Northern Illinois University
Center for Southeast Asian Studies
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Project Team Leaders

• Judy Ledgerwood, professor of anthropology and CSEAS director
• Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski, professor of South and Southeast Asian history and assistant director of CSEAS
• Catherine Raymond, professor of art history and director of the Center for Burma Studies
• Tomoyuki Shibata, professor of public health
• Florensia Surjadi, associate professor of family and consumer sciences
• Kanjana Thepboriruk, associate professor of world languages and cultures (Thai)
• Jui-Ching Wang, professor of world music and music education

Future Initiatives

This project amplifies the voices and experiences of Southeast Asian (SEAsian) Americans via collection and exhibition of their life stories and experiences accompanied by artistic expression inspired by them. The resulting data/stories/research/performances from this transdisciplinary work will be used to create relevant resources for educator and community uses and for fulfilling the Illinois Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act to develop K-12 curricular materials across Cambodian, Thai, Karen, and Indonesian American communities.

The project includes innovative links to SEAsia, to universities, museums, arts organizations, and family and public health researchers. Through these activities, SEAsian Studies and Asian American studies are more closely coordinated at NIU, reinvigorating the SEAsia program with new theoretical and methodological approaches while directly supporting NIU's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

From accelerating and deepening NIU's collaboration with Chicago-area SEAsian American organizations and communities to supporting digital recording and storage for preservation of Asian American voices (i.e., community contributors, artists, performers); to supporting faculty and student research, and developing curricular materials and workshops for teachers that fulfill Illinois TEAACH Act requirements. Reflecting the disciplinary diversity of our faculty and students, the project serves as an umbrella for a range of communities and approaches using life histories as well as survey data and interviews as foundational material.

Impact

The engagement of Chicagoland musicians and storytellers will foster the inclusion of Southeast Asian cultural traditions as part of state curricula and SEAsian American heritage in Illinois. Storytelling creates connections between people, as we understand what we have in common. Providing open access through online platforms and traveling exhibits makes materials accessible not only for diasporic communities, and K-12 teachers that serve them in Illinois, but origin communities in Southeast Asia that may not otherwise be able to acquire them.

With reference to the Indonesian American family health project, one of the project outcomes includes survey tools to collect data from Asian Americans regarding determinants of health-related states or events, as well as positive factors including family and faith. Surveys developed in this project will be first utilized to collect data from this group, but the methodology can be replicated for further understanding of other Asian American subgroups in the future. This project will contribute to improving minority health and health equity in the U.S. by filling knowledge gaps in health disparities as well as risk and protective factors associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mental health and health among Indonesian Americans.

Through innovation and collaboration, we aim to increase the rigor of CSEAS scholarly infrastructure in important areas of SEAsian culture and language. The TEAACH Act mandates that K-12 curricula include Asian American History and contributions to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the U.S. The proposed project will develop new materials to meet these new curricular requirements. Some state and NGO efforts are underway in Illinois to develop these materials; however, more resources produced in collaboration with local communities are needed, particularly with respect to SEAsia. Given the increasing importance of U.S. and SEAsian nations' relations, SEAsian diasporas in the U.S. play an essential role in bridging the connection between the U.S. and SEA. We will work with colleagues in the College of Education and their partners in the Illinois public schools to develop teacher-training modules on SEAsian American communities. Our earlier Cambodian and Karen exhibit projects demonstrate successful engagement with local communities to tell their stories to two audiences simultaneously -- their own children and grandchildren, who may never have heard some details of their own history – and the wider community audience who may know little about their Asian American neighbors.