Published at the American Council of Learned Societies website, September 11, 2023 According to its mission statement, West Virginia University is committed “to lead transformation in West Virginia and in the world through local, state, and global engagement.” By proposing major cuts in its undergraduate and graduate programs, including engineering, environmental planning, languages other than […]
Published at the American Council of Learned Societies website: July 5, 2023 Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled race-conscious admissions programs at colleges and universities to be unlawful, thus rejecting widely accepted practices meant to encourage diversity that have been part of US higher education for more than fifty years. The […]
The Association for Asian Studies has joined more than 30 other member institutions and dozens of individuals in signing the following statement from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), issued on February 9, 2023. In recent years, we have seen politicians intensify their effort to re-brand institutions of higher education – specifically, the humanities […]
AAS Board of Directors March 29, 2022 The AAS is aware that some scholars located in the PRC were pressured into withdrawing from their scheduled online presentations at the recently concluded 2022 Annual Conference. We are currently working to determine the number of individuals involved and the scope of actions affecting conference participants. The AAS firmly supports […]
November 29, 2021 The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) a scholarly, nonpolitical, nonprofit professional association with approximately 5,000 members worldwide and the largest scholarly association for Asian Studies in the world, denounces the harassment of Asian Studies specialists, especially regarding recent online targeting of historians who are contributing to our understanding of WWII-era Japan. While […]
September 10, 2021 Statement by the Association for Asian Studies Board of Directors In keeping with its commitment to academic freedom, the AAS supports the “Dismantling Global Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives” conference scheduled for September 10-12 and condemns the harassment and intimidation of conference participants, organizers, and co-sponsors. We understand that Hindutva is a majoritarian ideological doctrine that conflates a limited interpretation of […]
May 28, 2021Issued by the AAS Board of Directors AAS expresses grave concern at the recent announcement regarding the demolition of the Annex of the National Archives in Delhi. We urge the Government of India to disclose its plans for safely transferring held documents and artifacts, their intermediate and long-term storage, and their availability to […]
Download PDF of statement in Thai Issued by the AAS Board of DirectorsApril 7, 2021 The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is deeply concerned by growing intellectual repression in Thailand. Since the 2014 military coup d’etat, the country has seen an increasing number of attacks on academic freedom. Defamation lawsuits and the selective interpretation and […]
Statement by the AAS Board of DirectorsMarch 29, 2021 The Association for Asian Studies (AAS), a scholarly, non-political, non-profit professional association with approximately 6,500 members worldwide, wishes to express its solidarity and support for our esteemed colleague and member, Professor Joanne Smith Finley of the University of Newcastle, UK, who is one of nine people sanctioned on March 26, […]
March 18, 2021 Statement issued by the AAS Board of Directors The Association for Asian Studies condemns the escalating violence and ongoing harassment directed at Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders and stands in solidarity with community leaders, students, and educators who are actively engaged in anti-racist action and serving the needs of the most […]
Issued by the Association for Asian Studies Board of Directors On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar Tatmadaw (Army), led by Commander-in-Chief General Min Aung Hlaing, sieged parliament and declared a state of emergency military rule for the next year. The general justified this coup though accusations of election fraud; the Election Commission refutes this claim. […]
The AAS has signed on to the statement below, issued by the American Historical Association on February 5, 2021, that opposes a new policy issued by India’s Ministry of Higher Education/Department of Higher Education “that ‘requires Indian scholars and administrators to obtain prior approval from the Ministry of External Affairs if they want to convene […]
