WELCOME FROM MAR/AAS PRESIDENT
Dear Colleagues and Members of the MAR/AAS:
Welcome to the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies! Our 2024 theme is “Interdisciplinary Asia: Bridges to New Opportunities.” Interdisciplinary approaches create new knowledge by breaking boundaries and barriers and providing new lenses for critical inquiries. As a research area, Asian Studies has been interdisciplinary and cross-border from the beginning. This year, researchers with various academic backgrounds will share their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities interdisciplinarity brings to Asian Studies.
The University of Delaware (UD) will host this year’s conference on its dynamic campus in Newark, Delaware. This is the fourth time that UD has hosted a MARAAS annual conference, the last one being in 2013. UD's robust Asian Studies program is interdisciplinary in nature, with faculty from the Departments of Anthropology, Art History, English, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, History, Music, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, and Sociology and Criminal Justice, offering both majors and minors.
A dedicated team makes this conference possible. I am grateful to program managers Michael Stone and Frank Mondelli for organizing panels and creating an intriguing and diverse program. I want to express my gratitude to all MAR/AAS Executive Committee and Advisory Council members whose dedication and consistent efforts throughout the year keep MRA/AAS going and thriving. I also want to thank the University of Delaware, DE Humanities, the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and the Great Philadelphia Asian Studies Consortium (GPASC) for their generous financial support.
The MARAAS conference provides an excellent opportunity for graduate students to learn, network, and be inspired. Graduate students who present are eligible for the Marlene Mayo Graduate Student Award, which includes a cash prize and the opportunity to present their work at the Association for Asian Studies annual conference the following year. I encourage you to use the QR code in the program or the hard copies of the nomination form in each conference room to nominate the best graduate presentations. The MAR/AAS nomination committee thank you in advance for helping us identify outstanding young scholars.
We will hold three panel sessions on Saturday, November 2nd and a Pop Culture and Teaching About Asia Forum for K-12 Educators co-organized by Dr. Shuhan C. Wang. The Annual Business Luncheon will spotlight AAS Vice President Dr. Nancy Peluso of the University of California, Berkley, in a keynote speech, followed by a featured speech, “Looking for China” by Bill Einreinhofer, producer, director, educator, and writer who created Emmy Award-winning nonfiction video content. At the Dinner Banquet on Saturday night, we will present our 2024 Distinguished Asianist Award to Dr. Kathleen (Kathy) Uno, retired Temple University professor of modern Japanese history. She devoted many years to leading the Asian Studies Program at Temple University as director and chair and has been a strong supporter of MAR/AAS. On Sunday, November 3rd, after two panel sessions, we will conclude the conference with the Complimentary Brunch and the Annual Presidential Roundtable featuring the keynote speech “Time, Religion, and Civilization: Missionary Almanacs in Southern China in the Early Nineteenth Century” given by Dr. Yuanchong Wang from the University of Delaware.
I look forward to meeting you at UD!
Haihong Yang
President of MAR/AAS 2024
University of Delaware