American Society for Premodern Asia
CALL FOR PAPERS
Two Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Meeting
The 237th Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia will be held Friday, March 5–Monday, March 8, 2027, in Chicago, IL.
Hotel and Reservations: A block of conference-rate accommodations has been reserved at the Omni Chicago, 676 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. You may reserve rooms as part of this block at this link. Reservations may also be made by phoning the hotel 888-444-6664 (general Omni number) or (312) 944-6664 (direct). You will need to identify yourself as a member of ASPA.
Members are encouraged to stay at the hotel during the conference. The Society’s contract with the Omni Chicago for securing conference rates requires that a minimum number of rooms per night be reserved and occupied by members for the duration of the meeting. Thus, your stay there assures that ASPA will not be assessed extremely high fees for meeting and banquet space rental. We truly need your cooperation in this matter.
You must make reservations directly with the hotel in advance of the meeting, no later than Wednesday, February 10, 2027. After the cutoff date, any uncommitted rooms in the block we have reserved will be released for general sale, and additional reservation requests will be accepted only if rooms are available and without the conference discount. The conference rate also applies 1 day prior and after the conference, based upon availability.
All sessions will be held at the Omni Chicago. The Annual Subscription Banquet and Presidential Address will take place on Sunday evening, March 7, also at the hotel. The Program, which will be accessible online in late January 2027, will provide information on other special activities and events to take place during the meeting.
Payment of 2027 Membership Dues and Meeting Pre-Registration Fees
Online Dues and Meeting Pre-Registration Payment:
• Pay 2027 dues online at:
ASPA Membership Dues Structure
• Pre-register at:
American Society for Premodern Asia 237th Annual Meeting 2027 - 3/5/2027 (Registration open)
On-Line Registration Closes 2/28/2027. Afterwards, only on-site registrations accepted. No refunds of meeting registration fees can be offered to those who withdraw after 15 January.
Note: If you prefer to submit dues or registration payment by check or credit card and send payment by post, you may use this Annual Meeting Dues Registration Form 2027
NOTE: You may renew your ASPA membership early by viewing your Profile page and finding on the right side: "Your Membership is not yet due for renewal. If you want to renew early, click here"
Otherwise, you may wait until you receive the system-generated dues notice in late October 2026.
Submission of Abstracts
Members of the Society are hereby invited to submit communications to be presented at the 237th Meeting. Applications will be accepted until October 31, 2026.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should cover the following points: (a) the precise topic treated, (b) your exact contribution to the problem, (c) its relationship to previous scholarship on the topic, (d) specific conclusions. Please also keep in mind that abstracts of papers accepted for presentation will appear in the published Abstracts in the way in which they have been submitted. It is impossible for this Office to edit them. Please transliterate non-Latin writing systems. Text submitted in non-Latin writing will be not appear in the printed abstracts.
Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts for papers should be submitted via this form. If you encounter any technical difficulties, abstracts may be emailed directly to ASPA Secretary Timothy Garrett at TBG233@ucla.edu.
Please note that the Program Committee will not accept papers for inclusion on the Program submitted by members who have not paid 2027 membership dues and pre-registration fees in full and who neglect to submit abstracts by the October 31, 2026, deadline.
Members who submit abstracts of papers will be notified of their inclusion on the Program soon after January 15, 2027. The registration fees of those whose papers are not placed on the Program can be refunded.
Sectional Committee Chairs, whose names are listed at the ASPA Officers page, should be contacted directly only in the matter of organizing special panels.
Papers from non-members, except for those of visiting scholars invited to participate in special panels, cannot be considered because of the expense the Society bears in running the Annual Meeting. When inviting colleagues and students who are not ASPA members to participate in the program, please inform them that they should apply for membership and pre-register at the time they submit abstracts.
Please respond to the Call for Papers only if you plan to attend the Meeting. Failure to present a paper that has been accepted on the Program creates a very poor impression of the Society and is particularly discourteous to those members who may have travelled great distances to hear certain communications.
Presenters are usually allotted 15 minutes to read their papers. Five minutes of discussion following presentation is the convention if there is sufficient time. These limits are flexible, depending on the number of papers and available time.
Important: Finally, the AOS/ASPA Election: You are hereby encouraged to submit the names of AOS members whom you consider potential candidates for consideration by the Nominating Committee. Three candidates, for President, Vice-President, who succeeds to President the following year, and Secretary, will be on the 2027 ballot. Following tradition, the Vice-Presidential Candidate in this election will be from the Islamic Near East Section. Please submit your suggestions for the Vice-President candidate to the Chair of the Nomination Committee, Gary Beckman. Please be certain that the potential candidate is a member of the Society by confirming in the Membership Directory (log-in necessary).
We thank you for your anticipated participation and cooperation.