Network Asia: Past, Present, and Future, March 6-8, 2025 at The Westin Georgetown Hotel in Washington, DC

We invite papers and panels from all disciplines and across all frameworks that engage with the historical, contemporary, and future of networking Asia. This includes papers and panels that reflect on relational complexity and plurality and how the global Asias and trans-Asia approaches to Asian studies are bridging area studies and ethnic studies, and those that explore how best to foster science-informed and diversity-enhancing collective action that equitably addresses issues of global concern like data governance and climate change.

Networks are dynamic, relational blends of agency and structure. Today, networks and networking are commonly associated with digital connectivity and social media platforms. But trade networks have linked communities since prehistoric times. Buddhist monastic networks across Asia mediated exchanges of people, ideas, and ideals with culture-transforming effects. Christian missionary networks facilitated European engagement with the intellectual and religious traditions of Asia, while European and American colonial networks both influenced and were influenced by Asian intellectuals whose scholarly networks developed critical resources for mounting anti-colonial revolutions and independence movements. And, historically, social networks have played crucial roles in raising the status of women and both contesting and addressing patterns of social, political, and economic inequality.

Proposal Guidelines

The Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) committee is now accepting proposals for the 2025 National Conference. Proposals can be for individual papers, panels, poster sessions, or round-table sessions and should not exceed 250 words. Panels: Please keep in mind that one panel will have 90 minutes for their session.

Student Best Paper Prize: The ASDP Alumni Chapter supports the next generation of scholars committed to Asia-related research and teaching. Two prizes will be awarded at the annual conference in 2025: a first prize of $150, and a runner-up prize of $100.

For further information about the conference itself and about the venue, please see the ASDP website: 

https://www.eastwestcenter.org/events/2025-asdp-32nd-national-conference