The 2020 meeting of AAS-in-Asia wrapped up in splendid fashion with a splashy media presentation and warm farewells. Many thanks to Joe Haldane and the IAFOR staff for stepping in and making the event possible with their can-do attitude and energetic efforts. It was my first full all-virtual conference and one could see very much […]
I write this on the first day of classes at my university in our strange pandemic world of non-campuses and virtual classes. I mourn with the rest of you the losses incurred by the pandemic. We have lost lives and time and certain kinds of experiences. Few could have fathomed the degree to which we […]
It has been fifty years since the Journal of Asian Studies published William Theodore de Bary’s by now iconic presidential address, “The Association for Asian Studies: Nonpolitical but not Unconcerned” (Aug. 1970, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 751-759). De Bary spoke in the context of very different, but not unrelated, times, marked by debates over […]
Warm greetings from Honolulu! Our pandemic lives filled with numbers define us and the places in which we live. Hawai`i: 643 cases confirmed, 589 recovered, 17 deaths. Sheltering in place and keeping tourists out have produced these optimistic results. Nevertheless, the pandemic globally has brought with it much pain, misery, loss of life, loss of […]
Greetings from lush Manoa Valley in sunny Honolulu! It is a strange time to become AAS President with the cancellation of our Boston conference and the realization of just how important these meetings are in renewing our friendships and ties to each other. We all feel the loss deeply. Many thanks to those who generously […]
In my September President’s Column I wrote about the impact of geopolitics on international scholarly exchanges and on conditions of higher education, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. Indeed, from the perspective of AAS this problem has intensified. I am referring of course to the protests and shutdown of universities in Hong Kong, where […]
Recently I was jolted by a piece of bad news that I probably should have anticipated. Reflecting on how I might have done so led me to the train of thought in this blog post, concerning new challenges in the era of contemporary global politics I invited Professor Wen Tiejun from Beijing’s Renmin University to […]
With this first blog of my Presidential tenure, I would like to express my gratitude for your support and confidence in electing me to this position. Coming into the Presidency of the Association in these deeply troubled geo-political times has been very challenging, and I will need your support and participation more than ever. What […]
We live in a world of Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, WeChat, Twitter, Facebook, and LINE, not to mention landlines, cell phones, email, online courses, and other technologies introduced in a previous century. These numerous means of communication enable us to cross the sometimes vast distances that separate us from our colleagues, our mentors, our students, and […]
This is a revised and updated version of Laurel Kendall’s President’s Column from the Fall 2016 issue of the AAS E-Newsletter. The carefully crafted panel submission, a summation of hot-breaking research, the anticipation of a lively intellectual exchange … and then the rejection message, “owing to the number of high-quality submissions and the limitations of […]
“Circular firing squad.” Professor Engseng Ho of Duke University used this phrase to describe the situation of Asian Studies scholars in the run-up to the 5th AAS-in-Asia conference, which was held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi this past July. Professor Ho was speaking on a special panel chaired by AAS Past President […]
Dear Colleagues, We live in turbulent times. For the past year and a half or so, I have spent many hours mesmerized by my television set, watching as my country (the USA) lurches from one “unprecedented” event to the next. I fume and steam and sometimes shout out loud, then go to bed. I wake […]
