The Conference on Asian History was started in 1953 (as the Conference on Asiatic History–until 1958) as an affiliate organization of the American Historical Association. In 1954 it sponsored its first event, a luncheon session. CAH provided a comfortable gathering for historians of China, Japan, India, Korea and the Middle East amidst the historians who focused on other distant continents. The luncheons have become a regular event, a social event and opportunity to engage with recent research of colleagues. A partial list of previous speakers and panels is here.
Asia today has a larger presence in the annual meeting. We welcome the new affiliate, Society for Promoting the History of South Asia, and look forward to working together. The Conference continues to meet. The social function continues; the hotel lunch is threatened by increasing price which is a big disincentive for many of the newer members whom we hope to see at our events.
For further information, please contact Stefan Tanaka: stanaka at ucsd dot edu