ASAA Oral History Project Team

Minerva traces her journey in Asian Studies back to her childhood in Sydney in the 1990s, when her mother insisted she learn Chinese and enrolled her in a Chinese school. As the only white student, she was warmly embraced by the Chinese Australian community—an experience that shaped her enduring commitment to Chinese language and culture. […]

Liam traces his journey in Asian Studies to a childhood spent in Kathmandu, where his parents worked in international development, and he attended an international school. Returning to Australia for high school, he enrolled in Asian Studies at UWA in the late 1990s. Initially intending to study Hindi, he instead took Indonesian – almost by

Kent traces his journey from growing up in Alaska, where early encounters with Japanese visitors first sparked his curiosity about Asia, to becoming an international lawyer and comparative legal scholar. A chance enrolment in Japanese at Middlebury College led to a study program in Nagoya in the late 1980s, an experience that cemented his commitment

Tanya explains how she came to Asian Studies by happenstance after a visit to India. After attending university as a mature-age student, she became an expert about development in India. Tanya looks to Asia – especially India and Indonesia – to generate new theories (especially of power) and applies them outside of Asia. Tanya first

Lis recounts how she grew up with an Indonesian mother and lived in Indonesia until the age of 14. She credits an inspirational teacher in her BA as helping to keep her engaged in studying the language and realising its wider value. Lis works as a political scientist, but at heart she is an Indonesianist.

In 2026 the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) celebrates its 50th anniversary. To mark this occasion, the ASAA Council and Executive Committee have launched several initiatives, including an oral history project, which is intended to highlight the contributions of people who have played significant roles in the life of the Association. Participants will be