At the Second International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference in Tampere, Finland 1998, Pertti Alasuutari introduced the idea of establishing an international association of cultural studies. Informal discussions with Ann Gray, Larry Grossberg, John Hartley, Joke Hermes and others led to a "Draft Proposal for establishing an International Association of Cultural Studies at the Crossroads in Cultural Studies conference in Birmingham". A general launching meeting was arranged during the third Crossroads conference in Birmingham 2000, electing a larger committee to prepare a constitution for the association, now called the "Association for Cultural Studies" (ACS). The committee comprised Pertti Alasuutari, Kuan-Hsing Chen, Kirsten Drotner, Ann Gray, Lawrence Grossberg, Joke Hermes, Baris Kilicbay, Daniel Mato, Alan McKee, Alvaro Pina (Coordinator), M. Michael Schiff, Keyan Tomaselli and Handel K. Wright.
This committee prepared the first draft of provisional rules and by-laws (see here), which were then introduced to the founding meeting at the fourth Crossroads conference, held in Tampere 2002, where it was decided that the Association for Cultural Studies will be established, with Pertti Alasuutari (Finland) elected as Chair, Joke Hermes (Netherlands) as Vice-Chair and Mikko Lehtonen (Finland) as Treasurer. An Advisory Committee was also formed at that meeting, including also Kuan-Hsing Chen (Taiwan), Kirsten Drotner (Denmark), Ann Gray (UK), Lawrence Grossberg (USA), Baris Kilicbay (Turkey), Daniel Mato (Venezuela), Alan McKee (Australia), Alvaro Pina (Portugal), M. Michael Schiff (Canada), Keyan Tomaselli (South Africa) and Handel K. Wright (USA). The advisory committee further developed the constitution in accordance with the suggestions made during the founding assembly. It was decided to register the Association in Finland, and the Rules of the Association were revised to meet the legal demands there. The Association for Cultural Studies was accepted to the Register of Associations in Finland on 30 January 2003. You can find a copy of the document here.
The Association had its next full meeting at the fifth Crossroads conference in Urbana-Champaign, USA 2004. An e-mail election of a first real Board was then organised, and concluded on 1 November 2004. The Board had an extraordinary digital meeting in November, discussing among other things sites for the next Crossroads conference and electing treasurer, administrative secretary and organisational secretary. The Board is now actively seeking to develop the Association and will continuously present new resources on this web site.
The ACS Board consist of the following members:
Chair and representing Asia: Meaghan Morris, Hong-Kong
Vice-Chair and representing Europe: Johan Fornäs, Sweden
Treasurer: Mikko Lehtonen, Finland
Administrative Secretary: Anna Byckling, Finland
Organisational Secretary and representating Australia and New Zealand: Melissa Gregg, Australia
Representing Africa: Keyan Gray Tomaselli, South Africa, and Handel Kashope Wright, USA
Representing Asia: Myungkoo Kang, South Korea, and Kuan-Hsing Chen, Taiwan
Representing Europe: Anne Scott Sørensen, Denmark, and Álvaro Pina, Portugal
Representing Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean: Sandra Idrovo, Ecuador
Representing North America and the English- and French-speaking Caribbean: Jody Berland, Canada, Lawrence Grossberg, USA, and Shirley Steinberg, USA
The Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and two Secretaries together form the Executive Committee.