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Undergraduate Programs Information

Major or minor in Asian Studies.

Graduate Programs Information

Including: Master of Arts in Asian Studies, Master’s in Asian International Affairs, and Graduate Certificates in Asian Studies.

Student Testimonials

Christina Geisse

The Asian Studies Program was incredible because most professors were undertaking their own research, passionate about their subject of study, and enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with students. It felt fresh and profound at the same time. Inspiring! 

Christina Geisse
Kim Sluchansky

I was able to delve deep and focus on the areas of Asian Studies that truly interested me, and therefore gained a much more thorough and developed understanding of my fields of interest, which are applicable to my current career path. Also, the professors are extremely helpful and want their students to succeed. They were very supportive both while I was at UH and after I graduated.

Barbara Watson ANDAYA, Ph.D.

Headshot Of Dr. Barbara Andaya

Contact Information

Tel. (808) 956-4735, Email: bandaya@hawaii.edu

Website: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~bandaya/

Educational Background

  • Ph.D., Cornell University, 1975
  • M.A., University of Hawaii, 1969
  • B.A., University of Sydney, 1962

Barbara Watson Andaya is Professor in the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawai’i and former Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. In 2005-06 she was President of the American Association of Asian Studies. Educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip.Ed.), she received an East West Center grant in 1966 and obtained her MA in history at the University of Hawai’i. She subsequently went on to study for her Ph.D. at Cornell University with a specialization in Southeast Asian history.

Her career has involved teaching and researching in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and since 1994, Hawai’i. She maintains an active teaching and research interest across all Southeast Asia, but her specific area of expertise is the western Malay-Indonesia archipelago. In 2000 she received a John Simon Guggenheim Award, which resulted in The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Southeast Asian History, 1500-1800. She is currently working on a book tentatively entitled Gender and Sexuality in Southeast Asia and is also General editor of the new Cambridge History of Southeast Asia.

Book Cover Of "A History Of Malaysia"

Specializations

Christianity and religious change in Southeast Asia, ca. 1500-present, Women and gender in early modern Southeast Asia, Social issues in contemporary Southeast Asia.

Barbara Watson Andaya is Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawai’i and Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. In 2005-06 she was President of the American Association of Asian Studies. Educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip.Ed.), she received an East West Center grant in 1966 and obtained her MA in history at the University of Hawai’i. She subsequently went on to study for her Ph.D. at Cornell University with a specialization in Southeast Asian history.

Her career has involved teaching and researching in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and since 1994, Hawai’i. She maintains an active teaching and research interest across all Southeast Asia, but her specific area of expertise is the western Malay-Indonesia archipelago. In 2000 she received a Guggenheim Award, which resulted in The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Southeast Asian History, 1500-1800 (a Choice Academic Book of the Year in 2007). Her current project is a history of Christian localization in Southeast Asia, 1511-1900, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Courses

  • ASAN 202: Introduction to Asian Studies
  • ASAN 496: Religions of Island Southeast Asia
  • ASAN 600: Contemporary Issues in Southeast Asian Studies
  • ASAN 630: Globalization in Southeast Asia

Selected Publications

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