Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) History
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This collection is devoted to the history of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) from its founding in the 1950-51 academic year up to the present. The collection serves as a repository for historical documents, including recorded interviews with past and current faculty, images from SEAP's past, directories of people associated with the program, member publications and other written documents, memorials and video eulogies, and more. This collection has been created with the aim of bringing together the great diversity of SEAP's past while also highlighting the different perspectives that have helped shape SEAP as it is today.
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Item Interview with Professor Thak Chaloemtiarana(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)An interview with Thak Chaloemtiarana, retired Professor in the Graduate School. Thak served as the director of the Southeast Asia Program until 2010, and was the associate dean and director of admissions for the College of Arts and Sciences from 1985 to 1998. He discusses how he came to study Thailand, instead of his intended topic of Indonesia. He also describes the relationship between Southeast Asia Program faculty and the students.Item Interview with Dr. Audrey Kahin(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)Parts one and two of an interview with Dr. Audrey Kahin. In part one she describes her early career, arrival at the Southeast Asia Program, and her graduate research, including her work on Indonesia. In part two she expands on the distribution of graduate students within Southeast Asia and her work as an editor for the Program.Item Interview with Professor Stanley O'Connor(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)Parts one, two, and three of an interview with Stanley O'Connor, Professor Emeritus of the Department of the History of Art. In part one he discusses the second generation of the program in the 1960s, the relationship between SEAP and Asian Studies, and the beginnings of the brownbag lunch series. In part two he describes the evolution of art history studies at Cornell from historical to contemporary analyses. In part three, O'Connor discusses more modern trends in art history in Southeast Asia.Item Interview with Professor Milton Barnett(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)Parts one and two of an interview with Professor Milton Barnett, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Rural Sociology. In part one he discusses his early education and fieldwork with the Hopi and in Southeast Asia, along with the evolution of anthropology and sociology in Southeast Asia and China. In part two he addresses being branded a communist because of his pre-war anti-fascist beliefs.Item Interview with Professor Randy Barker(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)An interview with Randolph Barker, Professor Emeritus of the Dyson School (formerly the Department of Agricultural Economics). Barker served as the director of the Southeast Asia Program from 1989 to 1994. In this interview he discusses his time as an undergraduate and the beginnings of his career, along with his military service. He also describes his work at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and its connection to broader U.S. Cold War policy.Item Interview with Professor John Wolff(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)An interview with John Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Asian Studies. He discusses the beginnings of his interest in Indonesia and his experiences there during Konfrontasi. He also addresses the early years of the Southeast Asia Program and the teaching of Southeast Asian languages at Cornell.Item Interview with Professor Knight Biggerstaff(Southeast Asia Program, 2020-09-02)Parts one and two of an interview with Knight Biggerstaff, Professor Emeritus of the History Department. Biggerstaff chaired the Department of Asian Studies from 1946 to 1956, helping to create the university's China (now East Asia) and Southeast Asia programs. He chaired the history department from 1956 to 1963. He discusses the development of China Studies, the East Asia program, and the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell. He also addresses the relationship of area studies to other fields, and the future of China and other area studies. The interview was conducted by Martin Hatch of the Southeast Asia Program and Music Department, and Takashi Shiraishi of the History Department. Martin Hatch is now a Professor Emeritus in the Music Department, and Takashi Shiraishi is now chancellor of Kumamoto Prefecture University.Item Interview with Professor George KahinSoutheast Asia Program (Southeast Asia Program, 2019-05-20)Parts one and two of an interview with George McT. Kahin, Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor of International Studies, Emeritus. Professor Kahin was the Cornell Southeast Asia Program’s second faculty director, serving from 1960-1970. In part one, he recounts his experience in graduate school at Johns Hopkins and in Indonesia during the Indonesian National Revolution, as well as his early days in the Cornell Southeast Asia Program under the cloud of McCarthyism. In part two, Professor Kahin recounts his time as SEAP director, as well as his establishment of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project (CMIP) starting in 1954 with the help of a generous grant from the Ford Foundation. He also outlines his experience studying and teaching Southeast Asian in the political climate of the 1960’s and 70’s, as well as his involvement in the national debate over the Vietnam War. The interview was conducted by Coeli Barry and Peter Zinoman. Coeli Barry is now the chair of the MA International Program at the Mahidol University Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, and Peter Zinoman is a Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley.Item A Short History of the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University, 1951 –2008Kahin, Audrey (2019-04-09)Dr. Audrey Kahin narrates the history of the Cornell Southeast Asia Program, from its inception to the present day.Item Introduction: Professor Lauriston Sharp (1907-1993)Southeast Asia Program (Southeast Asia Program, 2019-03-25)Introduction to Lauriston Sharp, Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Emeritus. Sharp founded the Cornell Southeast Asia Program in the academic year of 1950-1951.