[Buddha-l] Assoc. for Asian Studies--changes

[jkirk]

I just rejoined the AAS, having seen that it's in a way under new
management, with a promised
expanded emphasis on the South and Southeast Asian areas. A few
years ago, I'd decided to give up my membership because of the
heavy emphasis, in both their journal and conference that had
been ongoing for a few decades, on China and Japan, with much
less attention given to other parts of Asia. Moreover, articles
could not be illustrated. 
 
Even better, the new President is Robert Buswell, whose
presidential address is titled, "Korean Buddhist Journeys to
Lands Worldly and Otherworldly." The program cover of the
forthcoming annual conference in Chicago, on March 26--29, has a
beautiful color photo of Songgwangsa (Piney Expanse Monastery) in
the Republic of Korea. The _Journal of Asian Studies_ now
publishes articles with both color and b&w illustrations. All
heartening changes to a by now somewhat venerable organization. 
 
Looking over the many book ads, I note that one of our former (or
still?) list members, Angela Sumegi, has a book out with SUNY
Press, _Dreamworlds of Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism : The Third
Place_.  Sounds like a must-read, to me.
 
Also noticed in the ads: _Eminent Nuns : Women Chan Masters of
Seventheenth-Century China_, by Beata Grant, and _Bodhisattvas of
the Forest and the Formation of the Mahayana. A study of the
Rastrapalapariprccha-sutra_, by Daniel Boucher; both by U Hawaii
Press.
 
And much more.
Joanna