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SSSSOC at AAS: A Recap & Moving Forward

Dear Colleague,

It has been a semester since we gathered in Vancouver for the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, and the insights and connections from that week are still very much with us. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Pre-Conference Workshop and Reception.

Who We Are

For those who are new to our list, or if you simply need a refresher on our work, the Society for the Social Science Study of China (SSSSOC) is a collaborative initiative dedicated to advancing the creation and dissemination of academic knowledge about contemporary China.

We connect social scientists across disciplines and generations, fostering research and methodological exchange while enhancing scholarly collaboration within the China studies community and beyond.

Our History

SSSSOC traces its origins to the Getting China Right (GCR) initiative, launched in 2017 with generous support from the Luce Foundation. GCR was created in response to the deteriorating climate for U.S.-China relations and the increasingly difficult conditions for social science research in China, providing scholars a vital venue to build community and share resources and best practices.

As the network grew, the initiative was formalized into SSSSOC, an effort to institutionalize this professional community and build a more inclusive organization that welcomes scholars from diverse disciplines.

Help Us Plan for Next Year

As we look toward the coming year, we want to ensure SSSSOC provides the specific support you need. Whether you were there in person or couldn't make it, your feedback is essential.

If you attended: Please fill out the survey below to help us refine our future programming.

If you were unable to attend: We still need your voice! Please jump to the last several questions of the survey. We've dedicated that section specifically to gathering feedback on what types of events, resources, and support you are looking for in the year ahead!

Our pre-conference session was designed to address the most critical challenges facing scholars of contemporary China today. Here’s a summary of the workshop.

Module 1: Navigating the New Landscape of Research Funding

Led by Kellee Tsai and Yuting Li, this session pulled back the curtain on the shifting priorities of U.S. funding agencies. We discussed how scholars can remain competitive and resilient in an era of tightening social science budgets and changing institutional constraints.

Module 2: Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring

Teresa Wright and Neysun A. Mahboubi shared invaluable insights on how to mentor the next generation of China specialists. The discussion focused on balancing pedagogical rigor with the unique ethical and practical challenges students face when entering this field.

Module 3: The "New Normal" for Fieldwork in China

Jessica Teets and Martin K. Dimitrov provided a masterclass on modern fieldwork. We covered updated best practices, risk assessment, and creative ways to maintain high-quality data collection despite evolving access limitations.

In the meantime, please keep an eye on your inbox. We are currently developing a schedule of online programming and virtual workshops for the coming months to keep these conversations going between our annual meetings.

We’ll be sharing more details on those sessions soon, along with further updates on the initiatives discussed in Vancouver. We look forward to seeing you online shortly and continuing our work together.

Best regards,

The SSSSOC Team

The Society for the Social Science Study of China is currently housed
in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.