ITASEAS – Italian Association of Southeast Asian Studies Conference 2025

The Italian Association of Southeast Asian Studies (ITASEAS – part of the European Association of Southeast-Asian Studies) is pleased to announce its 5th conference, to be hosted at the University of Turin on June 4-6, 2025. This conference aims to bring together scholars, experts, practitioners and students of diverse disciplines into a multidisciplinary conversation on Southeast Asia. Thanks to a friendly and small-scale environment and a thriving network, the conference fosters fundamental international debate while strengthening Southeast Asian studies in Italy and increasing awareness of Southeast Asia within Italian academic and public spheres.

The conference invites papers that offer research insights as well as media engagement and/or professional expertise across a wide range of topics, to be organised in three broad clusters:

• Humanities: academic/professional contributions in history, philosophy, religious studies, literature, languages, linguistics, and archaeology.
• Social sciences (1): academic/professional contributions in anthropology and sociology, conservation and capitalisation of commons, environmental studies, social cooperation and participative research.
• Social science (2): academic/professional contributions in economics, development and sustainability studies, resource management, political science and international relations, media and communication studies.

The conference hosts a special section on Myanmar. We are interested in papers with a focus on the following topics:

Politics of the centre (armed forces, civil disobedience movements, self-defence forces, political parties, national unity government, constitutional reforms, human rights, social movements, and Buddhist church and religious organizations)

Politics in the borderland (ethnic armed organizations and parties, peace process)

A brittle economy (industrial development, agriculture, primary resources, land-grabbing, banking and financial sector, drug economy, and informal, illegal and grey markets)

The international community (United Nations and other international organizations, great powers’ and regional powers’ role, ASEAN influence, and sanctions)

Submission Guidelines

We welcome submissions from scholars, practitioners, experts and students. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and must include a brief bio, institutional or professional affiliation, and contact information. Selected papers will be organized into panels, encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue and professional networking.

Submission Deadline: 15 March 2025

Notification of Acceptance: 1 April 2025

Email Submissions and Inquiries to: itaseas2025@itaseas.it

Join us in advancing the understanding of Southeast Asia and in strengthening Italian engagement with this dynamic region. We look forward to your contributions and to welcoming you to the University of Torino in 2025!