"ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The"

Bigelow, Donald N.; Legters, Lyman H.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600101pmid: N/A

Taylor, George E.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600102pmid: N/A

University initiative in the development of non- Western studies stemmed from a scholarly conviction that long-term academic neglect must be overcome, reinforced by the external challenges of World War II. Even before substantial aid was forthcoming from foundations and the federal government, the academic world had taken basic steps to incorporate the non-Western world within its purview. This was done, often with foundation help, largely under the auspices of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. When direct outside assistance came, it left to the universities the fundamental task of evolving appropriate instructional and research procedures. More especially, it left to them the maintenance of scholarly standards. The major challenge confronting non-Western studies today is to be able to develop fruitful interaction with the theoretical aspects of the various disciplines, simultaneously with the introduction of non-Western subject matter into the undergraduate curriculum.

Beckmann, George M.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600103pmid: N/A

Foundation encouragement and support of the development of non-Western studies in American higher educa tion has been crucial if not decisive. Beginning with the modest pioneer grants of the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1930's in support of language and area programs, the foundation contribution to this revolutionary educational advance has steadily increased decade by decade and has helped universities more effectively to meet the ever-rising demand for competent personnel and for more and better knowledge. Of the many foundations, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and especially the Ford Foundation have contributed the lion's share in support of graduate training and research programs at major universities, of the recruitment and training of graduate students through national fellowship programs, of research by individual scholars and by groups of them, and of efforts by undergraduate colleges to add non-Western studies to the mainstream of liberal learning. The cumulative contribution of these three foundations and others has been indeed impressive, but, despite substantial progress in the development of resources, the gap is widening instead of narrowing between the demands of American society for more well-trained personnel and for new kinds of knowledge and the capacity of American higher education to supply them. The challenge to the foundations, national as well as local, is greater today than ever before.

Mildenberger, Kenneth W.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600104pmid: N/A

The role of the United States in the Second World War and in world affairs since the war has established the im portance of American universities as a national resource for knowledge about the languages and cultures of non-Western peoples. Government agencies turn to the universities for specialized personnel, training programs, informed advice, tech nical assistance abroad, and mission-oriented research. But professional non-Western resources at universities have been extremely limited, and the government has recognized, in the national interest, a federal responsibility to provide direct financial assistance to strengthen the relevant academic enter prise. The central program of government support is Title VI of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, which provides aid for language and area centers, for stipends for advanced university study, and for research and studies. A section of the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961 has augmented NDEA support by provision of funds for travel and study abroad by American faculty and graduate students of non- Western studies.

Singer, Milton

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600105pmid: N/A

The involvement of the social sciences in non- Western studies has been growing in spite of the institutional and intellectual conflicts between area studies and disciplinary studies. The process of institutional adaptation is illustrated by reference to the postwar development of non-Western stud ies. The intellectual conflict springs from the fact that the definitions and classifications of major world areas, including the division between "Western" and "non-Western," do not correspond to the definitions and classifications in any social science discipline. The several disciplines have a differential proneness to area studies, and the problem of integrating them for study of a particular area has no simple, uniform solution. Evidence is presented to show how the study of non-Western societies and civilizations is generating new and fertile hybrid disciplines in anthropology and is giving a comparative and international dimension to the other social sciences.

Marckwardt, Albert H.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600106pmid: N/A

It is evident that increased familiarity with the non-Western world is a desideratum in our educational future. To achieve this, we shall have to bring the foreign area to our students rather than depending upon their going to the foreign area. Although non-Western studies have had a rapid de velopment in our colleges and universities over the past two decades, much more remains to be done, especially in the field of the humanities. In this connection it is convenient to deal with language and linguistics separately. A command of the non-Western language is essential for the foreign-area special ist, and anyone who undertakes graduate study or undergrad uate concentration should acquire competence in it. For the nonspecialist undergraduate, language study is impractical. One problem is to increase the availability of language instruc tion in the colleges. Expansion in linguistics is necessary to produce the language-teaching manpower. The function of literature in any area program is to provide the student with an experience, a concrete expression of the values and concepts of the culture he is studying. Folklore often serves a similar pur pose. Art, architecture, and music as component elements of area study may conveniently be approached in terms of the creative process and of form, symbol, and value. Contrastive analyses of the target culture and of our own will provide a strategy of approach in which one proceeds from the similar to the different. In making such analyses, the humanist must seek the advice of the social scientist, thus paving the way for a closer integration of the two disciplines.

Brown, W. Norman

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600107pmid: N/A

South Asia consists of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Afghanistan. Until the Second World War, the study of this area was almost entirely restricted to humanistic subjects as taught by professors of Sanskrit in American universities. Since the 1920's, the humanistic schol ars dealing with South Asia had felt that social science subjects should also be added, but had not succeeded in getting an ex panded program into the American educational system. The Second World War made it evident that social science subjects should be added. After the war, the large foundations assisted in establishing South Asia centers which expanded South Asian studies by adding the study of modern languages of the area and social science subjects. A Joint Committee of the Ameri can Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Re search Council was established in 1949, which published a re port in 1951, "Southern Asia Studies in the United States: A Survey and Plan." Its recommendations were in course of time all implemented. The United States federal government began to support South Asia studies by instituting a foreign language fellowship program. The latest development of South Asia studies has been the establishment of the American Institute of Indian Studies in India, which is supported by United States counterpart funds in India and by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Further necessary developments of South Asia studies are outlined in the rest of the paper.

De Bary, Wm. Theodore

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600108pmid: N/A

Since World War II, East Asian studies have ad vanced through the establishment of general education pro grams in Oriental studies for undergraduates, the development of interdisciplinary "area" or "regional" studies on the M.A. level, and the extension of frontiers of specialized research on the doctoral level. To help meet the demands of such pro grams, language study has been accelerated through more in tensive courses during the academic year, through full-time summer programs that are more diversified in both content and method, and through special high school programs offering an early start in Chinese and Japanese. The co-ordination of these efforts in a unified program of language and area studies, serving the needs of students on different levels, is shown in the example of Columbia University.

Golay, Frank H.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600109pmid: N/A

Assessment of the role of Southeast Asia in American higher education will depend upon the frame of reference. Rapid expansion in area and language courses, in staff and students, and in research results has occurred over the two postwar decades. On the other hand, when assessed in terms of the national interest in area and language skills, the gap between needs and resources has not been reduced over this period. Further expansion and qualitative improvement in this important enterprise will be restrained by the basic lack of integration within the area, which complicates scholarship; by the difficulties confronting the isolated scholar seeking to maintain his commitment to study of the area; and by the dis tance, isolation, and relative smallness of the countries. Econo mists have tended to remain aloof from area- and language- specialization as the theoretical orientation of their discipline, the ready availability of processed aggregative statistical data, and the limited role assigned economists in outside participa tion in processes of modernization have combined to minimize the usefulness of area- and language-training to economists.

Ferguson, Charles A.

doi: 10.1177/000271626435600110pmid: N/A

Language instruction is an important part of Middle Eastern studies, as in all area programs. Analysis of the language facts of the Middle East and American needs and interests in the area makes it possible to set reasonable goals for language study. Traditional patterns of Middle Eastern lan guage study are no longer appropriate, but recent innovations in curriculum, methods of teaching, summer programs and study abroad point toward solutions of the problems. Every area has its particular language problems, but approaches in the Middle Eastern field may have counterparts for other area programs.