2025 HEAS Conference

The 28th Annual Harvard East Asia Society Conference

Poster for Audience Reg
Image credit: Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達 (fl. ca. 1600-1643), “Waves at Matsushima.” (detail). Ink, color, gold, and silver on paper. Edo period, 17th century. 166 x 369.9 cm (65 3/8 x 145 5/8 in). National Museum of Asian Art, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer.

 

Please register in advance before you join as an audience to the 28th HEAS Conference on Feb 14–15, 2025. 

 

Welcome to the 28th Harvard East Asia Society (HEAS) Conference! 

 

The Harvard East Asia Society Graduate Student Conference is an annual event that provides an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students to exchange ideas and discuss current research on topics related to Asia. The conference invites young scholars to present their research to their peers and renowned scholars in relevant fields. Participants will also meet others in their research area and forge new professional relationships.


 

This year's conference is titled “Flow: A Symposium.” Flow is about time, dynamics, and fluidity. It reflects East Asia as a region nourished by rivers, seasonal winds, and maritime routes. How can the idea of flow help us rethink and even unlearn the studies of East Asia? This title advances the notion of global East Asia as an infinite set of critical inquiry, lifting the theoretical, historical, and empirical boundaries of East Asia Studies beyond any territorial borders. The committee welcomes scholarship whose subjects, approaches, and/or methodologies take a step back in reflection on the idea of East Asia in ways that "go with the flow" rather than "off the beaten track." We also invite scholarship engaged with local, national, regional, and transnational, as well as (trans)historical and interdisciplinary studies.

The 2025 HEAS conference will be held in person from February 14 (Fri) – 15 (Sat), 2025. Participants should plan to arrive on or before February 14, 2025.

 

The HEAS Conference Committee regrets that it cannot provide travel stipends for participants and encourages participants to seek funding from their own departments.

 

Eligibility and Application Guidelines: 

1.  Applicants must be currently enrolled in a program of graduate study, including both Master's and PhD's levels. (Students who have completed their graduate study and are in the process of applying to PhD programs are also encouraged to apply.)

2.  Papers must be related to East Asia. 

3.  Abstracts must be no longer than 250 words.

 

Key Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: November 15, 2024

Notification of Acceptance: mid-December, 2024

Paper Submission Deadline: January 24, 2024

Conference Dates: February 14–15, 2025

 

Questions or concerns can be directed to heasconference@gmail.com. Please also check our Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Page for more details. 

 

We look forward to seeing you at the conference!

 

Sincerely,

The 2025 HEAS Conference Committee:

Co-chairs: Yifei Yao, Scofield Zou

Treasurers: Shangbo Jing, Wilson Wang

Secretaries: Ocean Wang, Zhikang (Leo) Xie

 

Readers (in surname alphabetical order): Ben Hales, Yiting (Vinnie) Hua, Tsukasa Kitahara, Roujia (Rosa) Li, Maggie X.Y. Liang, Jeffrey Ma, Ana Mundaca, Ziyu Qiu, Zari Smith, Zhen (Jamie) Tang, Kejian Yan, Yuehan Yin, Yihang Zhang, Yinan Zhang

 

HEAS would like to thank Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Council, Committee on Regional Studies East Asia, and several other Harvard University centers co-sponsoring the Conference: Asia Center, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Min Young-Chul Memorial Fund at the Korea Institute, Mahindra Humanities Center, the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.