Introduction: Crossroad Civilisations and Bricolage Identities

Globalisation seems to be taking an unexpected turn: the hegemon that has driven it so far appears to be weakening, succumbing to the competition emanating from elsewhere. The process of decentring of Europe and North America is rapidly advancing, shifting the focus of economic and socio-political dynamic perceptibly ‘eastwards’. As the pathos of Western hegemonic reproduction withers, a new hegemon appears to be descending the cultural and technological birth canal. Combined with its traditional diligence and sheer force of numbers, if ‘Asia’ had the energy resources of the Middle East and the technologies and missionary zeal of the West, humankind