De Gruyter Brill Asian Studies

Visit us at 2026, Booth 5B.G19!

Call for Papers

China and Asia: A Journal in Historical Studies (CAHS)
Editors-in-Chief: Xiaorong Han and Liam Kelley

China and Asia: A Journal in Historical Studies (CAHS) is a peer-reviewed, English-language journal publishing historical research on relations between China and other regions of Asia, from pre-modern to modern periods.

The journal promotes scholarship on political, economic, social, and cultural interactions across Asia and welcomes both regional and comparative approaches. We particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers and scholars based in Asia and other underrepresented regions.

Scope
CAHS welcomes manuscripts on the political, economic, social, and cultural interactions between China and the rest of Asia, as well as broader studies in which Asia plays a central analytical role.

The journal occasionally publishes special issues on specific themes. Scholars interested in proposing or editing a special issue should contact the editors directly.

China and Asia also publishes book reviews relevant to the journal’s themes. Scholars interested in recommending books for review or contributing review essays should contact the book review editors.

Submission
Articles for publication in China and Asia can be submitted online through Editorial Manager. To submit an article, click here: https://www.editorialmanager.com/cahs/default.aspx

For more details on online submission, read our ‘Instructions for Authors’ document:https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/Author_Instructions/CAHS.pdf

Read more about the journal here: https://brill.com/view/journals/cahs/cahs-overview.xml

Just published! 🌿

"The Journey of Passion: Desire, Identity, and Community in Romance Genres of Imperial China" by Ying Zou.

How were intimate feelings shaped by social and cultural practices in imperial China, and how did they, in turn, participate in processes of identity formation, generate new modes of subjectivity and sociality, and give rise to varied styles of emotional expression? In what ways did traditional Chinese literary texts articulate alternative discourses of the self, gender, and ethics that differ from modern Western models?

Addressing these questions, this book traces the evolution of caizi-jiaren romances across a broad historical span, from the Tang through the Qing dynasties. It pays particular attention to changing attitudes toward emotion in philosophical texts during this period, examining desire as it operates in dialogue with moral systems, public authority, and gendered forms of cultural expression. By situating literary representations of feeling within their intellectual and social contexts, the book reveals how concepts of the self emerged not as static entities but as evolving constructs produced through dynamic processes of self-constitution and socialization, thereby enabling the possibility of agency. In this regard, The Journey of Passion contributes to ongoing scholarship on subjectivity, gender, agency, and the history of emotions in Imperial China.

Read more here: https://brill.com/display/title/36184

The latest issue of our Journal of Central Asian History (JCAH) is out now!

More details here: https://brill.com/view/journals/jcah/5/1/jcah.5.issue-1.xml?utm_source=eToC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Content_Alerts

– Table of Contents –

From Pasture to Forest Zone: Forest Project, Mobile Pastoralism, and the Environmental Policy of the Russian Empire in Central Asia (1898–1908)
Author: Akmal Bazarbaev

Writing Manas in Precarious Times: Documents, Narratives, and Soviet Cultural Production
Author: Svetlana Jacquesson

Judeo-Persian Printing and the Creation of a Tradition: Circulation of Religious Texts among Bukharan Jews from the 19th to the 21st Century
Author: Ariane Sadjed

Collectivization Was More than a Policy: Exposing the Full Extent of Sovietization in the Uzbek Countryside
Author: Beatrice Penati

Surviving the “Soviet Century” in Uzbekistan: Some Thoughts on Marianne Kamp’s Collectivization Generation
Author: Robert Kindler

Oral History and the Collectivization Generation
Author: Adrienne Edgar

The Limits of Oral History for Researching and Rewriting Central Asia
Author: Marianne Kamp

Did you write a master’s thesis on Africa? Here’s why you should submit it to the Africa Thesis Award!

✔️ Have your work published by Brill
✔️ Win € 500
✔️ Boost your research career

The Africa Thesis Award 2026 is open now – and it could open doors for your future too!

The thesis must have been completed at a university in The Netherlands or at a university in an African country.

