ARENA believes in the need for nurturing a community of concerned Asian scholars which can combine critical conceptual thinking with the experience of resistance and rearticulation by groups subjected to injustice and violence. This in turn will lead to a richer understanding of how new global shifts are affecting paradigms and peoples as they live and struggle for a more meaningful existence. An integral aspect of 'resistance and reconstruction' involves the serious and painstaking effort of grassroots communities and ‘victim groups’ to conceptualise and practice sustainable alternatives. ‘Resistance and reconstruction’ necessitates the endless analyses, critical examination of all that is happening around us, of challenging and debunking the ideological justifications of oppression, of contesting the ideas, notions, and constructs which seek to legitimise the victimisation of peoples.
The ARENA community therefore affirms that our activities must provide organic links between intellectuals and grassroots activists and that the concept of reflexivity must always operate between the ideas and formulations of the concerned scholar and the actual social practice and the experience of grassroots organisers. As theory unites with practice and the real world, it must also constantly reflect the latter’s dynamism and continuous motion.
Of course, ARENA cannot do it alone. It welcomes the support of individuals and organisations engaged in 'resistance and reconstruction' in Asia and elsewhere in the world. If you are interested in being a partner in this process, arena will be happy to welcome your contribution – towards research, writing, donations or any other way that you find worthwhile.
ARENA advocates alternative paradigms and development strategies which:
Of course, ARENA cannot do it alone. It welcomes the support of individuals and organisations engaged in 'resistance and reconstruction' in Asia and elsewhere in the world. If you are interested in being a partner in this process, arena will be happy to welcome your contribution – towards research, writing, donations or any other way that you find worthwhile.
ARENA advocates alternative paradigms and development strategies which:
- promote equity among social class, caste, ethnic groups and gender
- strengthen popular participation in public life as against authoritarian centralisation
- prevent marginalisation of communities in the face of incursions by modernising influences
- improve the quality of life for Asia's underprivileged
- nurture ecological consciousness
- draw upon aspects of indigenous knowledge systems which enhance social emancipation
- articulate new visions encompassing a holistic world view.