Australians studying Asia:
the ASAA 1976-1997

http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/King/King01.html

Rebecca King

Conclusion

The success of the ASAA is due largely to the already stretched voluntary efforts of individual academics and through them the formal and informal support of institutions. It might be argued that the organisation could have had greater success in fulfilling its goals if it were to have a stronger and better funded secretariat, but the provision of a paid secretariat brings its own strains, and recent success can be contrasted with for instance the demise of ANZAAS (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)[1] the organisation at whose 1975 Conference the ASAA had provisionally formed.

The ASAA has operated for the last twenty years with a mandate to incorporate a wide range of interests with members in a diverse range of disciplines scattered across Australia. Despite the early visions the ASAA remains an organisation of social scientists with little sign of the journalists, diplomats, business people, artists or even teachers that were anticipated as members and active participants. The Association has throughout the period been dominated by Southeast Asianists and the inevitable emphasis in activities is a tension that cannot be resolved. The early goal of bringing a greater understanding of Asia to the Australian community through specific initiatives such as media and business lobbying or specific political commentary cannot be seen as successfully undertaken. Most members have been able to impact however on a sector of the community, that is their students, and the publications of different series have greatly strengthened and raised the profile of Australian scholarship on Asia. The failure of initiatives such as the 'Current Issues Series' and the 'Asia in the Classroom' publications and of the Arts Committee to be sustained in the long term again indicates that the strengths of the ASAA are in strictly formal academic disciplines.

The ASAA began as a small and cohesive group of Asianists operating in a context distinctly different from the present, not only in terms of academic trends but also in the general socio-political context. In 1976 there were far fewer Asian studies activities, links with the rest of the world were less easy and more expensive and Asianists felt isolated within a general population that viewed Asia with some suspicion and Asianists with some disdain. The present ASAA membership can generally be characterised as the 'greying male' of the academic community though this matter is being addressed. The 1996-1998 Council membership includes two graduate students and half a dozen Councillors who can be seen as part of the new generation of Asian studies[2]. The transformation of the Women's Caucus from a marginalised group to a strong study area reflects trends in academia and the general community. Many of the Association's senior positions are still filled however by initiators of the Association (while others no longer in the critical organisation positions express despondency over the new directions of the Association). This may cause some younger Asianists to view the Association as reactionary or simply as not relevant to the current climate. There are many more Asian studies activities and scholars than existed twenty years ago so that the role of the ASAA in bringing together Asianists and their activities is increasingly difficult. The transformation of the newsletter function of the Review to electronic format may well be a recognition of this newer context. The creation of a scholarly journal represents the narrowing and specialisation of the Association, but at the same time an increasing professionalisation.

The ASAA's greatest success in lobbying government was in the establishment of the Asian Studies Council but this success and the vision of the Keating government which seemed to endorse the ASAA's vision of Australia-Asia relations (without its voice) has allowed this lobbying role to slip from the agenda. Now with a government apparently less committed to tertiary study of Asia the ASAA must question in which direction it wishes to travel. Its move towards academic publishing may presage a professional association more interested in scholarly matters than the attempts to popularise Asia and Asian studies that characterised much of the Association's activities during the 1980s. The ASAA may continue to operate as an umbrella organisation to its affiliated groups although any loss of the role of the ASAA in representing all of Australia's Asianists must be questioned. The early notions of interregionality and interdisciplinarity may well not be appropriate in an era where there is a proliferation of Asian studies courses, centres and organisations. With an already strong South Asianists grouping (the South Asian Studies Association, SASA) with its own journal and with virtually no West and Central Asianists in the ASAA membership, the Association may well like to embrace its Southeast Asian roots and redefine itself as an organisation for Southeast Asianist specialists. However the value of the ASAA as a national body representing all Asianists was evident in the Basham, FitzGerald and Legge Reports with the membership able to contribute to providing data and making recommendations for the profession.

This overview points to the need for a study of Asian studies in Australia to indicate the current state of play but the Association would not be able to complete it without major funds from government or the private sector. Certainly the role of the ASAA as monitor of Asian studies in Australia has been valuable but without the mechanisms for setting targets and reviewing, this would not be effective. The publications series represented a strong move into publishing about Asia by Australia and needs reassessing in terms of its success and future direction. The archival material is in Canberra and many of the main players who initiated the process are still alive. The success or otherwise of the lobbying activities reported here have not been assessed and such a assessment would involve discussions with bureaucrats and may have implications for the study of government and democracy. Research about Australian studies being taught in Asia would be an interesting reflection on the sorts of questions I have raised about Australian identity.

Recently the Association has had to face a government that has less interest in Asia education, a problem for the ASAA especially when the members interests in Asian studies may be seen as partisan. In a climate of major funding cuts and demoralisation in the tertiary education sector, new initiatives in Asian studies are unlikely and the role of universities as supporters of professional organisations is being devalued. Government funded initiatives such as priority ARC funding and the establishment of research centres have to a large extent lost their impetus[3]. As conservative government and right wing extremists promote a European future for Australia and as the economies of Asia falter, even if only in the short term, the economic ties to Asia on which the ASAA has based much of its rationale may well be questioned.

The ASAA will need to reinvent itself if it is to survive another twenty years as a critical and innovative Association.

Footnotes

[1] Williams, R, 'The last rites for ANZAAS', The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 October 1997.

[2] Reid, A, 'New Directions for new times', Asian Studies Review, vol20, no3, April, 1997, pp149-152, p149.

[3] Executive Minutes, 11 March 1995. (http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/asian/exec/exec95-1.htm) (15/2/1997). Conversation with Anthony Reid, Canberra, 10th February 1997. Grant, J, 'Asian Studies Centre Update', Asian Studies Review, vol21, no1, July 1997, pp131-144, p131.

Go to Table of Contents
Go to Previous Section
Go to Next Section
Go to ASAA home page
This WWW server is provided by the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) at the Australian National University, Canberra.

Maintainer: Dr T.Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au)

Copyright © 1997-1999 by Rebecca King and ASAA. This Web page may be linked to any other Web pages. Contents may not be altered. The ASAA does not control or endorse the content of third party Web Sites.

This page has been tested for full accessibility

URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/King/King12.html

Site design and implementation by Dr T.Matthew Ciolek.