International Association of Historians of Asia

International Association of Historians of Asia
Name	International Association of Historians of Asia
Formation	1980s
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	Tokyo
Region served	Asia, Europe, Americas
Language	English
Leader title	President

International Association of Historians of Asia The International Association of Historians of Asia is a transnational scholarly society connecting historians specializing in China, Japan, India, Korea, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, Russia, United Kingdom, United States and other regions. It facilitates comparative study across fields represented by scholars who work on Tang dynasty, Ming dynasty, Tokugawa shogunate, Qing dynasty, Maurya Empire, Mughal Empire, Gandhara, Khmer Empire, Srivijaya, Mongol Empire, Goryeo, Joseon dynasty and related topics. The Association engages with universities, such as University of Tokyo, Peking University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Seoul National University, National University of Singapore, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Oxford and research institutes like the British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

History

Founded in the late 20th century by historians who had ties to conferences at International Congress of Historical Sciences, Association for Asian Studies, Royal Asiatic Society, and regional bodies including the Asian Studies Association of Australia and the American Historical Association, the Association emerged amid renewed interest in comparative studies following events such as the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and the normalization of relations between China and the United States marked by the Nixon visit to China. Early officers included scholars connected to projects on the Silk Road and the rediscovery of manuscripts from Dunhuang. The Association expanded during the 1990s as post-Cold War archives in Russia and Central Asia opened, paralleling initiatives at institutions like the International Institute for Asian Studies and collaborations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on heritage preservation in sites such as Angkor Wat and Mohenjo-daro.

Membership and Structure

Membership comprises individual scholars, graduate students, libraries and institutional members from centers such as École française d'Extrême-Orient, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Korean History Association, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and museum departments at Metropolitan Museum of Art. Governance typically follows a council model with elected officers drawn from scholars affiliated to University of Cambridge, Stanford University, Australian National University, University of Delhi, Kyoto University, National Taiwan University and national academies like the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Committees coordinate partnerships with publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge and periodicals like the Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Chinese History, Modern Asian Studies.

Conferences and Congresses

The Association organizes biennial congresses and thematic conferences rotating among venues including Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, New Delhi, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kathmandu, Colombo, Istanbul and Moscow. Key conference themes have intersected with case studies on the Opium Wars, Meiji Restoration, Indian Rebellion of 1857, Taiping Rebellion, Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Korean War, Vietnam War, Partition of India, and transnational subjects such as the Maritime Silk Road and diasporas like the Overseas Chinese. Plenary speakers have included historians connected to projects on Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Zhang Qian, Rabindranath Tagore, I.E. Kim, and curators from British Museum and Vatican Library.

Research and Publications

The Association sponsors monograph series, edited volumes and special issues in journals addressing periods and themes such as Heian period, Yuan dynasty, Southeast Asian maritime trade, South Asian caste systems in historical perspective, and comparative urban histories of Kyoto, Beijing, Delhi, Lhasa, Baghdad and Xi'an. It collaborates with presses on works about sources like Gandharan manuscripts, Dunhuang manuscripts, Sanskrit inscriptions, Oracle bone script fragments and translated archives from Tokugawa records, Ottoman Ottoman-era correspondence, and Mamluk registers. Digital humanities projects include databases modeled after initiatives at Harvard Yenching Library, National Library of China, and digital mapping inspired by the Pleiades gazetteer and the Digital Himalaya project.

Regional and Thematic Working Groups

Working groups focus on regions and themes, such as East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and thematic strands on religious movements centered on figures like Buddha, Confucius, Guru Nanak, Muhammad, Ashoka and institutions including Nalanda University and Shaolin Monastery. Other groups concentrate on economic networks exemplified by studies of the Dutch East India Company, British East India Company, Maritime Asia, diffusion of technologies such as printing press in East Asia, and migration histories involving Indenture and Coolie trade.

Awards and Recognition

The Association grants prizes recognizing book-length scholarship, early-career research, and archival discovery, awarding works that engage with primary sources like Manusmriti manuscripts, Yijing travel accounts, and collections from the India Office Records. Awardees have included scholars affiliated with Princeton University, Yale University, National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne, Peking University and recipients of honors such as the Edsall Prize, John K. Fairbank Prize, Watson Davis Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and MacArthur Foundation.

Category:International learned societies Category:Asian studies