07/24/2025

We have lost another of the great scholars of the Society: Edwin Gerow, President of the AOS, 2001-02, passed away on July 24. From 1949 until he completed his doctorate in 1962, Gerow studied linguistics and Sanskrit at the University of Chicago, the Université de Paris, and the University of Madras. He later returned twice to India to study grammar, poetics, and Mīmāṁsā and Dvaita philosophy. In his teaching career, he held appointments at several institutions, including the University of Washington, the University of Chicago, and Reed College. He was remembered by those he taught as an exacting and deeply learned instructor, whose rigor was matched by his generosity and inspiration. His scholarship was broad, but he is best known for his erudite work on Sanskrit stylistics and poetics. He was also one of the Society’s great stalwarts. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal from 1988 through 2000, during which time he became known as an exacting and learned editor. Over his scholarly career, he also contributed over eighty reviews and articles to the Journal. 

Joel Brereton

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 235^th 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.