Past Events

9 May’15 – The Eurasian Core and Its Edges: Dialogues with Wang Gungwu on the History of the World

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9th May 2015, 10am-12pm, St.Jo’s, Gurney Paragon

Penang Institute together with Gerak Budaya Bookshop is proud to jointly organize the upcoming book launch and forum on Ooi Kee Beng’s book titled ‘The Eurasian Core and Its Edges: Dialogues with Wang Gungwu on the History of the World‘.

Date:  9th May 2015- Saturday
Time: 10am-12pm
Venue: St.Jo’s, Gurney Paragon

‘Every so often we come across an epochal paradigm that makes sense of the world we live in. Wang Gangwu’s masterful narrative is beyond epochal – it is eloquent thread that binds coherence to our past, context to our present, and essence for our future.’
– Zairil Khir Johari, Executive Director, Penang Institute

With China’s transformation into a republic after two millennia as an empire as the starting point, Ooi Kee Beng prompts renowned historian Wang Gungwu through a series of interviews to discuss China, Europe, Southeast Asia and India. What emerges is an exciting and original World History that is neither Eurocentric nor Sinocentric. If anything, it is an appreciation of the dominant role that Central Asia played in the history of most of mankind over the last several thousand years.

The irrepressible power of the Eurasian core over the centuries explains much of the development of civilizations founded at the fringes –  at its edges to the west, the east and the south. Most significantly, what is recognized as The Global Age today, is seen as the latest result of these conflicts between core and edge leading at the Atlantic fringe to human mastery of the sea in military and mercantile terms. In effect, human history, which had for centuries been configured by continental dynamics, has only quite recently established a new dimension to counteract these. In summary, Wang Gungwu argues convincingly that “The Global is Maritime”.

Programme
10.00am – Registration
10.30am – Welcoming Speech by Dr.Lim Kim Hwa, CEO of Penang Institute
10.35am – Speech by Author, Dr Ooi Kee Beng, ISEAS
10.50am – Forum
11.45am  – Q&A Session
12.00pm – Adjournment

Please note that due to limited seating, we appreciate your kind response to reserve your participation early.

Online Registration