Our conception of cultures and cultural change has altered dramatically in recent decades: no longer do we understand cultures as isolated units; rather, we see them as hybrid formations constantly engaged in a multidirectional process of exchange and influence with other cultures. Yet the very process by which we represent these cultural transfers is itself subject to cultural, political, and ideological conditions that affect our understanding, acknowledgment, and representation of them. Built around concrete examples of controversial representations of cultural transfer from Asia, the Arab world, and Europe, Cultural Transfers in Dispute presents a critical self-reflection on the scholarly practices that underpin our attempts to study and describe other cultures.

Jörg Feuchter is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of History at Humboldt-University in Berlin. Friedhelm Hoffmann is a researcher at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin. Bee Yun is assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.