About CSEAS

Department of Southeast Asian Studies (Environment, Society and Culture), Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies (ASAFAS)

ASAFAS was established in April 1998. Iin order to respond to changing social demands on academia to promote an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to area studies that transcends the existing disciplinary boundaries and produces a more holistic understanding of Asia and Africa. We must contribute, both as citizens and scholars to the establishment of a new world order in which the sustainable development and coexistence of different areas of the world, including Asia and Africa, are realized. With this goal in mind, ASAFAS aims to train specialists in Asian and African studies who possess detailed and intimate knowledge of the areas and at the same time are equipped with a global perspective.

The School is five-year doctoral program emphasizes in long-term fieldwork and holistic understanding of Asian and African ecology, society, and culture and their interrelations with each other. Besides training specialists in Asian and African area studies, ASAFAS also hopes to produce personnel capable of working in international aid organizations and, accordingly, is prepared to issue master's degrees when needed.

The School is comprised seven departments under two divisions:

Division of Southeast Asian Area Studies

Department of Ecology and Environment
Department of Society and Development
Department of Environment, Society, and Culture
Department of South and West Asian Area Studies

Division of African Area Studies

Department of Political Ecology
Department of Cultural Ecology
Department of Historical Ecology

Of the seven departments, the Department of Environment, Society, and Culture (a cooperative department) is staffed solely by the Center facalty, Five professors and three associate professors from CSEAS composed the department. All other staff of the Center teach courses on diverse topics in their specialization in the seven departments.

As of April 2005, there are 163 graduate students, 108 of whom belong to the Division of Southeast Asian Area Studies and 55 to the Division of African Area Studies. Twenty one are overseas students from Asia and Africa, some of whom receive Japanese government scholarships. Forty three of them belong to the cooperative department and are supervised mainly by the Center's staff.

Since overseas field research is amajor part of their studies, graduate students must complete all the necessary lectures, seminars, literature surveys, and other clasroom-related responsibilities in their short time in Japan. From the second year onwards, many of them try to stay as long as possible doing field research. These include, to note just a few: Thai nation building revisited, Indonesian political history, Thai corporate management, gender issues in Buddhist practices in Northeast Thai villages, social changes in Cambodian villages, political economy of mangrove culture in Vietnam, Lao traditional farming systems, food and culture in Yunnan, and rural development in Bangladesh.

To ASAFAS HP

Kyoto University School of Public Health

A new division of the Graduate School of Medicine, the Kyoto University School of Public Health was established in April 2000. It initially offered a master's program and has subsequently been expanded, to indlude a doctoral program. Two of the Center's staff teach courses in the School and supervise graduate students. As of March 2005, five students have finished master's degrees under the guidance of these faculty menbers..

To Kyoto University School of Public Health

Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies

In 1991, Kyoto University established the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies which comprises of three divisions: Human and Environmental Studies, Culture and Area Studies, and Environmental Correlative Studies. One of its 25 departments is the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, to which 19 of the Center's staff were affiliated and 20 graduate students recruited.

As the primary affiliation of the Center's staff shifted to the new ASAFAS, recruitment of new students to this school ended in 1998. As of April 2003, most of the students have completed the course, five have been awarded Ph. D. degrees and some are still pursuing fieldwork in Southeast Asia under the continuous supervision of the same advisors.

Division of Tropical Agriculture, Graduate School of Agriculture

The Division of Tropical Agriculture in the Graduate School of Agriculture inaugurated a master's program in April 1981 and a doctoral program two years later. Natural scientists of the Center's staff taught courses on tropical rice culture, tropical geography, and tropical hydrology. Unfortunately, the program was terminated upon the major reorganization of the Graduate School of Agriculture in 1995. In its short history, however, the Division had graduated 27 students from Japan (16) and abroad (11) who are pursuing careers throughout the world in universities, public research institutes, government offices, and the private sector.

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