Welcome to the 54th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies! We are delighted to return to Lehigh University 26 years after our last gathering here in 2000, following its earlier hosting in 1987. Located in Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania’s beautiful Lehigh Valley, the university’s historic campus provides a welcoming setting. Lehigh’s commitment to inclusive and interdisciplinary learning aligns with MARAAS’s mission to advance the study of Asia and beyond and foster scholarly exchange across disciplines.
This year’s conference theme, “Asian Pasts, Global Futures: Redefining Multiple Global Asias,” examines how Asia’s historical trajectories constitute and unsettle prevailing conceptions of the global. Approaching Asia as a relational formation that exceeds conventional territorial boundaries, the conference invites reflection on the conceptual significance of “global Asias” in the plural. Historically situated inquiries not only challenge established frameworks of knowledge but also complicate and reconfigure dominant narratives of globalization.
We are pleased to welcome our keynote speaker, Dr. Elora Shehabuddin, Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also directs the Global Studies Program and the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies. She serves as president of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) for the 2026–27 term.
Our Distinguished Asianist Award honors Dr. Constance A. Cook, Professor Emerita at Lehigh University, who retired at the end of 2024 after 35 years of teaching and service, most recently as chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Her scholarship examines ancient Chinese history, religion, literature, and medicine through unearthed manuscripts and inscriptions. She has authored seven books and edited five. Her most recent book is Medicine and Healing in Ancient East Asia: A View from Excavated Texts (Cambridge, 2023). Her lecture is titled “Illness and the Cosmic Body in Fourth Century BCE.”
We also welcome Dr. David Kenley, Professor of Cyber Leadership at Dakota State University and editor of the Asia Shorts book series published by the AAS. This year, we recognize him with the MARAAS Exemplary Service Award for his outstanding commitment and invaluable service to our association. A historian of modern China, Dr. Kenley earned his doctorate at the University of Hawaiʻi and previously taught at Elizabethtown College and Marshall University.
As you attend the panels, please consider nominating outstanding graduate student papers on East, Southeast, and South Asia for the MARAAS graduate student paper prizes. Please use the QR code in your program to access the nomination form. The best of these papers will receive the Marlene Mayo Graduate Paper Prize, which carries a $500 award. The recipient may also be eligible to participate in a panel at the AAS annual conference and receive financial assistance for travel and accommodations.
On behalf of MARAAS, I extend our sincere gratitude to our colleagues at Lehigh University, especially Dr. Thomas Chen, our site director, and Dr. Shellen Wu, this year’s program manager. Their seamless coordination of the program, guest arrangements, and conference logistics has made this gathering possible. We are especially grateful to Amelia Cimerola, Manager of Interdisciplinary Programs, and Grace Young, Academic Coordinator and Event Planner for Interdisciplinary Programs, for their essential contributions.
I also thank the MARAAS executive officers and advisory council members for their dedication and collegiality. Our regular Saturday meetings have benefited immensely from their thoughtful advice, fresh ideas, and laughter. Special thanks go to our former president, Dr. Erik Ropers, for developing our new website. Please also join me in welcoming our incoming president, Dr. Evan Young of Dickinson College, who served as our treasurer for many years.
Thank you all for traveling from near and far to join us in Bethlehem. I look forward to learning from your research and to the conversations that will develop throughout the conference. I hope you find this gathering intellectually rewarding and leave with renewed connections to our scholarly community.
Suzie Kim
2026 MARAAS President