AAS Call for Proposals

I am seeking to join an organized panel for the AAS 2027 Annual Conference in Boston as a paper presenter.

My proposed paper is titled "Financing Digital Access: Microfinance and the Gendered Diffusion of Smartphones in Bangladesh."

Using administrative records for 9,770 smartphone-purchase loans issued through a nationwide Bangladeshi microfinance institution, the paper examines how female-majority lending networks shape the social and geographic diffusion of smartphones among low-income borrowers. It explores microfinance as an institutional channel for technology acquisition and considers its implications for gendered digital access, financial inclusion, and development in South Asia.

The paper may fit an organized panel addressing one or more of the following themes:

• gender and technology in South Asia
• digital inequality and digital inclusion
• microfinance and household finance
• financial inclusion and development institutions
• technology diffusion and everyday infrastructure
• women's access to digital devices
• mobile technology in rural and low-income communities

I would particularly welcome opportunities to join a comparative or interdisciplinary panel that includes research from different South Asian countries or institutions.

I am an Assistant Director and researcher at Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra in Dhaka, Bangladesh. My research focuses on microfinance, asset-based finance, digital and financial inclusion, gender, and household welfare. I would be available to participate in person at the AAS 2027 Annual Conference in Boston.

Please feel free to contact me if this paper may complement your proposed panel.

Khan Tarikul Islam Taru
Padakhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: ktaru.iba.du@gmail.com