ALTER examines the historical processes behind the comparative, intercultural and transnational phenomena, as well as the theoretical paradigms that explain them. We examine a broad range of cultural, intellectual, artistic and literary phenomena related to East Asia from a multidisciplinary perspective. We work on key concepts such as modernity, colonialism and post-colonialism, transnationalism, globalisation, and discourse.

ALTER explores otherness and representation from a dual angle embedded in the word 'crisis'. On the one hand, as a methodological and ethical approach, we critically assess representations of Asian Otherness. On the other, as an avenue of inquiry about times, phenomena and situations of crisis (understood ethymologically as decisive or complex moments) that result from cross-cultural contacts.

ALTER was created in 2009 in the Department of Arts and Humanities at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).