomenon and attempts to draw some systematic conclusions. Great care is taken to view the present developments in a historical perspective, which is essential for an understanding of religion and social change in present-day China.


2012 • ISBN 978-3-86205-383-4 • 168 pages, kt. •  EUR 25,50

More information on the publisher's website.

Labahn, Marius (ed.)
Südostasien in der Außenpolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Eine Analyse der deutschen Außenpolitik gegenüber Staaten Südostasiens unter Anwendung des liberalen Handelsstaatsmodells
Frankfurt East Asian Studies Series 3

German news reports about Asia are mainly concerned with the economic rise of China and increasingly that of India. By contrast, the German public takes hardly any notice of the countries of Southeast Asia, except as exotic holiday destinations. Yet these countries, overshadowed by China and India, have also made remarkable progress in recent years. In a two-step analysis the present volume looks at German foreign policy towards Southeast Asia, China, India and certain states in Southeast Asia and seeks to determine the importance that German foreign policy attributes to Southeast Asia. The inquiry is based on the model of the liberal trading state, developed in foreign policy theory and applied in international relations, whereby a country's foreign policy is a form of pursuing domestic (economic) interests.

2013 • ISBN 978-3-86205-382-7• 144 pages, kt. • EUR 23,00

More information on the publisher's website.


Großmann, Eike / Tröster, Mirjam (Hg.)
Society, theatre and criticism – Current issues on the stages of Japan, China and Taiwan
Frankfurt East Asian Studies Series 4

This volume attempts for the first time to identify possible clusters of issues in contemporary sociocritical theatre. The contributions deal with productions and performances mainly from the period between 2000 and 2010. The common element in all of these papers is the fact that the productions are concerned with the human situation in times of globalization and its concomitant uncertainties. They ask questions about how dramatic productions in various regions approach the present social and political situations and their historical origins, and how they are translated into dramatic action. While the individual productions will differ, frequently influenced as they are by what is permissible or tolerated in their respective countries, it is possible to identify common tendencies. 

2014 • ISBN 978-3-86205-381-0

More information on the publisher's website.

Frankfurt Working Papers on East Asia

In the series published by the IZO itself, promising research work on East Asia that has not yet been published elsewhere is presented and put up for discussion at irregular intervals. Submissions for contributions to the series can be made by IZO members or at the suggestion of the IZO board of directors. A limited number of printed copies can be made available upon request. 

Nils Bayer


Foreign Direct Investment in the China-US Economic Security Dilemma


Downloadlink

Jean-Baptiste Pettier


Who is the Weak? A Critical Examination of the Construction of 'Weak' and 'Strong' Interests from the Case of Dog Protection in Chinese Society


Downloadlink

Bengt Schwemann


Japans Beitritt zum Haager Übereinkommen über die zivilrechtlichen Aspekte internationaler Kindesentführung


Downloadlink

Marlen Heislitz


»Begrünung der Betonwüste« - Institutionelle und private Strategien des Urban Gardenings in der Metropole Tōkyō


Downloadlink

Heike Holbig

Regionen als Prozesse - Asienbezogene Area Studies an den Schnittstellen kultur- und sozialwissenschaftlicher Selbstreflexion

Daniela Lackner and Susan McEwen-Fial

From Resource Advantage to Economic Superiority: Development and Implications of China's Rare Earth Policy

Thomas Feldhoff

Japan's Quest for Energy Security - Risks and Opportunities in a Changing Geopolitical Landscape


Downloadlink

Cornelia Storz and Werner Pascha

Japan's silver market: Creating a new industry under uncertainty


Downloadlink

Susanne Rühle

A different Capitalism? Guanxi-Capitalism and the Importance of Family in Modern China


Download

Cornelia Storz

The emergence of new industries between path dependency and path plasticity: The case of Japan's software and biotechnology industry

Downloadlink

Holger Warnk

Searching for Seeds to Rest in Libraries: European Collecting Habits towards Malay Books and Manuscripts in the Nineteenth Century


Downloadlink

​IZO Annual Reports

The IZO also publishes extensive activity reports in German and English on an annual basis, which provide an overview of the publications and activities of the Centre and its active members. Here you will find the current Annual Report for the year 2020/2021 as well as all activity reports of the past years for download.

