American Studies
When the Yale-China Association first inaugurated the Summer Institute in American Studies for East Asian Scholars in 1995, our hope was to tap into the extraordinary interest in American society and culture throughout East Asia as a way of further nurturing friendship and mutual understanding between the peoples of East Asia and the United States. Between 1995 and 2002, the Institute provided immersion in American culture and the English language as well as intensive, graduate-level seminars led by Yale professors for young scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Through these Institutes, we came to appreciate the high level of scholarship being conducted in American Studies in East Asia; at the same time, our efforts helped to widen the lens on both continents through which American society and culture is viewed and researched.
In 2006 we resumed our work in American Studies by hosting two workshops on the role of non-profit organizations in the U.S. The workshops, which were held in Beijing and Guangzhou, brought together American and Chinese academics, practitioners, and activists for discussions of civil society organizations in a comparative context.
Yale-China's work in American Studies has been made possible with the generous financial support of The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., the U.S. Department of State, and the members of the Yale-China Association.
