The Southeast Asia Institute was an early academic institute devoted to

Southeast Asian studies Southeast Asian studies (SEAS) refers to research and education on the language, culture, and history of the different states and ethnic groups of Southeast Asia. Some institutions refer to this discipline as ASEAN Studies since most of the countr ...

. It is said to be the first United States institution employing the term "

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

History

The Institute was originally organized as the East Indies Institute of America, with Austrian scholar Robert Heine-Geldern playing a lead role in the formation. It was established on July 31, 1941, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with a branch in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...

Claire Holt Claire Rhiannon Holt (born 11 June 1988) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles as Emma Gilbert in '' H2O: Just Add Water'', Samara Cook in ''Pretty Little Liars'', Chastity Meyer in ''Mean Girls 2'', Rebekah Mikaelson in ''The ...

, Raymond Kennedy, and

Arthur Schiller Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

served on its board. By 1946 the Institute claimed a total of 326 members, and had changed its name by majority vote to make it "clear that the Institute's area of research and study comprises the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

and

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

", as recorded in a special issue of the Far Eastern Quarterly (1946). The Institute was later absorbed into the

Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Annua ...

References

*"Southeast Asia Institute", The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Feb., 1946), pp. 219–224. *John Bowen, "The Development of Southeast Asian Studies in the United States", UCIAS Edited Volume 3, ''The Politics of Knowledge: Area Studies and the Disciplines'', 2003. {{authority control Research institutes in the United States Southeast Asian studies