2023 ASA Symposium

The 2023 Assyrian Studies Symposium will focus on the various ways the field of

Assyrian Studies has emerged across different disciplines in academia.

Traditionally an understanding of Assyrian peoples, cultures, and histories has

been limited to the ancient past and detached from the existing people of

Mesopotamia, the region that constitutes today’s northern Iraq, northwest Syria,

southeast Turkey, and northwestern Iran. This symposium reinserts the

community and its heritage as a living entity and the study thereof, as one of

ethical concern. In this symposium, scholars from diverse disciplines will examine

the formative history of how the field has developed to how research is

broadening its scope to capture the rich and diverse Assyrian heritage.

Additionally, it will confront how challenges have plagued researchers and

how research has affected the Assyrian community.

Removed from its context and alienated from the living Assyrian communities,

the formative history of Assyrian Studies at best remains a colonial one,

dominated by Western academic approaches resulting in a distorted

understanding of the culture and its people. In recent years, and much thanks to

Assyrian community cultural production and propagation, there has been an

exponential increase in the wealth of information on the Assyrian heritage

begging for study. Although faced with profound challenges as a result of

imperialism and colonialism among others, the field of Assyrian Studies is

experiencing unpredicted opportunities with a growing body of published

scientific and sociological research and courses taught across universities.

Looming trends indicate an emergent and diverse demographic of scholars

interested in studying the Assyrian peoples’ culture and heritage. In keeping with

the Assyrian Studies Association's goals of ethically/compassionately? promoting

the academic study of Assyrian culture and heritage, we encourage scholars to

reimagine how engaging in the field of Assyrian studies has encouraged them to

pursue their research in Assyrian cultural preservation, continuity, and inclusivity,

while also challenging their ability to push boundaries.