In the academic year 2022/23, the IZO has again supported and organised a wide range of activities.      
We are particularly proud to continue its permanent support for Early Career Researchers and to continuously organise and fund new, exciting activities and events within the framework of the Early Career Researcher Network. January also saw the start of an EU-funded IZO collaborative project led by Dr Ruth Achenbach. This three-year project involves a team of researchers from six European and five Asian partner institutions who are collaborating to explore migration decisions of Asian migrants in Europe.   At the same time, the IZO sought to build on pre-pandemic traditions and organised the second Asia Forum in Frankfurt. Through the cooperation with the CEDITRAA research project and the research initiative ConTrust of the Goethe University, the scope of the event was significantly expanded compared to the first Asia Forum in 2019. The keynote speech by Korean film producer Dong Yeon Won on 6 July inspired a diverse, academic, and non-academic audience with exciting insights into the topic "Korean Film and Television - Competitiveness and Future Prospects".   Asia competence is becoming increasingly relevant in the current international context. We invite you to explore our newly published annual activity report for a deeper insight into our interdisciplinary research and our many events over the past year.  


Download the Full Report

Annual Report 2021/22

In the course of 2021-22, the first steps have been taken at IZO towards a hopefully 'post-pandemic' future. Teaching is largely face-to-face again, and events organized by IZO have gradually been transferred back into the 'real' world.

A first high point, as early as October, was a discussion of experts with the economist Barry Naughton on the present state of the Chinese economy. This event, which took place under the auspices of the guest professorship funded by the Deutsche Bank Stiftung in the summer of 2021, was held at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg. It was complemented by a meeting organized by the Early Career Researchers Network in which junior academics had an opportunity to speak to Professor Naughton and exchange their views on the future of Chinese and Asian Studies and on their own career perspectives.

Another major event was the lecture on 'The Moral Duties of Art' with Yang Lian, the Chinese writer in exile and first laureate of the newly established IZO Fellowship (see below the poem he wrote in Frankfurt), and the writer Yan Geling. With an audience of 160 and the subsequent broadcasting of the video recording, this event reached an audience well beyond Frankfurt.



Download the Full Report

Archive of the Annual Reports:

IZO Annual Report from 2014 – 2015, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2013 – 2014, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2012 – 2013, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2011 – 2012, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2010 – 2011, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2009 – 2010, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2008 – 2009, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2007 – 2008, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2006 – 2007, Downloadlink

IZO Annual Report from 2005 – 2006, Downloadlink


IZO Statute

You can download the center regulations for the IZO in accordance with the Executive Committee decision of July 18, 2017 and the Senate referral of April 18, 2018 here: 

IZO Statute.pdf

Contact

IZO Coordinator:

Bertram Lang
Bockenheimer Landstr. 133, Neue Mensa R. 305, PO 20
D-60325 Frankfurt/Main
Tel. +49 (0) 69-798-23284, email: izo[at]uni-frankfurt.de

MEAS Coordinator (contact person for all study-related questions):

Mirjam Tröster

Rostocker Straße 2, SKW, 5th floor, room 05.B140
60323 Frankfurt/Main
Mailing address:

Sinology/MEAS, FB09 - Linguistics, Cultures, and Arts
Mirjam Tröster/SKW
60629 Frankfurt

Tel. +49 (0)69-798-28795, email: m.troester[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de


Student Assistants:

Matthew Kwan-ho Lee (IZO), E-Mail: k.lee[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de

John Droß, (IZO/MEAS), E-Mail: dross[at]em.uni-frankfurt.de

Image credits (from left to right, top to bottom):