Programming for the CSEASI/ICESEA project is organized in six modules, with support for coursework, events and activities across the project’s five funding years (2023-28). The six modules and their constitutive programs are as follows:
1. PEDAGOGY: LANGUAGE
Filipino language program
Canada is home to a large and growing Filipino diaspora community. Unfortunately, there is little opportunity at present for heritage learners to study Filipino language and culture at university level. Our new Filipino language program will add a second SE Asian language to UVic’s existing program, which is open to UG and graduate students at all consortium institutions through blended in-person/online instruction.
Student bursaries for SEA language study (Indonesian, Filipino)
Bursaries for students studying SE Asian languages.
TA support for SEA language programs
TA funding provided by UVic.
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2. PEDAGOGY: HISTORY, CULTURE, SOCIETY
Summer field schools in SEA
Organized by a different consortium partner in each year, the summer field schools will be open to students at all consortium institutions. In Project Year 2, the Université de Montréal will collaborate with the University of the Philippines Diliman to run the summer field school on Research Methodologies and Southeast Asia. And, in Project Year 3, UVic will collaborate with Universitas Gadjah Mada (Central Java) and Universitas Udayana (Bali) to run a summer field school with a thematic focus on The Politics of Cultural Heritage. Field schools in subsequent years will be run by York University and the University of Toronto.
Collaborative Online International Learning seminars (COIL)
Collaborative Online International Learning seminars (COIL) are a new and innovative pedagogical format that builds on infrastructure developed under the pandemic (e.g., Zoom). In COIL seminars, students from two (or more) universities meet online for a seminar jointly taught by a team of instructors, one based at each of the participating institutions. The aim is to create a collaborative, multicultural learning environment that benefits from a multiplicity of perspectives—which would not ordinarily be possible in a seminar run at a single institution. CSEASI plans to organize COIL seminars that bring Canadian and SE Asian students of Southeast Asian Studies together to benefit from their differing perspectives on, and investments in, the field. For example, in Project Year 2, Bishop’s University and the University of Saskatchewan will be working with colleagues at John Paul II Catholic University in Dili and Universitas Sanata Darma in Yogyakarta to develop a COIL seminar on shared histories and memory between Indonesia and Timor-Leste—which will be innovative in both format and subject matter. The Universities of Victoria and Toronto will be among the institutions running COIL seminars in subsequent years.
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3. GRADUATE TRAINING
Student bursaries to attend CCSEAS conference
The Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies (CCSEAS) organizes a biennial conference directed to bringing “together scholars, students, policy makers and activists with an interest in Southeast Asia and its connections to the rest of the world.” The biennial conference includes an interdisciplinary workshop for graduate students, highlighting their work and offering opportunities for mentoring and networking. The student bursaries provided by the Project will provide support for travel and accommodation for student attendance at the CCSEAS conference and graduate workshop in each of the three years in which it runs during the five-year Project (Years 1, 3, 5).
Student bursaries to attend dissertation workshops
Patterned loosely on the dissertation workshops run through the UCB-UCLA National Resource Center consortium, the Project will run collaborative dissertation workshops in each of the two years in which there is no CCSEAS conference (Years 2 & 4). The aim is to ensure that graduate students can gather every year for networking, mentorship and keeping up with one another’s work. In Project Year 2, the workshop will be run by York University and the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR); in Year 4, the workshop will be run by UBC.
Top-up funds for SE Asian graduate students in SEA Studies in Canada
The cost of graduate study at a Canadian university can often be prohibitive for students from Southeast Asian countries. The project will provide small top-up bursaries to supplement funding from other sources (e.g., departmental bursaries, TA and RA salaries), enabling students from the region to focus on their work and lessen the need to take on additional jobs outside their academic work. These bursaries are also substantively directed to increasing the number of Southeast Asians involved in Southeast Asian Studies in Canada and the wider international academy.
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4. RESEARCH
Hybrid online/in-person research colloquium
The aim of the hybrid colloquium is to raise the profile of research in Southeast Asian Studies and, in doing so, boost community awareness among scholars of SEA Studies in Canada. The blended online/in-person format enables the host institution to enjoy the benefits of an in-person event, while at the same time providing online access to a wider audience—including scholars both at consortium institutions and farther afield. The first colloquium will be organized in Project Year 2. McGill University will collaborate with Université de Montréal to highlight the bilingual nature of the Canadian academy, with the first semester’s events conducted in French, the second in English.
Visiting Scholar Program
The CSEASI Visiting Scholar Program will bring junior SEA-based scholars to consortium campuses to run a blended online/in-person seminar for students and faculty at consortium institutions, and participate in departmental life at the host institution. During their stay, a shorter visit to a second Canadian campus will also be organized in order to broaden their experience of Southeast Asian Studies in Canada, and of Canadian higher education. The aim of this module is to increase Canadian engagement with Southeast Asian scholarship on Southeast Asia, and to include more Southeast Asian voices in the SEA Studies conversation in North America, while at the same time providing an important formative experience abroad for emerging Southeast Asian scholars of SEA Studies. The University of Saskatchewan will be hosting the first CSEASI Visiting Scholar through collaboration with their Global Ambassador Incoming Program.
Library research collection development
The CSEASI Project is spearheading efforts to enhance the availability of research materials in Southeast Asian languages in Canada. Many smaller institutions have moved away from purchasing hardcopy materials, with some requiring specific requests from faculty to acquire new materials in languages other than English or French. We wish to use this modest budget in Project Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 to establish a process for consulting with faculty on research material needs, and ensuring access is as widely available as possible—e.g., through digitization and Interlibrary Loan. The Project will be working closely with Virginia Shih, Curator for Southeast Asia and Buddhist Studies Collections at the South/Southeast Asia Library of the University of California, Berkeley, and with CORMOSEA (the Committee on Research Materials on Southeast Asia) under the governance of the Southeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies. A central aim of this module is to lay foundations for expansion with increased support in the second funding period under the SSHRC Partnership scheme.
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5. COMMUNITY OUTREACH
CSEASI will run public-facing outreach events in Project Years 2, 3, 4 and 5, hosted by a different consortium institution in each year. For instance, in Project Year 2, York University will be working with partner institutions in Toronto to host a community-based Southeast Asian Film Festival. And, in Project Year 3, McGill University will organize a series of events on The Lived Experience of the Cambodian and Filipino Diaspora in Montreal. And, in Project Year 4, UVic will host a major exhibition on Indonesian street art and graffiti at the downtown Legacy Galleries. These outreach events are directed to raising the profile of Southeast Asian history, languages and cultures, and drawing community attention to – and potentially garnering support for – our respective programs in SEA Studies.
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6. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
A UVic-based graduate student will provide administrative support for several aspects of the Project, including – but not limited to – processing paperwork for bursaries and reimbursements; providing non-UVic students with support to enroll in online language classes; managing the Project’s social media presence (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, YouTube); preparing and circulating publicity posters and information for lectures in the research colloquium; supporting logistics for community outreach events; liaising between UVic and consortium partners; and ensuring that visiting scholars have timely access to pertinent information regarding their visits. Funding Provided by UVic.
Canadian Southeast Asian Studies Initiative 