Southeast Asian Studies in the U.S.A.

Today if Americans are asked about centers of Southeast Asian Studies in the United States, their reply should begin with the names of Cornell University, Yale University and the University of California (Berkeley). If on the other hand, the question concerns American scholars of Southeast Asian affairs, the answer would have to include names of individuals from Boston to Hawaii and from Minnesota to New Orleans. The centers of Southeast Asian studies offer a coordinated program of studies which prepares the recipient for special work in one or more disciplines and in one or more parts of Southeast Asian studies. The individual scholars, who are for the most part also college and university teachers, may offer a course or even a sequence of courses related to Southeast Asia, and on some occasions may be integrated into a specialized program which includes Southeast Asia in its purview, but the results of their teaching endeavors do not bear the imprint of specialization which is to be found in the centers. In this article I shall describe the chief Southeast Asia centers, say something about programs in which Southeast Asia plays only a part, and finally close with a word on the individual scholar interested in all or part of Southeast Asia.