Luce Grant awarded to East Asian Studies Department

Thanks to a grant recently awarded Oberlin, The East Asian Studies Program has an opportunity to expand and meet goals it set 10 years ago.

Out of approximately 60-70 applicants for a grant from the Luce Fund for Asian Studies, Oberlin was one of 10-12 schools which were approved for a grant. This will enable the program to hire a new professor with a position in Contemporary Asian Society and a geographic emphasis on Northeast Asia and Korea.

"It really strenghtens the East Asian Studies Department," said Clayton Koppes, dean of the college of arts and sciences.

"I am very happy to get the grant. This allows us to address two areas of the curriculum we've tried to address for 10 years," said David E. Kelley, associate professor of history and east asian studies program Director, "We can begin to focus on East Asia in a regional context." The region Kelley refers to is Korea, Japan, and China.

According to the application for the grant, "Oberlin will seek a Korea or Northeast Asia specialist in anthropology or sociology who can provide extensive treatment of Japan and China, and also present courses that look at China, Japan, and Korea in an integrative, transitional, or comparative light."

The other goal the new position will satisfy, according to Kelley, is that the program can examine the region more in the context of the social sciences. Whoever is eventually hired will hold a joint appointment in both the East Asian Studies Program and either the anthropology or sociology department, according to the draft of the job description.

East Asian studies is the oldest area studies program at Oberlin. Currently, it provides extensive training in the languages of China and Japan, and introduces students to the civilizations of the two countries. The program has traditionally had an emphasis on the humanities, with courses in history, literature, art, ethnomusicology, politics and religion. However, there has never been any emphasis on Korea, nor on the social sciences. "There is a good deal of interest in Korea among Oberlin students," said Koppes. He also recognized the current lack of emphasis on the social sciences in the program. "I think it had needed more social science coverage," he said.

Candidates for the new position will be here in February. The search for applicants has officially begun, as the General Faculty approved the position on September 16. The job officially begins on July 1, 2000. The grant is a tremendous opportunity for both the East Asian Studies Program specifially, and the College as a whole, because the first four years of the professorship will be funded by the Luce Fund. According to Koppes, as well as the job description itself, the College is committed to making this position permanent after this four-year period.