Center for Southeast Asian Studies

The University of Hawaii (UH) is a state land-grant institution located in Honolulu, a major U.S. city with a population nearing one million. The University's commitment to Asian studies in Hawaii is evident in the institution's focus on Asia and the Pacific.

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), coordinating unit for many of these programs, is housed within the School of Pacific and Asian Studies (SPAS) along with its sister centers concentrating on Japan, China, Korea, South Asia, the Philippines, and the Pacific.

CSEAS directs a substantial portion of its resources to the development of language and area studies educational materials. Its support for outreach programs provide faculty, students, and the community with a diverse selection of cultural, arts, and language programs.

UH regularly offers a wide range of courses related to Southeast Asia (SEA). While most are in the social sciences and the humanities, the arts are well represented. In addition, courses are currently offered in Business and Tropical Agriculture. Of the non-language courses with clear country foci, the Philippines and Indonesia have the broadest coverage with interest in Vietnam and Cambodia steadily increasing. UH students may be awarded Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) degrees in SEA Studies and PhDs with SEA concentration in one of the University's many disciplines. UH students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of SEA ceremonies and festivals that occur regularly in Honolulu's SEA ethnic communities.

Clearly one of Hawaii's curriculum strengths is the program for teaching SEA languages. The following languages have been taught regularly at UH since 1965: Indonesian, Ilokano, Khmer, Thai, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Burmese, Lao, and Malay have been taught less regularly during that time. The University has held National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) status since 1990 and the College of Business Administration (BusAd) has administered a Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) since 1989.

CSEAS assists in the administration of the Fulbright-Hays Advanced Filipino Abroad summer language program and the Fulbright-Hays Advanced Study of Khmer abroad program. UH students participate in these and similar programs in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. To sustain one of the largest Southeast Asian programs in the United States a substantial faculty is needed. Approximately 65 lecturers and resident/visiting professors teach courses on SEA.

The UH library supports one of the largest selections of SEA materials in the world. These can be accessed through an on-line catalogue. Materials from other U.S. and foreign libraries may be secured through inter-library loans. The CSEAS outreach program oversees conferences, public lectures, visiting scholar/researcher visits, and special course development.

The CSEAS also supports a growing film studies program and introduced a Southeast Asia film subtitling course during the grant period, the first of its kind in the US. Recently the outreach program has emphasized mentoring faculties from other minority-serving colleges and universities in SEA studies.

The University's Office of International Affairs, the University Research Council, and the Graduate Student Organization all provide support to faculty and students reading papers at professional meetings and conducting research. In 2009, CSEAS helped establish, with partial funding from the State of Hawaii, a new initiative focusing on Muslim Societies in Asia (Southeast Asia). The Center outreach will assist in the development of educational materials and offer activities based on the courses and conferences associated with these programs.

For more complete coverage of our programs, go to http://www.hawaii.edu/cseas.

For more complete coverage of Muslim Societies in Asia (SEA), go to http://www.hawaii.edu/msia

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