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“Key Issues in Asian Studies” is a series of booklets engaging major cultural and historical themes in the Asian experience. They complement the AAS teaching journal, Education about Asia, and serve as vital educational materials that are both accessible and affordable for classroom use.

Manuscripts submitted to the series should tackle broad subjects or major events in an introductory but compelling style appropriate for survey courses. Topics (for example) might include: Asia in the World Literature Classroom, East Asia’s Economic Rise, The British Raj and South Asia, Islam in Asia, The Meiji Restoration, The Cultural Revolution, and The Vietnam War. Manuscripts on contemporary affairs that are narrow in focus or without historical context will not be suitable for the series.

This series is particularly intended for use in undergraduate humanities and social science courses, as well as by advanced high-school students and teachers engaged in teaching Asian studies in a comparative framework. Authors should assume little prior audience knowledge of the subjects of their manuscripts. They should present various points of view in jargon-free prose meant to encourage debate and discussion.

The AAS plans to publish 2–3 “Key Issues” booklets each year.

Authors who wish to submit a proposal should consult the "Key Issues Author Guidelines."

For further information, please visit the "Key Issues" page.


Order "Perspectives" Titles

The three books listed below (all with the subtitle “Perspectives on Asia: Sixty Years of the Journal of Asian Studies”) are compilations of JAS articles on selected themes. They can be used as classroom resources, as well as guides for scholars and students.

  • Women and Gender Relations, edited by Susan Mann
    Women and Gender Relations is a collection of eight JAS articles published between 1973 and 2001. The editor is a recognized scholar on women, gender, and family relations in Asia. This collection includes at least one study from each of the major regions of Asia and illustrates different approaches to this very popular topic.
  • Capitalism in Asia, edited by David Ludden
    This collection of eleven JAS articles represents scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. The articles illustrate intellectual changes that occurred from the 1950s–1990s and deal with economic themes relating to selected countries in South, Southeast, East, and Northeast Asia. The editor’s introduction describes differing concepts of capitalism and globalization and their relationships to studies in Asia, while a selected bibliography provides students and scholars with a guide for further research.
  • On the Margins of Asia: Diversity in Asian States, edited by Charles Keyes
    For this third volume in the “Perspectives on Asia” series, Charles Keyes has selected ten JAS articles that concern the non-dominant peoples (often termed “ethnic minorities”) of Asia and diversity within Asian states. The ten articles Professor Keyes has chosen epitomize a particular theoretical or substantive area of study of ethnicity in Asia. The volume is divided into five parts: “The Premodern Roots of Modern Ethnicity”; “On Understanding Human Diversity in Asia”; “Migrant Minorities and Ethnic Pluralism”; “States and the Politics of Ethnic Minorities”; and “Ethnic Conflict and Ethnonationalism.”