CEAPS was so proud our former direct Nancy Abelmann was recognized for the 2021 distinguished contribution to Asian Studies award. We miss you so much!
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2021 Honoree: Nancy Abelmann (Posthumous)
The Association for Asian Studies honors the legacy of Nancy Abelmann (1959-2016) with this posthumous award in recognition of her pathbreaking research on Asia, as well as her work on the Asias within the United States. Abelmann served as Harry E. Preble Professor of anthropology, Asian American studies, and East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research from 2009-2016.
A very brief mention of her published works demonstrates the breadth of her topics and concerns: Echoes of the Past, Epics of Dissent: A South Korean Social Movement (University of California Press, 1996), The Melodrama of Mobility: Women, Talk, and Class in Contemporary South Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003), with John Lie, Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots (Harvard University Press, 1995), and The Intimate University: Korean American Students and the Problems of Segregation (Duke University Press, 2009). These works represent not only her zest for ethnographic scholarship, but also her commitment to social justice.
Nancy Abelmann’s professional achievements are many, not the least of which was her intense mentoring and shepherding generations of scholars in the United States, Korea, and elsewhere. In bestowing this award upon her, AAS honors the ways in which she touched people with a spirit of generosity that can best be reflected by the ripple effects of her inspiration. It is this combination of scholarship, personal responsibility, and social justice with a heart that comprise Nancy Abelmann’s distinguished contribution to Asian Studies.
More info: https://www.asianstudies.org/grants-awards/distinguished-contributors-awards/