🗓️ Deadline: 30 September 2026
ℹ️ All submission details: https://ascleiden.nl/content/africa-thesis-award



Middle East, Islamic, and African Studies - Brill Publishing

The latest issue of International Journal of Divination and Prognostication (IJDP) is out now!

More details here: https://brill.com/view/journals/ijdp/7/1/ijdp.7.issue-1.xml

– Table of Contents –

Virgil the Geomancer: A Geomantic Reading of “Purgatorio” from Dante’s Commedia, with a Focus on Canto XIX
Author: Erwan Dianteill

Mongol Superstition versus Christian Rationality
Literary Representations of Astrology and Divination in the Mongol Empire by European Travelers
Author: Yinghan Li

"Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic: Manipulating the Divine" edited by Jesper Sørensen and Anders Klostergaard Petersen
Author: Michael Grünbart

"Cosmic Coherence: A Cognitive Anthropology through Chinese Divination" by William Matthews
Author: Wang Xing

"Fate Calculation Experts: Diviners Seeking Legitimation in Contemporary China" by Geng Li
Author: Radu Bikir

"Divination: A Cognitive Perspective" by Ze Hong
Author: Gerhard Mayer

We are saddened by the news of the passing of the renowned literary scholar and author Liu Zaifu.

Born in 1941, Liu was particularly known for his influential scholarship and essays, particularly his reflections on Chinese literary tradition and the spiritual responsibilities of writers and intellectuals. His passing is a great loss for the field of contemporary Chinese literature.

“In the early morning of June 4, 1989, troops of the People’s Liberation Army stormed into Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. They opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who refused to vacate despite earlier warnings of a military crackdown. Within a few hours, the troops had taken over the square, putting an end to the largest democracy movement in the history of the People’s Republic of China. What ensued was a massive manhunt for the activists rumored to be responsible for the movement. Among the targeted names was Liu Zaifu 劉再復 (1941–). Liu was the director of the Institute of Literature at the National Academy of Social Sciences, the leading literary institution of China, and one of the most influential critics in the “New Era” after the Cultural Revolution. His name was associated with national literary and cultural events and his works, such as “On Literary Subjectivity” (“Lun wenxue zhutixing” 論文學主體性) and A Treatise of Character Composition (Xingge zuhe lun 性格組合論) were best-sellers among a generation of Chinese youth yearning for intellectual inspiration.”

— Liu Zaifu: Selected Critical Essays (2021), edited by Howard Y. F. Choy and Liu Jianmei

Liu Zaifu: Selected Critical Essays: https://brill.com/display/title/57544?contents=editorial-content

"The Fear of Witchcraft and Witches in Imperial China" by Barend Ter Haar has recently been reviewed by Prof. Xu Ma in the journal Chinese Studies International.

"'The Fear of Witchcraft and Witches in Imperial China' not only offers the most comprehensive and intellectually rigorous account of witchcraft fear in Chinese history to date, but also opens productive avenues for future research on figurines and familiars as enduring cultural tropes that traverse ritual practice, literary imagination, and moral pedagogy. A masterpiece of exceptional erudition and ambition, ter Haar’s book is, in every respect, an indispensable and monumental achievement."

Read full review here: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987548

Find out more about the publication here: https://brill.com/display/title/70314?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOoqgBtRGsysOd1nSmHWCP6Te651d792ECZs4qAf7hdUXfck3DiYd&contents=toc-136066

Just published!

"Model Works During the Cultural Revolution" by Dr Zhang Qingyan offers a groundbreaking exploration of China’s Cultural Revolution through the lens of the Model Works, revealing their intricate fusion of politics, art, and ideology.

From Mao’s diplomatic maneuvers to the enduring legacy of revolutionary opera, this book traces how artistic innovation became a vehicle for cultural transformation and global strategy. Rich in historical detail, it illuminates the creative genius of figures like Yu Huiyong, the political theater of Jiang Qing, and the post-revolution commodification of socialist culture. Both a cultural history and a meditation on revolution’s unfinished mission, it challenges readers to rethink the intersections of arts and politics.

Read more here: https://brill.com/display/title/74161?contents=editorial-content