A research project pursued by University of Otago would be useful for policy initiatives, demographic analysis, studies on social behaviour and for businesses to align their product and marketing strategies.
The ‘Asian Migrations Research Theme,’ comprises a number of academics, including Associate Professor Jacqueline Leckie, Dr Jacob Edmond and Professor Henry Johnson as directors.
Ms Leckie said that the project focuses on movements of peoples and ideas (past and present) in East, South, South-East Asia into the Pacific region (encompassing the Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand).
“It engages with the fields of diaspora, intercultural, global, and transnational studies, which have grown over the last twenty years to become key frameworks for understanding culture beyond the boundaries of one nation.
“We see significant shortcomings in the current theories and methodologies of Asian migration and diaspora and especially in their application to the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.
She hoped that the research would highlight and address such shortcomings and develop new approaches.
“The goal is to develop a framework for understanding the movements of peoples, ideas and commodities,” Ms Leckie said.
The objectives of the research group are to research Asia and its relevance for New Zealand, understand historical and contemporary Asian influences on New Zealand and publish individual research articles on the Cluster theme.
