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Australian Society for Asian Humanities
Promoting Asian Studies in Australia since 1956
We promote the knowledge of Asia in Australia and provide a venue for scholars to present their work to their peers and others interested in Asia. We regularly run lectures, discussions and exhibitions to encourage the study of Asian history and culture.
Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities (JOSAH)
JOSAH: The Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities (formally the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA)) has been published continuously since 1960 and is the longest-running journal on Asia in Australia. Digital copies of JOSAH can be purchased through INFORMIT. Printed copies are available through the Sydney University Press.
Become a member
For membership inquiries, contact the treasurer, Dr Ying (Eagle) Zhang (eagle.zhang@sydney.edu.au).
Our people
- President: Professor Jon Eugene von Kowallis
- Vice-President: Dr Josh Stenberg
- Honorary Secretary: Professor Meaghan Morris
- Assistant Honorary Secretary: Associate Professor Rebecca Suter
- Honorary Treasurer: Dr Ying (Eagle) Zhang
- Assistant Treasurer: Dr Sean Moores
- Editor of JOSAH: Professor Adrian Vickers
- Associate Editor of JOSAH: Lim Wah Guan
- Associate Editor of JOSAH: Roman Roseunbaum
- Seminars Officer: Dr Minerva Inwald
- Social Media Officer: Dr Shawna Tang
- JOSAH Website Officer: Roman Rosenbaum
- Dr Seiko Yasumoto
- Dr Olivier Krischer
- Charlotte Setijadi
- Professor Hans Hendrischke
- Professor Michael G. Carter
- Professor Jocelyn Chey
- Professor John Clark
- Professor Hugh Clarke
- Barbara Hendrischke
- Dr Mabel Lee
- Professor Bonnie McDougall
- Soumyen Mukherjee
Events
Call for papers | Asian Humanities Today: Tradition, Transformation and Future
Submission deadline: 15 December 2025
This conference is presented by the Australian Society for Asian Humanities, supported by the China Studies Centre and the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney.
We are thrilled to invite interested scholars and postgraduate students across the globe to an exciting two-day conference organised by the Australian Society for Asian Humanities (ASAH) on 3 and 4 July 2026 at the University of Sydney. This is the first conference under the current name.
In a time when the humanities face existential challenges, we invite scholars to reflect on the meaning of Asian humanities today, foregrounding Asia not merely as a subject of study or an expression of region, but as a vital source of knowledge, practice and insight for rethinking the humanities. Over a decade since the Gillard government issued the ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ White Paper, Asia’s centrality to every aspect of global humanities is undeniable. Yet, this same decade has also witnessed a worrying decline in Asian humanities research and education in Australia and New Zealand.
Originally founded in 1956 as the Oriental Society of Australia, ASAH is committed to revitalising the field. ‘Humanities’ and ‘Asia’ being broadly defined, papers are invited in every aspect of Asian humanities, including Music, Art, Architecture, History, Literature, Translation Studies, Philology, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, STS, Anthropology, etc. without limitation of era. We invite contributions that engage Asian traditions, trace the forces of transformations shaping Asia, envision new futures for Asian humanities, and consider Asian-Australian or Asian-New Zealand humanities. Postgraduate and Honours students are encouraged to apply.
This conference will be held at the University of Sydney, the oldest university in Australasia, located in a city deeply shaped by rich historical interaction with Asia. Applications are invited for organised panels or individual papers. Read more.
The Oriental Society of Australia holds a lunchtimes seminar series.
Please join our mailing list to be notified of upcoming seminars.
You can find details about our seminars at the SOPHI events calendar page.
When: Thursday 4 November, 6pm
Where: Online (Zoom)
Asia in Australia: History on the Streets
Speaker: Professor Emerita Vera Mackie (University of Wollongong)
There has been a shift from seeing 'Asia' as a separate geographical entity to a recognition of the mutually imbricated histories of Australia and Asia and a consciousness of the continued presence of Asian and Asian-Australian communities within the boundaries of the nation-state. How would this history look if we took the streets as our starting point? What are the traces of this history on the streets of the city?
When: Thursday 29 October 2020, 6pm
Where: Online (Zoom)
“The bones of our mothers”: Coal, climate and resistance in a Chhattisgarh District
Speaker: Professor Devleena Ghosh (University of Technology Sydney)
In recent years, Adivasis in Chhattisgarh have been resisting the encroachment of their lands and forests by various mining corporations. Such developments have subsumed forest dwellers’ rights to the necessities of resource extraction and caused the displacement and loss of land and livelihoods. This presentation examines the historical status of forest dwelling Adivasis and the appropriation of their lands, first by colonial rulers in the 19th century and then by postcolonial governments.
From Orientalism to Inter-Asia Referencing: Reflections on Asian Studies in Australia
Speaker: Professor Adrian Vickers (Professor of Southeast Asia, University of Sydney)
This lecture examined the wider issues governing Asian Studies in Australia, moving from colonial Orientalism to Inter-Asia Referencing and the Cold War underpinnings of the field. Drawing on ‘Asia as Method’ and the writings of Chua Beng Huat, Professor Vickers asks what might constitute an Asian-oriented understanding of Asia.