American Society for Premodern Asia
The AOS Name-Change Committee completed its work and recommended a new name for the American Oriental Society. The Board of Directors endorsed the proposed new name, and the membership in attendance at the 235th Annual Meeting, which convened April 9-12, 2025, in Boston, voted in favor of the Board’s endorsement. The new name is:
American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA: JASPA for the Journal. The Journal will assume its new name with volume 126:1 (Jan-Dec 2026).
The Committee noted that there is no getting around the fact that many of the committee, and many members, are very attached to the name we know so well, but the offensiveness of the term “oriental” is in the end decisive – the argument to keep the name for traditional, historical reasons is the weaker argument and one that encumbers and harms the Society, in the present and most definitely in the future.