JISEAS Issue Paper No. 24

"Southeast Asia Summer Institute: Its History, Accomplishments, and Implications"

by Eunsook Jung

Abstract

The Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (hereafter, SEASSI) is an intensive eight-week Southeast Asian language program, created by a consortium of various universities in USA. For the last 40 years, SEASSI has provided a myriad of students with opportunities to learn Southeast Asian languages and cultures, and also to build friendship with other scholars in the field. Since the first SEASSI was held in 1983 at both Ohio University and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the institute has continued to grow. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been hosting SEASSI every summer since 2000 and has built a strong foundation for the institute.

Given SEASSI’s long tradition and accomplishments, I will discuss its history, accomplishments, and challenges in this paper. I will first review the history of SEASSI by highlighting the roles of the federal government of the United States of America and its collaborations with various universities. Second, I will explain how SEASSI operates in terms of its recruitment, curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and finances. Last, I will discuss the challenges faced by SEASSI and suggest some ways forward. This paper is based on the official reports of SEASSI from 2018 to 2021, in-depth interviews with key informants who have been involved in the process of building SEASSI, and secondary resources.

* Please find the attached file for JISEAS Issue Paper No. 24.