Decoding the Asian Diaspora: Perspectives and Narratives

We live in a world where Asia's global role seems stronger than ever - shaping economies, politics, technological advancements, even art and pop culture. Meanwhile, the Asian diaspora has long been an integral part of societies outside Asia, like in Europe and the United States, with its history being rich of numerous migration and cultural exchange across the globe.

Still, Western perspectives choose to coexist with the Asian culture often by exoticizing it, or by resorting to tokenism and fetishization. At the same time, Western countries often seem to struggle to fully recognize the diaspora as a permanent and evolving reality, and appear reluctant, to say the least, to embrace a boundless potential people's uniqueness.

SNF Dialogues Initiative opens this discussion, in collaboration with the Asia Society, on the history and influence of the Asian diaspora, exploring issues of representations and stereotypes in public life, aiming to reach a better understanding of our world today and the forces shaping its future.

The discussion will be structured into two parts. The first one will feature Co-president of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Andreas C. Dracopoulos, Asia Society President, Kyung-wha Kang, and SNF Dialogues Executive Director, Anna Kynthia Bousdoukou. The second part will welcome CEO of AlphaGeo and author, Parag Khanna, culture critic and author, Jeff Yang, and artist Afruz Amighi.