Center for Southeast Asian Studies

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Center for Southeast Asian Studies

• Northern Illinois University

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Introduction Map of Southeast Asian Nations
Insular SEA Malaysia Singapore Brunei
Indonesia Philippines East Timor
Mainland SEA Myanmar (Burma) Laos
Thailand Cambodia Vietnam
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Introduction History of Center at NIU

• Established at NIU in 1963
• 2nd oldest Center for SEAS in U.S.
• Established as USDE-designated NRC
• (National Resource Center) in 1997
• UG minor and graduate concentration
• Interdisciplinary in focus
• Donn V. Hart Southeast Asia
• library collection (4th floor)

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Introduction Peace Corps at NIU, 1963
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Introduction 27 Faculty and Staff Associates

• Anthropology
• Art History
• Computer Science
• Foreign Languages and Literatures - Burmese,
  Indonesian, Khmer (Cambodia), Tagalog
  (Philippines) and Thai
• History
• Music
• Political Science

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Highlights National Resource Center for
Southeast Asia (NRC)

• Continuously funded as a Title VI Undergraduate
  National Resource Center
• Increase national capacity of trained specialists
  in world languages and cultures
• Evaluators say
• innovative language teaching
• dedicated and cohesive faculty
• exceptionally strong ties with institutions in
  Southeast Asia

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Highlights Teaching Student Activities
TEACHING

• Offer 97 courses with at least 50 SEA content
• Enroll about 70 students in a team taught
• interdisciplinary course every semester
• Enroll more than 1500 students in courses
• with SEA content each year
• Offer 3 levels in each of five languages
• Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Tagalog Thai
• Host Fulbright FLTAs from Southeast Asia

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Highlights Teaching Student Activities

• UG minor and graduate concentration in SEA
  studies
• FLAS Fellowships
• Clark and Arlene Neher Graduate Scholarship
• SEA Club
• Student Conference

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Highlights - SEAsite
SEAsite is an extensive set of free online
language lessons and cultural materials for
Thai, Indonesian, Tagalog, Khmer, Lao, Burmese
(Myanmar), and Vietnamese, featuring

• copious pictures
• interactive exercises
• integrated streaming audio
• cultural materials on topics such as
• music, art, cuisine, history, religion, and
  politics
• extended academic essays on selected
• topics such as the history of Burmese
• art, recent political history of
• Cambodia, and Thai Buddhism.
• audio and video podcasting in Thai

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Highlights SEAsite continued
Since 1997, SEAsite has been continuously
supported by the U.S. Department of Education,
with grants totaling over 2,123,000.

• SEAsite is the premier Web site for SE Asian
  language resources, coming up first in a search
  for SE Asian language resources or SE Asian
  languages in
• Google
• msn.com
• ask.com
• Alta Vista

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Highlights Projects, Research and Awards

• InterEthnic Dialogue and Conflict Resolution in
  the Southern Philippines (U.S. Department of
  State)
• A Regional Approach to Spatial Analysis of Tai
  Toponyms in Southern China and Southeast Asia
  Using GIS (National Science Foundation)
• The Origins and Spread of Tai Irrigated Rice
  Technology and Culture in Southern China (Henry
  B. Luce Foundation)
• Laos Preservation and Conservation Project
  (Illinois Humanities Council)
• Museum to Museum Partnership Project (UNESCO)
• Cambodian Cultural Heritage Exhibits
• (Henry B. Luce Foundation)
• Buddhism in Thailand website
• Fulbright Fellowships
• NIU Presidential Awards

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Highlights - Consultancies
Short-term consulting by Associates

• Cambodian Museum in Chicago
• National Public Radio
• The Carter Center
• U.S. Agency for International
• Development
• U.S. Department of Defense
• U.S. Department of State
• World Bank

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Highlights - Outreach

• Our highly acclaimed outreach program
• develops teaching materials, sponsors
• lectures, organizes international
• conferences and conducts training in
• Southeast Asian studies.

Provides Resources and Support to

• K-16 Educators
• Students
• Businesses
• Community groups
• Organizations

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Highlights - Publications

• Crossroads
• The Journal of
• Burma Studies
• Monograph Series
• Language text series for
• Burmese and Vietnamese
• Mandala Newsletter

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Highlights -Donn V. Hart Southeast Asia Library
Collection

• Houses more than 65,000 items in vernacular
  languages of Southeast Asia
• Ranks among top 5 U.S. collections
• Includes sections on rare books and manuscripts
  and childrens books for around the world
• Southeast Asia Digital Library Project
• Consortium of domestic and foreign institutions
• Various constituent projects
• Grant from the U.S. Department
• of Education

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Center for Burma Studies

• In 1986, NIU was selected to house the national
  Center for Burma Studies.
• Worlds only research institute devoted solely to
  Burma studies
• Burma Collections contain more than 11,000 items
  including
• Extensive bibliographic holdings and map
  collection
• A unique assemblage of Burmese art
• Audio library of Burmese music

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Center for Burma Studies

• Publishes relevant scholarship on Burma,
  including the following scholarly editions
• the Journal of Burma Studies (annual)
• the Bulletin of the Burma Studies Group
  (semi-annual)
• Organizes and hosts national and international
  conferences
• Provides undergraduate and graduate teaching

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Center for Burma Studies
2004-05 Exhibit The World of Burmese
Buddhism NIU Museum
Fall 05 Exhibit The Art of Burma NIU Gallery,
Chicago
Fall 06 Exhibit From Heaven to Earth NIU Museum
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Other Southeast Asia Collections

• The Anthropology Museum
• Permanent Southeast Asia Collection
• artifacts textiles
• strength in Philippine, Indonesia, Thai and
• Cambodia pieces
• smaller collection of Malay, Burmese, Lao and
  Vietnamese pieces
• Current exhibit "Islam in Southeast Asia"
• past exhibits on Asian puppetry, Asian mask
• dramas, Timor textiles

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Other Southeast Asia Collections

• The Anthropology Museum
• Upcoming exhibit on Cambodia Past and Present
• Outreach exhibits at NIU culture nights,
• schools, community colleges, libraries
• Grants from DeKalb County Community
• Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council,
• Henry B. Luce Foundation

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GOALS

• Short-Term Goals
• Increase staff
• Market more effectively
• Increase students
• Expand faculty resources and course offerings in
  religious studies
• Constitute a board of advisors to help raise
  profile in the region, advise on fund-raising and
  on possible new opportunities

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GOALS

• Long-Term Goals
• Build endowment
• Convert Outreach Coordinator position
• Increase operating staff
• Explore feasibility of a peace building institute
• Expand facilities