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About ASAA

Constitution

1. Name

The name of the Association will be the Association for the Study of Australasia in Asia. It will consist of two main branches (the Asian branch and the Australasian branch), both of which will collaborate with each other in working towards the attainment of the objectives from New Zealand. The Asian Branch would include members from all Asian countries
who have sought inclusion.

 

2. Objectives

  • To promote an interest in and the study of Australasia in Asia.
  • To foster an interest in Asia in Australasia.
    To facilitate contact between individuals and groups who have a serious interest in various aspects of Australasian studies in the fields of art, culture ,science, education, industry and commerce and social life.
  • To develop and improve resources available in Asia for the study of Australasia.
  • To promote links with and exchanges between educational institutions in Asia and Australasia.

 

3. Status - Not for Profit

The property and income of the Association shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the of the objectives of the Association and no part of these shall be paid or distributed to members of the Association except in good faith in the promotion of those objectives or to defray the cost of expenses incurred on behalf of the Association in promoting these interests.

 

4. Membership - General

Shall be open to all individuals who support the objectives of the Association and are willing to abide by its rules and who pay the specified subscription appropriate to the region. Subscriptions (see rates quoted in this document) are usually collected at the triennial conference and suffice for the three-year period between conferences.

Should a member fail to pay the subscription for two successive terms then the committee may, terminate that member’s membership of the company.

 

5. Membership of Committees

Positions on the committees a Representatives from Europe, US, UK and South Africa may also be invited to join as Associate members.

Key positions on the central committees of the Association of both the Asian and the Australasian branches (of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) will be filled initially by persons volunteering their services at the tri-ennial meeting of the whole Association. If any positions are not filled in this manner, the Australian President or the Asian President (in consultation with their vice-presidents will invite appropriate persons to take up the offices left vacant. At any time that an office falls vacant in either branch either due to a resignation or loss of contact with ah office-bearer say over a period of six months or more, the position may be filled by nomination of the president and vice-president of the branch, usually also with appropriate consultation also with the other branch of the whole Association.

 

6. Structure

The Structure reflects the Association’s goal of dual collaboration in its activities between Australia and its co-partners in Asia. Presently the Asian partners are predominantly confined to India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Bangladesh: the Asian and the Australian which together will form the Association.

The Asian branch of the AASA will have the following office bearers:

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Newsletter Editor
  • Website Editor

The Australian Association will have the following office bearers.

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Newsletter Editor
  • Website Editor

It could be that at any time there may be fewer positions filled than those mentioned above as a result of a single office-bearer, with agreement from president and vice-president the relevant Branch (Asian or Indian) committee, of combining two of the assigned roles for reasons of efficiency and convenience. Similarly any of these offices may also be augmented by the nomination of an additional member (e.g. additional vice-president, editor). The two branches will as far as possible work in friendly collaboration with and in consultation with each other.

The Australian President and Vice-President together with the Asian President and Vice-President will form the central Executive of the Association. Policy–making and final decision- making on occasions where the far-flung nature of the Association may make communication difficult in a situation where quick decisions may be necessary, the Australasian President and Vice-President may act in consultation with each other initially and communicate the relevant information to their Asian colleagues thereafter. Any necessary adjustments in response to the views of the latter could be made thereafter with appropriate consultation and goodwill.

  • The term of office will normally be three years for all office bearers
  • No office bearer should normally hold office consecutively for more than three terms.

The membership fee will be graduated as follows:

  • Rs 200 for Asian members or Rs 500 or for 6 years
  • $20 AUD for Australian and New Zealand members for 3 years or $50 AUD for 6 years.

 

7. Meetings

A General Meeting of the whole Association should be held once in 3 years, usually immediately after the last session of the conference organised in that year. Besides the central committee at least ten other members of the Association should be present. Generally, the business of the meeting would be to consider and ratify the nomination of any new committee members and the broad policy and programme drawn up by the central committee.

The Australasian President in consultation with the Asian President will draw up the agenda for the Meeting .The Meeting will be chaired by the Australasian President .Any member present can also submit a proposal for consideration, with the assent of the Chair. Members can also suggest amendments to the programme presented for discussion. Decisions in case of disagreement will be made by a simple show of hands or a secret ballot if the latter mode is accepted as more appropriate by the Chair.

 

8. Newsletter

The Newsletter of the Association should be issued at least once a year and that preferably in June/July. It should be a collaborative effort between the Asian and Australasian branches with consultation between the two Presidents, vice-Presidents and Editors When not issued mid-year, it should be issued by December of the same year.

It provides an important mode of communicating with the membership of the Association as well as between the committee members of the associated groups and branches. This will be an electronic journal but some hard copies may be made for postal distribution to important organisations and funding agencies.

 

9. Conferences

The Association aims at organising a conference once in every three years. This will be the prime event in the Association’s programme and every effort should be made to bring together an international group of academics and encourage contributions across a range of discipline areas. The outcome of each of these gatherings should be a book publication.

 

10. Finances

The task of fund-raising for the Association e.g. the travel costs for invited plenary speakers from Australia (usually the most costly item in conference-organising) will mainly be the responsibility of the Australasian arm of the Association. The Australasian President will have the responsibility of also keeping the relevant accounts and to ensure that these accounts are audited by a qualified accountant. All funds paid into the Account of the Australasian Branch of the Association are paid (currently) into the Association’s Account with UNICREDIT in Perth Western Australia.

These accounts will be circulated to the two committees of the two branches of the Association.

The Asian Treasurer should collect the membership fee from all members of the Association at the triennial conference venue. Membership of the Association should be a requisite for presenting a paper at the conference and should be paid at the registrations recorded at the opening of the conference. The Indian treasurer should keep a record of monies paid and the names and details of the members. An account of these payments and how the money is expended should be presented to the Indian President and (as above) circulated to the two committees. The Indian President will ensure that the accounts presented are in order after detailed discussion with the Indian Treasurer.

 

11. Advisory Committee

When an entirely new Committee takes office after an earlier group has conducted the work of the Association over a period of several years and new conventions have grown up and previous modes of conducting its business may have been set aside, it would be advisable to set up an Advisory Committee consisting of previous committee members whose advice may be sought either formally or informally over issues arising concerning the work of the Association. This should assist the process of transition.

The details of the names of the persons on the Advisory committee will be intimated to the incoming committee at least one month before the new committee takes office.

 

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, Srilanka, 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.