It is generally agreed that most existing knowledge referred to in the social sciences and humanities is “Western”-based and that most research studies in these fields tend to draw on theories and methods developed from “the West.” However, this tendency is not unquestioned in research practices and knowledge production processes. For example, Chen (2010) argues that many socio-political constructs in Asia cannot just be explained by Western models of society and/or scholarship. In some ways, these constructs are the product of localization of the broader Western mode. In the same vein, Chen proposes that scholars from Asia need to engage more with “Asian” knowledge.

The argument has laid a foundation for the “Asia as Method” project that has been initiated and pursued by both supervisors and PhD students in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. “Asia as Method” aims at creating a dialogue with the West’s and Asia’s knowledge and theories that can be applied in educational research. This project has received full support from the Faculty and University, including funding and expertise provision. Currently, more than 30 PhD candidates from 14 different Asian countries are participating and driving the project forward. Their supervisors offer academic advice and help bring in expert knowledge to the project. Most of these PhD students are experienced teachers and researchers in their home universities and maintain a strong connection with their countries while pursuing their studies in Australia.

Inspired by this project, the 3rd Engaging with Vietnam Conference 2011 wishes to take a step further. It hopes to engage with problems, challenges and proposals associated with the adoption of “Western” theories in research about Asian contexts and how local “Asian” cultures and scholarship may mediate them. The conference would particularly like to encourage East–West dialogues and Asia–Asia conversations, in which scholars engage in a dialogical sharing of how knowledge produced and/or developed by “Asian” thinking and scholarship could contribute to the social sciences and humanities as well as Asian studies in Asia. We would like to see how these dialogues and conversations could create a platform for meaningful knowledge production for, by, with, and in Asia, and how this process may impact research and scholarship in other parts of the world. We would also like to encourage conversations where the notions of East, West, Asia and local knowledge are problematised. Likewise, we are interested in engaging with alternative concepts.