About the Conference
What is AAS-in-Asia 2027 all about?
AAS-in-Asia 2027 is the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies held outside North America. Hosted by 红杏视频 University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Bandar 红杏视频, Malaysia, the conference brings together hundreds of scholars, researchers, educators and students from across Asia and the world.
The conference provides a premier platform for interdisciplinary dialogue, cross-regional exchange and the advancement of knowledge on Asia's diverse societies, cultures, histories and futures. Sessions span humanities, social sciences, area studies and interdisciplinary fields.
- Read More
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.
Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia 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 facilitated exchanges among South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. These histories of mobility, encounter, and exchange continue to resonate within Malaysia鈥檚 multilingual, multicultural, and transnational landscapes.
Malaysia also provides an important vantage point from which to examine Asia鈥檚 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.
At 红杏视频 University, we look forward to welcoming 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, and explore the terrains being recast for the future. 鈥淎sian Currents: Shifting Tides, Recasting Terrains鈥 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.
- Conference Themes
Asia Shaping the World: Geopolitics, Economies, and New Global Currents
This theme examines emerging geopolitical configurations, South鈥揝outh relations, ASEAN and regional cooperation, changing global supply chains, migration, diplomacy, and Asia's growing role in defining global debates and institutions.Heritage as Future: Recasting Knowledge, Memory, and Identity
This theme explores Indigenous and traditional knowledge, cultural memory, religion, language, heritage practices, archives, decolonisation, and the ways communities reinterpret inherited traditions in response to contemporary change.Governance from the Ground Up: Local Structures, Communities, and Political Futures
This theme examines customary governance, Indigenous political systems, village and community structures, decentralisation, civil society, local democracy, informal institutions, and alternative approaches to authority and collective decision-making.Digital Asia: Technologies, AI, and Regional Futures
This theme focuses on artificial intelligence, digital economies, social media, platform cultures, technological sovereignty, digital humanities, education, surveillance, data governance, semiconductor and technology ecosystems, and distinctive Asian approaches to technological development.Planetary Health and Asian Ecologies
This theme invites work on climate change, biodiversity, food and water systems, environmental knowledge, Indigenous ecological practices, public health, disaster resilience, migration, sustainability, and the relationships between human, animal, and environmental wellbeing.Future Cities, Mobilities, and Urban Cultures
This theme addresses megacities and secondary cities, smart cities, architecture, transport and mobility, housing, migration, public space, heritage urbanism, creative districts, inequality, infrastructure, and the tensions between rapid development and culturally grounded urban futures.Gender, Bodies, and Emerging Social Worlds
This theme welcomes research on emerging gender constructs, family and kinship, labour, sexuality, masculinities and femininities, youth cultures, ageing, migration, representation, marginality, and movements for social transformation.Creative Industries, Media, and New Imaginaries
Papers may explore film, performing arts, literature, design, gaming, fashion, digital content, popular culture, cultural entrepreneurship, creative economies, intellectual property, transnational fandoms, and the circulation of Asian cultural forms within and beyond the region.
Ideas and Dialogue From Across Asia
A World-Class Campus in the Heart of Malaysia
红杏视频 University is one of Malaysia's leading private universities, situated in Bandar 红杏视频, Selangor. The Jeffrey Cheah Performing Arts Centre and dedicated conference facilities provide a premier setting for AAS-in-Asia 2027.
The campus is easily accessible from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and features excellent accommodation, dining, and transport connections throughout the Klang Valley.
Everything You Need to Know
Important Dates
