The AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies represents the highest honor the AAS can bestow.

Originally named the “Award for Distinguished Service,” in 1992 it was renamed the “AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies.” It is intended to honor outstanding scholarship and service to the field. The award follows the same rotational pattern by area that is used for other nominations. The sitting President (corresponding to the council submitting nominations for the award) traditionally has had the most input in determining the award, which ultimately is approved by the AAS Board.

2020 Honoree: Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Williams Family Endowed Professor of History, University of Washington

Patricia Buckley Ebrey is the Williams Family Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington. Over her distinguished career, she has published five monographs and two book-length translations, edited eight collections of essays, and authored or co-authored general audience histories of China, East Asia, and world societies, as well as two editions of a sourcebook on China for undergraduate teaching. She is also the author of over seventy journal articles and book chapters. A number of her works have been translated into other languages, including Chinese, German, Korean, and Spanish.

While she is best known as a Song historian, her work has inspired entire areas of study, with groundbreaking works on social class and kinship organization; ritual and religious culture; women’s history and family property; art, visuality, and material culture; emperorship and court culture; and funerary inscriptions. By editing or co-editing volumes of scholarly work, and by providing translations and reproductions of primary materials, she has dedicated herself to developing the historical study of China both in terms of research and teaching. Finally, her textbooks have introduced countless undergraduates and general audience readers to Chinese and East Asian history.

The Association of Asian Studies is pleased to present Patricia Buckley Ebrey with the 2020 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies.

Watch Patricia Buckley Ebrey’s acceptance speech in the video below.

Previous Honorees

Full citations for honorees from 1998 to 2018 can be read here.