Call for Proposals – AAS-in-Asia Annual Conference
AAS-in-Asia 2027 Annual Conference
July 13, 2027
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
On behalf of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and Sunway University, we invite you to submit a proposal for the 2027 AAS-in-Asia Conference. The conference will take place July 1-3, 2027, at Sunway University, near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
The Program Committee seeks organized panels and roundtable session proposals (no individual papers proposals) on all aspects of Asian Studies. The proposals are preferred but may not be limited to this year’s theme:
Asian Currents: Shifting Tides, Recasting Terrains
At AAS-in-Asia 2027 in Kuala Lumpur, we invite scholars to consider Asian Currents through interconnected ideas of shifting tides, and recasting terrains. Currents evoke movement and circulation of peoples, ideas, commodities, technologies, languages, beliefs, artistic practices, and political imaginaries across and beyond Asia. Shifting tides point to moments of transformation, as geopolitical realignments, technological change, environmental pressures, economic restructuring, and evolving cultural and educational networks reshape relationships within the region and the world. Recasting terrains invites us to reconsider the intellectual, social, cultural, political, and environmental landscapes through which Asia has been understood, and to ask how inherited frameworks might be reinterpreted, challenged, or reimagined in response to changing realities.
The conference invites reflection on both enduring and emerging currents: how they travel, where they converge, whose voices and knowledge they carry, and how they reshape communities across local, regional, and global contexts. At the same time, Asia is experiencing shifting tides. Asian societies, economies, knowledge systems, and cultural traditions are not simply responding to transformations but are actively participating in shaping them. Economic realignments, technological developments, changing political relationships, transnational education, cultural movements, and new forms of regional cooperation invite us to examine Asia as a region from which new global directions are emerging. These transformations also require us to think critically about the terrains through which Asia is interpreted. Attention to the Global South, decolonial approaches, and diverse Asian intellectual traditions encourages scholars to question frameworks that have historically positioned Asia primarily through concepts developed elsewhere. Recasting these terrains does not mean rejecting the past, but rather reconsidering how inherited forms of knowledge, governance, social organisation, environmental stewardship, and cultural expression speak to contemporary challenges.
Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia at large provide a particularly compelling setting in which to explore these currents, tides, and terrains. Situated at the intersection of regions historically described as mainland and maritime Southeast Asia, Malaysia has long been embedded within networks linking the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and wider Asian and global worlds. The Straits of Melaka have for centuries linked South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. These histories of mobility, encounter, and exchange continue to resonate within Malaysia’s multilingual, multicultural, and transnational landscapes.
Malaysia represents a pivotal vantage point from which to examine Asia’s contemporary trajectories. Its participation in ASEAN and wider regional networks, together with its role in global technology, manufacturing, education, and cultural exchange, reflects many of the transformations at the heart of the conference theme. It is a place in which historical currents intersect with shifting regional and global forces, and where inherited social and cultural terrains continue to be negotiated and recast.
Sunway University is a not-for-profit institution part of the Sunway Education Group which is owned and governed by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF), Malaysia’s largest education-focused social enterprise. At Sunway University, we welcome academics and intellectuals from across Asia and beyond to examine the currents that have connected the region, engage with the tides that are reshaping it as well as explore the terrains being recast for the future. “Asian Currents: Shifting Tides, Recasting Terrains” ultimately invites us to consider not only how Asia is being transformed, but also how ideas, practices, and possibilities emerging in, from, and across Asia are contributing to transformations around the world.
We look forward to your participation.
Sincerely,
The Program Committee of AAS-in-Asia 2027
Proposal Submission Deadline: October 30, 2026 at 5:00pm Eastern Time
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the AAS electronic submission application.
We will not accept proposals submitted via email.
The submission portal will be available from
Thursday, September 10, 2026, through Thursday, October 30, 2026.
After the submission deadline, your proposal will be forwarded to the program committee for review.
If you have questions not answered in this Call for Proposals or the FAQs, please contact the AAS at AASinAsia@asianstudies.org.
