MAS
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NEWS LETTER
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INSTITUTIONAL NEWS FROM: HAS p-4i / KITLV p-46 / CLARA P-4» / INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AGENDA P 47 / ESF Asia Committee P 5° / SEALG P.52 / PRODUCTS & SERVICES p 53 / EIAS p 55 / NEWSLETTERS P 56
I I AS NE WS MAS MAI N OFFICE LEIDEN
International Institute
N onnensteeg 1-3,
l e id e n
Postal Address:
for Asian
P.O. Box 9515 23OO RA LEIDEN
Studies
stitute
25 > 28 J UNE 1 9 9 8 NOORDWIJKERHOUT,
THE
THE NETHERLANDS
for
E-mail: iiAS@RULLET.LeidenUniv.NL
Spinhuis, rooms 214, 215, and 216 Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185 1012 DK Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Newsletter contributions:
Telephone: +31-20-525 36 57
Telephone: +31-71-527 22 27
Visiting address:
MAS BRANCH OFFICE AMS TERDAM
Telefax: +31-71-527 41 62
iiASNews@RULLET.LeidenUniv.NL
WWW: h ttp ://iia s .le id e n u n iv .n l
Telefax: +31-20-525 36 58 E-mail: HAS@pscw.uva.NL
NETHERLANDS
When Research Traditions Meet
The International Convention of Asia Scholars The International Convention o f Asia Scholars (ICAS) which took place from 25 to 28 June 1998 in N oordwijkerhout, the N etherlands, was an experim ent in terms o f the parties in volved, the nature o f the participants, the contents, the m an ner o f organization, and the size (at least in the European con text). On this page I w ill try and give my im pressions o f this M eeting and add som e recom m endations. As I was the ICAS supervisor, this short report m ight be a little biased but I hope it will give food for thought. ■ By PAUL VAN DER VELDE
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ow did the ICAS I come about? For X . JL some of years the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the In ternational Institute for Asian Studies (HAS) had been thinking of ways of internationalizing Asian Studies. Internationalization meet ings took place during the annual meetings of the AAS. This transatlan tic dialogue gradually matured and was thought of as an arena in which American and European Asianists could get together. It acquired a name: the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS). Apart from the AAS and the IIAS, the European Sci ence Foundation Asia Committee and the six major European Asian Studies associations participated. This was the first time that these associations had formally co-operated in an Aca demic Programme Committee, which in itself should be considered a prom ising sign. Quite apart from this Eu ropean and transatlantic collabora tion the organizing committee at tached great value to setting up a cul tural programme to encourage the cultural rapprochement between East and West, which it sees as one of the most important challenges facing Asianists. It joined forces with Film South Asia, the School for New Dance Development Amsterdam, the Neder lands Filmmuseum, the Rotterdam Conservatory, some thirty renowned publishers in the field o f Asian Stud ies, the Gate Foundation Amsterdam, t
and Canvas World Art, and organized the ‘The Eurasian Century’ forum of journalists.
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Scope o f IC A S There was never any doubt that Asianists from all over the world should have the chance to partici pate and once the convention was announced, enthusiastic replies came from every quarter o f the world. Thus the convention grew to a platform on which Asian, Ameri can, and European Asianists could study problems o f interest to all. N othing can demonstrate this more clearly than the geographic origin of the participants and participating institutions. More than three hun dred and fifty universities, insti tutes, and organizations were repre sented at the ICAS. There were nearly a thousand participants from some
forty countries and there was a re markably equal distribution conti nent-wise. Thirty-five per cent of the home institutions is located in America, an equal percentage in Eu rope, and thirty per cent in Asia. It is no exaggeration to say that the main goal o f the ICAS and its Programme Committee was to transcend the boundaries between disciplines, be tween nations studied, and between the geographic origins of the pre senters in its more than a hundred and thirty panels. Let me quote one the many letters we received from participants. Geof frey Wade, also on behalf of his col leagues of the Centre of Asian Studies (Hong Kong) wrote: ‘The greatest value o f the ICAS was that it did allow a greater mixing of Asian, N orth American and European scholars than we have experienced at any previous such gathering. This was o f course one of the aims o f the Convention and we hope that its un qualified success will be sufficient incentive to encourage you to at tem pt a ‘repeat performance’ in fu ture. We were all greatly impressed with the Convention - its venue, its scope, the excellence o f the organiza tion, the diversity o f activities and
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the range of scholars who attended. The only drawback was that it was impossible for one to attend all of the sessions, but that indicates a surfeit rather than a deficiency. Particular thanks are due to your administra tive staff who handled each and every query with concern and good grace.’
U nqualified Success? The remark passed by Wade on the unqualified success should be put in perspective. From the question naires filled in by a fair num ber of participants it transpired th at ICAS had its teething problems. Trans portation was singled out as the big gest one: many people had a tough time getting to the Convention site. This was due to insufficient infor m ation on the schedules and the fact th at these schedules were not always followed. Whereas this was viewed as the main on-site problem, difficulties in communication pla gued the entire process leading up to the Convention, which were mainly due to an overreliance on the Internet w ithout adequate technical control. It should be added that the size o f this first ICAS also took the organizers by surprise and we wait ed too long to increase the staff. There is one other severe shortcom ing which should be mentioned here. The organizers or chairs o f the panels were asked to send in sum maries of their panels which were to be p u t on the ICAS website. So far ten-odd summaries out the total of one hundred and thirty panels have been received. This kind o f sloppi ness, in view of all the effort which has been put into ICAS, is hard to understand. Therefore I would like to personally ask all those who have not yet sent in their summaries to kindly to do so. I have a good reason for this, namely th at an overwhelm ing majority o f the respondents opted for what Wade called a ‘repeat performance’.
ICAS 2 In this context a meeting took place on 27 June attended by repre sentatives of European Asian Studies associations, the AAS, and the HAS during which it became clear that a second ICAS was deemed desirable. There were discussions on when it should be held (every three to four years), where it should be held and who should organize it. No conclu sive decisions were taken. The partici pants of the meeting recommended setting up an ICAS Steering Commit tee. This committee is still in the pro cess of formation but plans are to have the first meeting during the An nual Meeting of the AAS in Boston, 11-14 March 1999. Information will be disseminated both through the HAS Newsletter and the AAS Newslet ter. All ICAS 1 participants will be in formed about the outcome o f the meeting o f the Steering Committee. On behalf o f Helga Lasschuijt (the ICAS Project Manager), I would like to thank the numerous sponsors, all ICAS staff members, the organizers o f the cultural events, the booth holders, the Leeuwenhorst Congres Centrum, and all the participants who turned ICAS into an unforgetta ble experience o f which Helga and I think that it will ultim ately serious ly change everybody’s orientation. ■
International Convention of Asia Scholars
You will find the edited versions o f the ICAS keynote addresses by Goenawan M ohamad and Anthony Reid on pages 4 and 5 .
December 1998 •
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