The ISCS in an international academic organization that aims at promoting Commonwealth Literature including Indian English Literature and translations in English. To promote wider interest in Commonwealth Literature, the Society in committed to (!) Organize or sponsor talks, discussions, seminars and symposia (II) bring out a newsletter periodically (II) publish or sponsor publication of bulletins, catalogs, bibliographies, monographs and books. (IV) publish a research journal on Commonwealth Literature (V) set up Centre for Commonwealth Studies with the facility of a library for the members.

Amongst other activities of promoting awareness, scholarship and mutual understanding, the Society organizes an annual international conference on a specific literary theme. The last conference, 12 th International ISCS conference was held at IIT, Roorkey in October 2005. More than 200 delegates from across India and other countries including Australia, New Zealand, England, Finland, Bangladesh, Nepal participated in the three-day program.

Office-Bearers and Executive Committee

Dr. R.K. Dhawan (President)

Dr. D.K. Pabby (General Secretary)

Professor T. Asoka Rani (Tirupati)

Professor Satya Brat Singh (Bhagalpur)

Professor Rama Nair (Hyderabad)

Dr. Nirmala Prakash (Mysore)

Dr. C. Srinath (Mysore)

Dr. G.R. Taneja (Delhi)

Dr. Colin O'Brien (Cuttack)

Professor Cyril Dabydeen (Ottawa)

Members will receive newsletters and copies of the journal free of charge. They will also receive invitation to the conference organized by the Association.

Members may send in their articles for publication in the bi-annual refereed journal – The Commonwealth Review. These may be sent by email attachment to rkdhawan@gmail.com or balasuman@yahoo.com

Objectives :

1. To promote an interest in and the study of AustralAsia in Asia
2. To facilitate contact between individuals and groups who have a serious interest in various aspects of Australian studies such as the arts and sciences, education, industry and commerce and social life
3. To develop and improve resources available in Asia for the study of AustralAsia
4. To promote links with and exchanges between educational institutions in Asia and AustralAsia

History :

The Association of Australasian Studies in Asia was originally launched as The Asian Association for the Study of Australia(AASA) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the Tenth Triennial Conference of the ACLALS(Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) during August 14-18, 1995. A number of Asian and Australian academics met on the evening of 17th August 1995 and formed an association to promote the development of Australian Studies in the Asia Pacific region. The meeting began with a discussion of other existing world wide associations for the promotion of Australian studies such as BASA(The British Association for the Study of Australia), EASA(The European Association for the Study of Australia) and the Australian Studies Institutes established in China, Korea and Indonesia. Academics from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore commented on the difficulty of teaching and researching Australian Studies in this region due to the lack of basic resources such as literary and critical texts. AASA was designed to fill the vacuum.

The Association brings out newsletter twice a year, organises seminars and symposia and an international conference once in two years. The last international conference was held at the University of Kerala, Trivandrum. Papers of each conference are produced in book form. Papers presented at the last conference have been published in book form. The book entitled Diaspora: The Australasian Experience was recently released in New Delhi by H.E. Mr. Jon McCarthy, Australian High Commissioner in India.

Cash/money order/cheque/bank draft made out in favour of “AASA”. In case of cheque, please add Rs. 30/$2 towards bank charges.

Please send membership fee to: Dr. R.K. Dhawan, Treasurer AASA, J-391 New Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi 110 060, India. E.mail: rkdhawan@gmail.com

Office Bearers:

Asia
President: Dr. Anjali Roy
Vice President: Dr. K.T. Sunitha
Secretary: Dr. Suman Bala
Treasurer & Editor Newsletter: Dr. R.K. Dhawan

Australia

President: Dr. Cynthia Vanden Driesen