ByGeorge!

March 16, 2004

Sigur Center Advances Asian Studies

Spurred By University-Wide Excellence Designation, Program Shapes Future

By Greg Licamele

As one of seven areas of academic excellence selected by the University, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies is making greater strides to research, interpret and enrich both the Asia Pacific region of the world and the United States’ understanding of it.

This preeminent institute of Asian affairs in Washington collectively and individually focuses on China, the Koreas, Japan, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Australia and many other countries in the region. First formed from the Sino-Soviet Institute, the center recently reached a pinnacle of being selected as one of seven University-wide areas of academic excellence as part of GW’s Strategic Plan, along with transportation safety, history, political science, biomedical engineering, human evolution and public policy/public administration.

This endorsement of the Sigur Center’s successes and plans provided the institute with additional funding, faculty members and graduate assistants, leading this Elliott School of International Affairs entity to implement its identified goals.

Mike Mochizuki, associate professor of political science and international affairs and director of the center, said research, teaching and public outreach have made significant contributions to understanding a complicated region of the world. But building on those accomplishments will guide the future of the center.

“We want to do what we’re doing better,” Mochizuki said. “During the last several years, we’ve really grown both in terms of faculty and the number of students interested in Asia, especially in the PhD program. The visiting scholars program has increased from less than 10 to about 20 per year.”

The Sigur Center developed a plan for three clusters of research and teaching it wants to pursue: the legacy of colonialism and war in contemporary Asia; regionalism and institutional building in the Asia Pacific region; and the international consequences of domestic developments in Asia Pacific countries.

Speaker series, as well as seminars, publications, Web sites and other projects have been initiated in all three areas. One particular project on tap is a research and policy program on memory and reconciliation in East Asia, which addresses the legacy of colonial Japan.

“There’s no question that Japan’s role in international security affairs is becoming more prominent and will continue to be increasingly prominent,” Mochizuki said, citing the recent deployment of troops to Iraq. “The worst thing would be if a more proactive Japanese security role becomes a negative rather than a positive factor for regional stability. Australia and Southeast Asian countries have been willing to put the past (of Japan’s colonial and military history) behind, but Korea and China are having more difficulties.”

With a grant from the US Institute for Peace, this memory and reconciliation project will convene discussions, conferences and papers intended to address the historical context and to dispel misinformation that Mochizuki said exists in the mass media and among scholars.

“Wrong facts are being reported,” Mochizuki said. “So the first step for reconciliation is to be very clear about the factual knowledge and then be clear about what things are contested.”

Daqing Yang, associate professor of history and international affairs, said this project is unique because it integrates research, education and public policy, a combination that the Sigur Center will thread together and analyze.

“Our position in Washington, as an academic institution recognized for its international and Asian studies, will enable us to monitor, analyze and promote reconciliation in the Asia Pacific region,” Yang said.

The Sigur Center works toward other goals not specifically identified in its three-pronged plan, too. For example, the China Policy Program organizes and manages scholarly and policy dialogues on Chinese issues with institutions in China, Europe and the United States. This summer, David Shambaugh, professor of political science and international affairs, will lead a delegation of GW faculty members and others to Beijing for a conference with the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the impact on China.

“This is a unique undertaking, as China has never collaborated with any foreign entity on this subject,” Shambaugh said.

As the Asia Pacific region becomes more connected, the faculty at the Elliott School and across the University are collaborating more at the Sigur Center. Mochizuki said the focus for the faculty has shifted from its strength of China to additional areas of the region, including South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan), which Mochizuki and Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, professor of the practice of international affairs, are developing further.

“What has happened over time is a broadening and deepening of Sigur Center faculty to include Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia,” Mochizuki said. “It’s also multidisciplinary, but I think our real strengths in Asia are in political science, history, and, to some extent, anthropology and economics.”

The Sigur Center is closely linked with the academic side of the Elliott School, as the faculty teach and advise students interested in the region. Beyond the research and public outreach opportunities, teaching remains critical to the center’s core, which also is growing. For example, 41 students pursuing a PhD in political science or history have a major interest in Asian studies. This represents a 50 percent increase in enrollment among those students in the last three to four years.

“We connect the research with the teaching,” Mochizuki said. “Every time we get a new position or we get a grant, we want to improve the curriculum, as well.”


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