Event Details

End: January 6, 2017
Contact: mcunningham@asian-studies.org
More Info: http://www.asian-studies.org/News/AAS-Workshop

The Association for Asian Studies is pleased to invite applications to participate in the first workshop in its new workshop series, “Emerging Fields in the Study of Asia,” supported by the Luce Foundation. The first workshop, entitled “New Frontiers in Asian Economic History,” will take place on May 11-15, 2017 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

The value of economic history as an area of enquiry stems from the centrality of economic activity to the human condition. With a significant fraction of the world’s population living in Asia and some of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, Asia is poised to become the center of the world economy. Economic historians in the disciplines of history and economics have responded with a renewed interest in the historical roots and contexts behind this growth. At the same time, they have faced obstacles rooted in the demands of their disciplines, in constraints on the ability to work on certain regions of Asia and in the large investment necessary to pursue a research agenda that combines linguistic and regional expertise and diverse methodological skills. This workshop recognizes the increasing number of scholars, particular younger ones, embarking on the study of Asian historical economies, the breadth of topics encompassed by their work and the importance of overcoming obstacles to this research and opening new opportunities for future work.

The aims of this workshop are:

1. 1. to enhance the profile of economic history of Asia,
2. 2. to create a community of scholars spanning the sub-regions and disciplinary boundaries of Asia,
3. 3. to encourage historians and economists to engage in a dialog that will enable mutual understanding and appreciation, thereby planting the seeds for collaborative research across disciplinary boundaries, and
4. 4. to assist young scholars of economic history in launching and securing successful career trajectories in their various disciplines and/or institutions.

Recognizing the wide variety of issues addressed by scholars of economic history, there is no central theme for the workshop. The goals of the workshop will best be met by bringing together scholars whose work illuminates both the interdisciplinary possibilities open to economic historians and the wide range of methods and questions that can deepen our understanding of historical economic processes, practices and outcomes. Papers may address controversies among economists and historians, such as controversies over the claim that the ‘right’ institutions are a necessary condition for rapid economic growth and over the role of culture in economic development. They may explore diverse aspects of economic activity, such as accounting, business and financial history, the roles played by the state, impacts on and of climate change and the environment, merchant communities and trade networks. They may address new methodological interventions and new forms of evidence, biological, material and others. Participants will be selected with the goal of creating a robust discussion of the challenges and rewards of work in their chosen field, the insights they can share with their fellow participants regarding the research and writing process, and the kinds of future interventions, educational and otherwise, that may further the development of economic history research and teaching.

More details on workshop structure and application procedures are available at the AAS website: http://www.asian-studies.org/News/AAS-Workshop