Transnational Asia Initiative
The Transnational Asia Initiative (TAI) at the Asia Center advances scholarship that crosses national boundaries and disciplinary divisions to explore the connections across Asia’s diverse histories, cultures, and contemporary challenges. Through seminars, conferences, events, faculty and student support, the Affiliates Program, and the Graduate Student Associate Program, TAI promotes scholarly endeavors that engage the interconnectedness of East, South, and Southeast Asia and encourages collaborative research that reflects the region’s complexity and ongoing transformations.
At a time when scholarship increasingly recognizes that mobility, circulation, and exchange shape both historical and contemporary realities, TAI foregrounds networks, flows, translation, migration, and cross-border entanglements. By moving beyond nation-centered frameworks, it supports research that rethinks Asia in relational, comparative, and transregional terms.
Situated within Harvard’s robust ecosystem of regional studies centers, professional schools, and globally recognized research libraries, TAI leverages deep linguistic expertise and regional specialization while fostering dialogue across fields. Its cross-school reach enables collaboration among scholars in the humanities, social sciences, public policy, business, law, public health, design, and religious studies, reflecting the multifaceted nature of transnational inquiry.
Through sustained programming, research support, and student engagement, TAI builds scholarly communities that address Asia’s shared and interconnected challenges, from migration and environmental change to media, religion, governance, business, and technological transformation.
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For questions, please feel free to reach out to Tenzin Ngodup.
tngodup@fas.harvard.edu