White Rose East Asia Centre (WREAC)

The White Rose East Asia Centre (Executive Director, Professor Terry King, Leeds) is an exciting partnership between the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds following a successful bid to become the country's Centre of Excellence on East Asia. The National Institute of Chinese Studies (Director, Professor Flemming Christiansen, Leeds) and the National Institute of Japanese Studies (Director, Professor Glenn Hook, Sheffield) together constitute WREAC.

Mission

To develop a global centre of excellence for research and training on modern China and Japan.

Aims

To utilise in-house, internet technology and other media as means to achieve a critical mass of research and training activity in both physical and electronic space in order to provide the best possible research and training environment for staff and students in East Asian studies.

Research

The four research clusters of the White Rose East Asia Centre give broad direction for developing the Centre's research agenda, each embracing prominent and evolving themes in research on East Asia. Each cluster includes multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches and combines and coordinates research activities from different disciplines, as well as straddling political boundaries in East Asia.

Each cluster represents an area of existing research strength and priority at Sheffield and Leeds, and builds on the strong track record of language-based area studies and related multi- and inter-disciplinary research.

Visit the White Rose East Asian Centre website

1. Business, Political Economy and Development

Directors: Professors Tim Wright (Sheffield) and Peter Buckley (Leeds)

This cluster focuses on the development of and interactions between East Asia's political economies, which constitute one of the most dynamic areas of research today.

2. East Asian Identities and Cultures

Directors: Professors Mark Williams (Leeds) and Jonathan Stock (Sheffield)

This cluster examines the ethnic and religious, cultural, social and sexual/gender identities of East Asia´s nation states and peoples. Other central foci are cultural studies research on China, Japan and East Asia, reflected in a strong interest in film, historiography, literature and music.

3. Social Change and Transition in East Asia

Directors: Professor Flemming Christiansen (Leeds) and Dr Hiroko Takeda (Sheffield)

This cluster examines major social upheavals in China, the main features of which are the rise of new poverty, new forms of social class formation, and huge internal and international migrations. In Japan research focuses on the disintegration of social institutions and anomie of social relations as well as the risks associated with these changes.

4. Regionalisation and Globalisation

Directors: Professors Glenn Hook (Sheffield) and Jeremy Clegg (Leeds)

This cluster promotes research into East Asia's regional institutions and their global roles, a particular strength in the Centre's research portfolio and a theme which reflects the rapid developments in the region's economic regimes.