AAS 2018: What’s Ahead on Saturday, March 24

Registration and badge pickup counters, located on the Lobby Level of the Marriott Wardman Park, are open from 8:00am until 6:00pm today. Graduate student stipends can also be picked up by eligible students during those hours; that counter is located across from the registration desks.

• Today is the final day of the AAS 2018 Film Expo. Screenings start at 8:30am in the Taft room (Mezzanine Level) and continue through the day. Many screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the director. Can’t make it to a scheduled screening? Talk with the Film Expo staff and arrange a time in our on-demand screening room.

Concurrent panel sessions begin at 8:30am and will run until 7:15pm.

• At 9:00am today, please visit the AAS Publications booth (#119) in the Exhibit Hall to meet the editors of our book series and talk over your ideas for possible future titles. 

• Judging from the over-stuffed tote bags spotted yesterday, quite a few AAS 2018 attendees have discovered that many publishers in our Exhibit Hall offer attractive conference discounts on purchases! Come to the Exhibit Hall during its hours today (9:00am-6:00pm) and check out the titles on display. We will hold a coffee break at the Exhibit Hall between 2:30 and 3:00pm, with complimentary beverages set up in both the atrium outside the Exhibit Hall and row 500 of the hall itself. 

• Today will feature two #AsiaNow Roundtables, focused on current events important to scholars in the field of Asian Studies. At 8:30am, Journal of Asian Studies editor Jeffrey Wasserstrom will moderate a discussion on “New Kinds of Censorship Pressures” (Marriott Ballroom, Salon 3, Lobby Level). In the following panel timeslot, AAS Past President Laurel Kendall will serve as chair for “Asian Arts and Resistance: Defiant Subjects and their Disobedient Objects,” (Washington Room 3, Exhibit Level) a roundtable featuring artists from Myanmar, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and India, who will discuss their work and the role that political and social critique plays in it.

• Visit Exhibit Hall B (adjacent to the Book Exhibit) between 9:00am and 5:00pm to view three art exhibits we are pleased to present this year:

“From Kabul to Kolkata: Of Belonging, Memories, and Identity”—photographs by Moska Najib and Nazes Afroz

Photographs by Burmese photojournalist Minzayar Oo

“Man and Mirror,” a sculpture by Cambodian artist Sareth Svay

• Many universities and other groups will hold receptions and business meetings tonight; please check the online program for the most up-to-date list.

• Anyone in search of a distraction-free space to work or relax is invited to the Quiet Room in Park Tower 8209. Please do not use cell phones or conduct meetings in the Quiet Room.

• A Nursing Mothers’ Room is located in Park Tower 8229 for the convenience of conference attendees.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to approach a member of the AAS staff, or tweet @AASAsianStudies with the #AAS2018 hashtag.