Modern Science and Asia

The main focus of Mujeeb's project on modern science and Asia is a comprehensive review of how modern science was received, critically assessed, and employed in East Asia and West Asia. In other words, it takes Mujeeb's previous work on the medieval period, when Japan and the Islamicate world appropriated their neighboring traditions, and complicates the narrative by examining how the newly introduced disciplines of modern science fared in the context of societies that had, a millennium earlier, already normalized foreign traditions.

The study of modern science in Asia is not new, but no study examines its reception as a social phenomenon from local intellectual perspectives and historical precedent. From this perspective, Mujeeb's work has the advantage of both building on his background in Biology, Physics, and Medicine (which he studied (many?) years ago during his B.S.) as well as his grounding in each society's history, through primary texts and local languages.

This project expands and complicates the narrative of his postdoctoral project by considering various aspects of culture and society that are often overlooked in studies of modern science because of the nature of 'global history' as a study of Asia in the backdrop of Europe, at times foregoing local histories for histories of communication with Europe and the relevant Asian nation (or culture). For more on his preliminary research, you can consult his recent academic talks and see his recent news.