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For specific information related to your program or area of interest

Including how to apply, please visit the following pages:

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.

Patricio ABINALES, Ph.D.

Headshot Of Dr. Jojo Abinales

Contact Information:

Tel. (808) 956-4030, Email: abinales@hawaii.edu

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. Government and Asian Studies, Cornell, 1997
  • MA Cornell University, Department of Government, 1991
  • BA History, University of the Philippines-Diliiman, 1978

Patricio “Jojo” Abinales grew up on the northwestern side of the  Philippine island of Mindanao. He graduated with a degree in History from the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UP), and Ph.D. in Government and Southeast Asian Studies from Cornell University. He taught at the Department of Political Science at Ohio University from 1997 to 1999 before moving to the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in 2000. From 2010-2011, Jojo was a visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, where he did research on the political economy of US economic assistance in Muslim Mindanao.  In 2011 he joined the faculty of the Asian Studies Program at UH-Manoa.

Apart from his academic work, Jojo also writes political commentaries and book reviews for two e-magazines – Rappler in the Philippines, and Positively Filipino which is based in San Francisco.

Book Cover Of "State And Society In The Philippines"

Specializations

Philippine politics (American colonialism; communist and Islamic insurgencies; the illicit sector; warlords and political clans).

Southeast Asian politics.

Courses

  • ASAN 310 Asian Humanities.
  • ASAN 312: Contemporary Asian Civilizations.
  • ASAN 320P: Asian Nation Studies: Philippines.
  • ASAN 320Z. Smuggling and the Illicit in Asia.
  • ASAN 406 Modern Philippines.
  • ASAN 484. Political Violence in Southeast Asia.
  • ASAN 491G: Food, Politics, and Culture in Asia.
  • ASAN 491P. Political Violence in the Philippines.
  • ASAN 620P: Directed Readings on Southeast Asian (Auto)Biographies and Methodologies.
  • ASAN 630. Southeast Asia Now.
  • ASAN 750. Research Seminar.

Selected Publications

Current Research Projects

  • Prepping for Cacique Politics: Manhood, Violence and the Fraternity System in the University of the Philippines.
  • The Two-Legged Rats and its Four-Legged Cousin: The Place of Rodent Infestation in Philippine Politics.
  • Muslims and Americans in Late 20th Century Philippines: Hegemony at Work.
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