Asia After Europe: Imagining a Continent in the Long Twentieth Century

• Post by: Arjun Kumar
• January 25, 2025
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by Sugata Bose

Katyayni Champawat¹

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1. MSc International Relations and Diplomacy, Leiden University | B.A. History (Hons.), LSR.
   Email: katyayninaila@gmail.com ↩︎

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Title:	Asia After Europe: Imagining a Continent in the Long Twentieth Century by Sugata Bose
Author(s):	Katyayni Champawat
Issue Date:	January 25, 2025
Publisher:	IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute
Page(s):	88-90
URL:	https://iprr.impriindia.com/asia-after-europe-imagining-a-continent-in-the-long-twentieth-century/
ISSN:	2583-3464 (Online)
Appears in Collections:	IPRR Vol. 3 (2) [July-December 2024]
PDF Link:	https://iprr.impriindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BR_Asia-After-Europe_Katyani-Champawat_IPRR_V3I2_July-Dec-2024.pdf

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Asia After Europe is an exploration of Asia beyond Europe—both temporally and conceptually. Beginning with Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905, the book analyzes the diverse Asian Universalisms and models of solidarity with instances of fractures in the face of the two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Nationalist Movements across the continent. It questions the Eurocentric idea of the Asian continent as a vastly differentiated cartographic space and presents an alternate interconnected and often overlapping history founded on shared values and sensibilities. Tracing the movements of ideas and peoples through Asia’s colonial, anti-colonial, and post-colonial struggles, Sugata Bose boldly challenges the imported European geopolitical thought and forces readers to ponder over the possibility of an alternate future for Asia.

The central aim of this book is to explore Asia as constructed by Asians, that is, to reconstruct an understanding of Asia that is free from European thought. This is not to deny Europe’s interaction with Asia and its people; indeed, it is these very interactions that have affected the evolution of Asianism(s). Instead, the aim is to remove the European conceptualization of some of the key ideas that form the basis of current political thought and view Asia as an idea built on circulation and connection as opposed to a tapestry of nation-states. To this end, through an interpretative historical analysis of a vast range of sources, including art, fiction, travelogs, and other verbal, visual, and symbolic texts, the book presents Asia as forged by Asian intellectuals and subalterns alike. Still, the idea of Asia or Asian Universalism is far from being a solitary, unified concept; rather, what emerges is a web of ideas- competing and overlapping- existing “alongside Islamic and Buddhist Universalism as well as Leninist and Wilsonian Internationalism.” (Bose, 2024, p. 2) The evolution and interactions of these thoughts are ultimately connected to periods of decline and prosperity, and thus, the book traces the political and economic developments in Asia to discern the evolution of Asian identity.

Bose begins his seven-chapter analysis of the twentieth century by highlighting the poppy trade as a connected space of decline for both India and China. This space of decline overlapped with a new space for collective resistance and a quest for an identity to hold on to in the face of incipient European orientalism.

The brutal repression by the colonial powers meant that many revolutionaries were on the run. Their interactions and intellectual musings, thus, became the subject of analysis in this book. India’s Rabindranath Tagore, Japan’s Okakura Tenshin, and China’s Liag Qichao are some of the prominent intellectuals who wondered and worried about the Asian Revival. Of course, their ideas are contextualized within the political and economic trends of the time.

In 1905, Japan’s victory over Russia led to an increased enthusiasm in young Asians. Japan came to be recognized as a leader who may guide Asia toward freedom. Interestingly, the Japanese state had developed its own imperial ambitions, which subsequently led Japan to invade China, to the disappointment of many proponents of Asian solidarity. This ‘fracture’ deepened with the dawn of the Great Depression and the accompanying hardening of colonial borders. Nevertheless, new connections of Asian solidarity continued to flourish . Similarly, even as waves of nationalism surged across the continent, it stayed rooted in the ‘cultural cosmopolitanism’ of Asianism.

Asianism was by no means the only intellectual cement of the time. It had its competitors and partners in Communist Internationalism and Buddhist and Islamic Universalism- all refusing to see the nation-state as the ‘natural’ political unit. Other similar contradictions existed not only in political thought but also in practice. For instance, during World War II, India was fighting the British while China battled against Japan, effectively putting them on opposing sides of the war. And yet, the war years helped forge deeper connections between leaders and movements resisting the British, French, Dutch, and American colonizers. At the same time, wartime famines in Bengal, Henan, and Tokin undermined the legitimacy of the colonial state, while Japan’s victory over the Western powers in Southeast Asia renewed anti-colonial fervor.

Ironically, it is the post-colonial experience that caused the biggest fracture in Asia. Once the common enemy was defeated, the newly independent peoples decided to let their minds remain colonized- trapped in European maps and ideas of unitary sovereignty, as a result of which Asian solidarity weakened. Still, the great powers were trying to recreate an Asia that best served their interest, temporarily bringing Asian leaders together at Bandung in 1955. However, a closer look at the contents of the conference reveals that a very Euro-American statist politics had already taken root.

From 1979 to 2019, Asia witnessed greater economic growth, connection, and interdependence, which led to rapid and mass intra-Asian migration. Precolonial trade and maritime networks, as well as the anti-colonial sentiments, were recalled time and again to soften borders. Alas, the lines have only grown rigid. Indeed, the borders have become the single most contentious issue pushing Asian relations from that of bonhomie to rivalries since independence.

Bose concludes that the root of this slide toward animosity lies in a lack of political imagining bound by the divisive nature of national pride and a unitary conception of sovereignty.
Bose’s ability to present such complex, contrasting, and yet overlapping concepts in not only a comprehensible but interesting way is one the biggest strengths of this book. Despite the vast scale and scope of research, the book successfully engages the reader in an intellectual exercise that provokes retrospection into their own understanding of the world. Another strength of this monograph lies in its gender sensitivity. Bose does not invisibilize the role played by women, nor does he add them as an afterthought in a small subsection. Women and their contributions are well integrated into the overall narrative.

In uncovering the obscure and forgotten history of Asia, Bose adopts a hopeful yet practical vision for Asia’s future. He writes, “An Asia without borders may not be on the near horizon, but an Asian free trade area and a shared Asian cultural ecumene are already in the process of formation.” (Bose, 2024, p. 15) This new Asia of shared cultural ecumene, however, is not discussed. With the arrival of social media and digital streaming platforms, Bollywood, K-pop, Japanese Anime, Chinese, Korean, and even Thai and Pakistani dramas and movies have contributed immensely to cultural exchange and understanding. It could have been interesting to trace their influence on modern Asian identity.

Nevertheless, the book is timely and well-situated in the current geopolitics. Bose warns against the threat of rising majoritarianism and centralized authoritarianism within Asia, specifically in India and China- the two competing nation-states vying for a new hegemonic order based on nationalistic imperialism. This international power struggle and authoritarian domestic politics are against the idea of Asianism. Hence, there is a need to address the economic, religious, and social inequality in the coming ‘Asian Century’ to ensure greater continental prosperity.

Overall, the book presents a well-written and accessible historical narrative that builds on earlier readings of the time while challenging modern understandings. With strong examples of political and intellectual connections built on mutual regard for all cultures and religions, the book emphasizes a project to build a future on familiarity and solidarity of Asia’s varied peoples. It not only critiques the Eurocentric understanding of Asia but launches an epistemological inquiry into the existing hierarchies within the global order. In my opinion, therefore, it is a must-read for students interested in not only history but also the future of international order.