Professor of Transregional Southeast Asian Studies
Email: claudia.derichs@hu-berlin.de
Claudia Derichs is a scholar in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies with a particular focus on cross-regional relations. A core element in her research profile is the study of "Middle East Asian" political activism since the 1960s, covering Japanese and Lebenese connections as well as Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern forms of organized cooperation. Asian solidarity activism in support of the Palestinian liberation struggle and transregional Islamic networks have been topics of her publications. She holds the chair for Transregional Southeast Asian Studies at Humboldt University Berlin in Germany and presided the Advisory Board of the OIB for several years until December 2024.
Claudia Derichs is the Principal Investigator of the research project on Japanese leftist political activism in support of the Palestianian struggle. The focus is on the collaboration between the Japanese Red Army (JRA; initially known as the Arab Red Army) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The JRA's activism commenced in the early 1970s and lasted for several decades, characterized by a number of militant acts including highjackings, bomb attacks, embassy occupations, and hostage taking. While the sources in Japanese and in European languages on the group's activism are well researched, the systematic identification and thorough investigation of sources in Arabic is still lacking. The project work is assisted by postdoc scholar Mezna Qato and PhD student Fatema Hubail, who are funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies respectively. A recent book publication of 2023 isTracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957-2017), eds. K Coogan & C Derichs (Routledge). Forthcoming in collaboration with OIB and JACMES (Japan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Beirut) are a book launch cum book talk, and other related events.
Author: Claudia Derichs
2024. Arabic Social Theory in Japanese and Indonesian: Transregional Ideoscapes of the Long 1960s; in: Jung, Dietrich/Florian Zemmin (eds.): Postcolonialism and Social Theory in Arabic. Palgrave Macmillan (in print).
2023. 2023. Derichs, Claudia & Kevin Coogan: Tracing Japanese Leftist Political Activism (1957-2017). The Boomerang Flying Transnational. London & New York: Routledge.
2018. Derichs, Claudia: The Japanese Left and the Muslim World; in: Colvin, Sarah/Katharina Karcher (eds.): Women, Global Protest Movements and Political agency. Rethinking the Legacy of 1968. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 135-150 (Gender and Global Politics series).