[Tlc] TLC-AAS important news for SEA Studies

[justinm at ucr.edu]

See an important and exciting letter from our new AAS President, Bob Hefner, below. Please send it TLC/AAS panel proposals. I have gotten word about at least two panel proposals in our area. I hope to get more and pass them onto the TLC executive committee for consideration for the TLC designated panel. Remember, the executive committee needs to see (at least a good draft) proposal for a panel by June 30th to be considered for the TLC designated panel. The deadline for proposals to the AAS is August 7th.

Thanks,
justin

June 19, 2009
Dear Colleagues in Southeast Asian Studies,

As we all know, the presidency of the Association for Asian Studies rotates among the Association’s four regional councils, so every four years or so another Southeast Asianist from among our ranks ends up, usually a bit startled by the whole business, assuming the presidency.  One question that has come up in discussions with colleagues and friends since I assumed the presidency on March 30, 2009, is just whether having someone “from Southeast Asian Studies” is supposed to make available any special initiatives or opportunities for fellow Southeast Asianists.

 

The simplest to this question is, “Well, not many, but there are a few small things.”  The president is supposed to work with colleagues on SEAC and the AAS Executive to invite a keynote speaker speaker for the meetings, to nominate a scholar for a distinguished service award for service to Southeast Asian studies, and to help identify a few possible sub-themes for panels at the annual meeting.

 

As most of you probably know, Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia has kindly and enthusiastically agreed to be our keynote speaker for the AAS meetings this year.  If he can avoid legal entanglements (he is technically still under indictment), he should make for a lively speaker.  The AAS Executive is still working through the list of names provided by SEAC for the distinguished service award, but we have a very distinguished group of senior scholars to consider.

 

This leaves the annual meeting next year in Philadelphia.  Bob Snow, the AAS Director of Development, and Gil Rozman, our program chair, recently reminded me that Southeast Asianists in the AAS should take advantage of this year’s meeting to try to increase our region’s presence at the meetings.  At most annual meetings, Southeast Asian studies doesn’t far too badly.  But the AAS Executive feels that Southeast Asian studies still isn’t quite as well represented as it could or should be in the annual meeting .  As a result, Bob and Gil appealed to me to contact colleagues in Southeast Asia, and encourage them to encourage their friends and fellow-Southeast Asianists to submit panel proposals and also attend the meetings in Philadelphia.  That’s the reason I am writing to you today.

 

As several of you know, in recent weeks, I have also taken the liberty of approaching a few people to encourage the formation of specific panels on topics that colleagues have told me are of special timeliness in Southeast Asian studies, as well as Asian Studies generally.  I have also contacted a few professional associations from outside of the AAS, with an interest in Southeast Asia, to encourage them to come to the meetings and play some role.   Of course, Bob, Gil, and I are also extending our hand to scholars on the other regional councils.  But Bob and Gil have made a point of encouraging me to do anything that I can to get the message out, that the Association would be especially happy to see a large number of Southeast Asianists at next year’s meeting in Philadelphia.

 

As you probably have heard, there are a few other angles in which the AAS is especially interested.  We’re keen on drawing in scholars from Asia, Australia, and Europe, as well as Asianists who may happen to live in regions of the world like Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, where one doesn’t usually think of there being much Southeast Asian studies at all.  This past year in Chicago we hosted a special group of Asianists from Latin America – who, I might add, were thrilled by the invitation to participate.  The AAS is also keen on bringing in scholars who bridge the world of academia, policy debates, journalism, and public scholarship.  One of our Foundation supporters is very keen on having the AAS expand its interest in environmental issues.  Last but not least, and notwithstanding my partisan appeal for greater Southeast Asianist participation, the AAS program committee is especially fond of panels that transcend disciplinary and regional boundaries. 

 

It’s early summer, and most of what I’ve talked about here is too pedestrian to shake most of us (present company included) out of the “hurrah-it’s-summer” mode.   But I do hope that you might pass the word to colleagues and friends that the meeting next year in Philadelphia should be a good year for Southeast Asian Studies.    At one point earlier this year, I had hoped that the AAS executive might do the impossible and arrange a videoconference with President Obama.  As you all know, his mother, Ann Dunham, was a dedicated economic anthropologist of rural central Java, and I thought we might be able to get the President “in” through a panel dedicated to his mother’s dissertation, which Duke is publishing as a book in October of this year.  But, my “other” association, the American Anthropological Association, was first off the mark, and has an identical panel prepared and an invitation out to the president (he’s not yet indicated whether he will make an electronic appearance).    So, we’re not going to have a Southeast Asian angle quite as dramatic as a presidential videoconference.  But if we make something of a coordinate effort, the meetings might nonetheless be a very good moment for Southeast Asian studies.  I hope you might agree and perhaps help with this effort.

 

I thank you in advance, send my best regards from Boston, and wish you all the best for a great summer. 

 

Salaam,

Bob Hefner

 

Director

Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs

Boston University
______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu