Can China Redefine Global Power? Civilization, Technology, and the BRI

In this episode of Mapping Global China Conversations, Professor Maria Adele Carrai speaks with renowned historian Professor Prasenjit Duara about the deeper logics behind China’s global rise. From civilizational discourse and ecological civilization to digital infrastructure and financialization, Professor Duara examines how China’s growing influence both mirrors and diverges from past empires. Drawing on decades of comparative insight and critical reflection, he explores how power today operates through technology, narratives of shared destiny, and moral claims of transcendence.

 

🔹 Our Guest: Professor Prasenjit Duara – Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University; author of Culture, Power, and the State, Rescuing History from the Nation, and The Crisis of Global Modernity. A leading historian of China and Asia, his work has shaped global understandings of nationalism, sovereignty, and transnational ethics.

 

🔍 Discussion Topics:

✅ Global China through a Historian’s Lens – How do deep civilizational narratives shape contemporary Chinese policy?

✅ Civilizational Discourse or Soft Power? – Rhetoric, cultural diplomacy, and the failure of the Confucius Institute model.

✅ Ecological Civilization – Genuine ethical commitment or instrumental global branding?

✅ From Soft Power to Digital Power – Can TikTok, Huawei, and smart infrastructure become tools of ideological influence?

✅ Debt, Infrastructure, and Control – Is China’s financial model a new kind of empire or a realist adaptation to global constraints?

✅ A New Mode of Hegemony – How does technological dependence challenge traditional ideas of sovereignty?

 

📚 Recommended Books:

• The Crisis of Global Modernity: Asian Traditions and a Sustainable Future by Prasenjit Duara

• Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China by Prasenjit Duara