Prestigious Japanese Fukuoka Prize for Leonard Blussé
Leonard Blussé, emeritus Professor in the History of European and Asian relations, will receive the prestigious Japanese Academic Fukuoka Prize. Blussé receives the prize for creating a new academic field: 'The Maritime History of early modern East/Southeast Asia'. He will receive the Prize in September 2019.
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From left to right: Marco de Niet, Division manager, Research & Education Services / Deputy Director, Nadia Kreeft, Subject Librarian & Curator, Nakano Tetsuhiro and Yokose Yudai of the Fukuoka Prize Committee, Leonard Blussé, Professor emeritus of History of European-Asian Relations and Wim Boot, Professor emeritus of Japanese and Korean Languages and Cultures. Photography: Guus Janssen, Leiden University Libraries -
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Blussé established an interdisciplinary approach as a foundation for historical studies. His studies began from Sinology, then some elements of Japanese Studies were added, before embracing the maritime history of East Asia with his studies about Overseas Chinese, and have now expanded to include maritime history of Southeast Asia.
In the currently popular trend of 'global history' in historical studies, his approach is highly regarded as providing an ideal framework for 'global history' based on empirical 'micro' analysis without ever losing the 'macro' conceptual perspective.
Read more on the website of the Fukuoka Prize
Blussé: “I am very surprised and feel very honored. I would like to thank everyone who has supported my nomination for this lifetime achievement award and look forward to receiving this award in Japan in September. ”