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The South Asian Studies Association began as a project of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, a professional association of 1,800 scholars. Using the name South Asian Studies Alliance, reflective of the fact that several other organizations interested in South Asia came together as partners, SASA held its foundational conference at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, April 15-17, 2007. The purpose of the conference was twofold:
- To encourage scholarly exchange and networking amongst South Asianists. Such interaction was at a fifty year low, making urgent the need for an annual conference. SASA immediately drew greater participation than all nine of the general Asian Studies conferences in the United States combined.
- To construct a South Asian Studies Association (SASA) similar to other areas studies groups.
Following the success of the LMU conference, a second conference was held March 29-30, 2008 at the Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California. The CGU conference saw a twenty-five percent growth over LMU a year earlier. Following the success at Claremont, the steering committee took the step of formally incorporating SASA as a California non-profit, public benefit corporation and secured 501(c)3 tax-exempt status from the IRS. As stated in the bylaws, the primary purposes for which SASA was organized are:
- to promote scholarly study of and public interest in South Asian civilizations and affairs;
- to provide a public forum for the communication of research and scholarship on South Asia, by means of an annual conference;
- to promote scholarship and networking opportunities for scholars of South Asia between annual conferences through electronic and other media;
- to assist public and private cultural and educational agencies and institutions in the development and dissemination of programs and teaching materials on South Asia;
- by means of a newsletter, journal, or other such publications and programs as may be feasible for the association to undertake, to facilitate exchange of information among persons and accredited academic institutions interested in South Asian studies, to disseminate research results, and to further educate the general public about South Asian affairs;
- to build bridges of understanding linking he academic, entrepreneurial and diaspora communities.
SASA’s Needs. At the moment SASA is a 100% volunteer effort of many people scattered across the US and overseas with more volunteering each week. While heartening, this approach carries with it limits. For example:
- a permanent secretariat is needed
- contingency funds are needed to organize the annual conferences
- Brown Bag Radio is unfunded; a broadcast engineer is needed
- professional website assistance is essential
- scholarship funds to assist promising young scholars from both the US and overseas is needed.
- etc.
Tax deductable contributions and sponsorships (the federal tax ID number is 26-1437834) are greatly appreciated. Checks, which incur no processing fee, may be mailed to
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