SEC-AAS president Prof. Yaohua Shi has released his presidential letter, dated May 24, 2024. Here is his message:
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am pleased to announce that the 64th fully in-person annual meeting of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies will be held on January 24-26, 2025, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
As an academic discipline with roots in the Cold War and its associated ideologies, Asian Studies is facing a host of challenges and opportunities as a result of the evolving geopolitical landscape within the Asia-Pacific region and worldwide. The 2025 SEC/AAS conference provides a vital platform for scholarly engagement and debate amidst what could be arguably described as a process of “deglobalization.” Factors such as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Palestine, the escalating tension between China and the United States as well as other countries in Asia, and the rise of ultranationalist movements all contribute to this significant restructuring process that could bring about profound changes.
The conference program committee invites participants to evaluate dynamic concepts and methodologies paramount to our understanding of Global Asias in this pivotal moment. These include such overarching themes as “Global,” “Asia(s),” “Asian/ness,” “Asian American,” “Asian Diaspora,” “Asia-Pacific,” and “Transpacific.” Of particular interest are submissions that focus on underrepresented areas, notably South and Southeast Asia, or offer innovative and unconventional perspectives.
Our local coordinators, Charlie Yi Zhang (charlie.zhang@uky.edu) and Liang Luo (llu222@uky.edu), are planning a full panoply of exciting events. Conference information, including proposal submission sites and deadlines, will be posted at https://www.sec-aas.com/conf .
SEC/AAS will award four prizes — best book, article, graduate, and undergraduate paper — at the 2025 conference. Books and articles published during 2024 and graduate and undergraduate papers written during 2024 and nominated by a faculty advisor are eligible for the awards. The deadline for submissions is October 30, 2024. Books and graduate papers should be sent to Professor Gengsong Gao (ggao@richmond.edu), articles to Dr. Kevin Fogg (kfogg@email.unc.edu), and undergraduate papers to Professor Xia Shi (xshi@ncf.edu).
A limited number of $200 travel grants are available to student presenters. Those who wish to be considered should include a note in their proposals. Preference will be given to students in the Southeast region who must travel more than two hundred miles to the conference.
Participants must be dues-paying members. SEC/AAS dues are $20 for faculty and $10 for students. The membership application form is available on the SEC/AAS website. Please submit the application with the correct dues to:
Carolina Asia Center
CB#7582
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7582
Finally, SEC/AAS invites self-nominations to the executive committee. Please email me (shiy@wfu.edu) if you are interested in running for the vice president or 1st year member-at-large position.
I look forward to seeing you at the 2025 meeting!
Sincerely
President SEC-AAS 2024
Yaohua Shi