Here on Asian Currents we’ll be hosting an account of each day’s online activity around the ASAA conference to give you a glimpse of what’s on offer at this year’s conference.
3 July 2018 was the first day of the ASAA conference held at the University of Sydney. With over 800 people presenting their work this is just a small glimpse of some of the fantastic sessions on offer and the online conversation around them.
The conference began with an opening plenary session,
The #ASAA2018 plenary session has just begun – Why it’s a Great Tike to be an Asianist? Jump onto our Facebook and watch it live @asiancurrents https://t.co/aOxWXxlx0l
— SSEAC (@seacsydney) July 2, 2018
The panel are reflecting on some of the unique advantages of being an Asianist in Australia #ASAA2018
— ASAA – Asian Currents (@asiancurrents) July 2, 2018
I bet that’s the first time the word ‘woke’ has been used in an ASAA Plenary session! Enjoying hearing from Thomas Baudinette and the other fab scholars Jacqui Baker and Tanya Jakimow on this opening panel #ASAA2018 @seacsydney @thushdibley @asiancurrents
— Dr Natali Pearson ????????♀️???????? ???????? (@sea_greeny) July 2, 2018
Oh yeah. Asia isn't the testing ground for European theorists. Love it#asaa2018
— Dr. Sarina Kilham (@SarinaKilham) July 2, 2018
You can now watch the full session online.
From there, the conference broke out into its panel sessions catering to a wide range of interests, including authoritarianism, migrant workers, climate change, food and many more:
It’s now cool to be a Malaysianist, @RossTapsell declares in #ASAA2018. I guess he’s right. pic.twitter.com/WANX1MHNN0
— Nicole Curato (@NicoleCurato) July 3, 2018
Great graph from @LMorgenbesser on signing of international human rights agreements by authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia. Shows what I like to say about Cambodia's willingness to sign anything.#ASAA2018 pic.twitter.com/xMUb6fmL4k
— Becky Gidley (@beckra_giddon) July 3, 2018
E Timorese migrant labour in UK, paper by Claire Millar, changing attitudes to education, development, corruption #asaa2018 @TLStudies pic.twitter.com/3KvR0A72lr
— Dr Vannessa Hearman (@vhearman) July 3, 2018
You can have 50% women present in community meetings but if they aren't participating its not effective #asaa2018
— Dr. Sarina Kilham (@SarinaKilham) July 3, 2018
69% of Bangladeshi population are functionally landless (< 0.2 hectares) so land claims are a survival issue. What is the impact of casting the struggle for land in the language of climate change? Topics at #ASAA2018 pic.twitter.com/zF50Fcf8Rp
— Peter Schoppert (@katong) July 3, 2018
Is there a way of not "eat the other", but instead "eat with the other"? – Food and Popular Culture, Dr. Jane Park #ASAA2018
— Edzilla King of the Monsters/怪獣の王エドジラ (@Edo_Granpa) July 3, 2018
Robbie peters #ASAA2018 just blew my mind with a story about Dutch attempts to raise the flag in 1945, and the bottom third of the flag being ripped off to reveal the Indonesian flag ????????-> ???????? A community created through violence pic.twitter.com/J2svX4yI7Z
— Dr Natali Pearson ????????♀️???????? ???????? (@sea_greeny) July 3, 2018
Chris Gregory on sacred stones from Bastar to Monsoon Asia #ASAA2018 @asiancurrents pic.twitter.com/tevY83ehVh
— Malini Sur (@MaliniSur) July 3, 2018
The day also saw sessions on what book publishers, journal editors, and grant committees want with a lot of valuable advice shared.
Listening to the "what journal editors want" panel at #ASAA2018. "If an editor comes back and asks for reviews, it generally means they want to publish it" #acwri
— New Voices in Japanese Studies (@NVJSjournal) July 3, 2018
Great session on 'What Journal Editors Want' at #ASAA2018 at @seacsydney @Sydney_Uni today! Big thanks to chair @MicheleSSEAC and the fabulous editors of @AsianStudiesRev @southasiajsas @PacHistReview Michael Barr, Kama Maclean, Marc Rodriguez !! #archaeology #publishing #Asia pic.twitter.com/mMpJparl7o
— Sarah Ward ???? (@SarahWardAU) July 3, 2018
"A useful technique is to draw up a matrix, remove any emotive language, and map out the reviewers' points. If different reviewers make the same point, you know you need to deal with it. It also helps you to get distance and see what is major vs minor" #ASAA2018 #acwri
— New Voices in Japanese Studies (@NVJSjournal) July 3, 2018
Another excellent #ASAA2018 #ProfessionalDevelopment session today – this time chaired by the lovely @liskramer! Big thanks to @Greg__Earl from @DFAT's Aus-AEAN Council, @Elicia_O from @JPFSydney and @MicheleSSEAC ex- @arc_gov_au for their top tips on getting grants! #archaeology pic.twitter.com/QkInlBv6m8
— Sarah Ward ???? (@SarahWardAU) July 3, 2018
During afternoon tea, books in the ASAA series were launched, congratulations to all the authors involved.
Congrats Alexander Brown on your book launch today at #ASAA2018: "Anti-Nuclear Protest in Post-Fukushima Japan: Power Struggles" @Routledge_AS https://t.co/KgvVHNqAl8
— Elicia O’Reilly (@eliciao_o) July 3, 2018
New books in the Southeast Asia Publications Series of ASAA, from left: @vhearman, author of Unmarked Graves, series editor @EdwardAspinall and Catherine Smith, author of Resilience and the Localisation of Trauma in Aceh. So nice to celebrate new books at the #ASAA2018 meeting pic.twitter.com/IUkgBdlPH5
— NUS Press (@NUS_Press) July 3, 2018
Finally for Day 1 each of the regional associations hosted a keynote address.
Jomo at #ASAA2018 need to think of GE14 not as a ‘malaysian tsunami’ but as a slow burning fire. Najib lost the election; no great victory for the opposition. Humility, not hubris, needed. pic.twitter.com/AIexzYYDqA
— Ross Tapsell (@RossTapsell) July 3, 2018
Dr Lia Kent (ANU) speaking on geographies of memory and power in Aceh and Timor-Leste #subregionalkeynote #ASAA2018 @TLStudies pic.twitter.com/jX97mXBE7k
— Dr Vannessa Hearman (@vhearman) July 3, 2018
Katherine Bowrie giving the inaugural keynote of the Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars about her favourite monk and forced disrobing of over 300 monks in Thailand in 1936. #ASAA2018 pic.twitter.com/WFs7LtPEJx
— Becky Gidley (@beckra_giddon) July 3, 2018
And there was a lot of love for the conference and its first day.
#ASAA2018 day 1 is over. So far so good! Great papers, great energy! Go team @seacsydney @sea_greeny @thushdibley
— Elisabeth Kramer (@liskramer) July 3, 2018
is grateful for the amazing — and quite large! — audience at my presentation/panel at #ASAA2018 earlier today. Thank you Australia!
— Jonathan Z Ludwig ???????? (@JonathanZLudwig) July 3, 2018
Thank you #ASAA2018 for providing such a wonderful platform to talk about my resesrch with other Asian studies scholars! pic.twitter.com/wDsAsqKyJW
— Kai Ruo Soh (苏愷若 카이) (@kaiRsoh) July 3, 2018
