Where and How Will the Southeast Asianists of Tomorrow Be Educated?

Abstract

In Germany, the state of Southeast Asian Studies reflects a pattern of institutional decline, which is unfortunately not unlike current developments in the US, UK, Australia and other parts of Western Europe. As first- or second-generation scholars reach retirement age, some of whom were pioneers in the field in the two Germanies post-WWII, their positions are not being replaced, or where they are, it is not always by scholars with similar expertise. At the same time, interest by students in studying Southeast Asian Studies continues to decline and so too the interest of research funding agencies and policy makers. This article offers some explanations of why and how this has happened, referring to general structural problems in the German academic system but also to some missed opportunities to gain more intellectual attention within the broader social sciences community. After mapping the current state of affairs at several universities in Germany, this article raises crucial questions about where and by whom the next generation of Southeast Asianists will be trained, and whether the current approach can sustain the field in the German academy and ultimately for German and European strategic interests in this increasingly crucial region, for the long term?