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| Ateneo Center for Asian Studies | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ateneo Center for Asian Studies |
| Formation | 1988 |
| Type | Research center |
| Headquarters | Loyola Heights, Quezon City |
| Location | Philippines |
| Leader title | Director |
| Parent organization | Ateneo de Manila University |
Ateneo Center for Asian Studies is a research institute within Ateneo de Manila University focused on scholarship about Asia with emphasis on the Philippines, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia. Established in the late 20th century, the center supports interdisciplinary study across history, politics, religion, culture, and development through programs, publications, and public events. It serves as a hub connecting scholars from institutions such as University of the Philippines Diliman, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo, and Columbia University.
Founded in 1988 by faculty at Ateneo de Manila University to respond to growing interest in regional studies after the People Power Revolution and the end of the Cold War, the center evolved from earlier Philippine studies initiatives. Early leadership included scholars who had affiliations with Harvard University, SOAS University of London, University of California, Berkeley, and Australian National University. Throughout the 1990s the center expanded programming in response to ASEAN integration and diplomatic shifts involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China–Philippines relations, and Japan–Philippines relations. In the 2000s it embraced comparative projects linking the Philippine Revolution, Indonesian National Revolution, and postcolonial transitions in India and Sri Lanka.
The center’s mission foregrounds scholarly inquiry on Asian societies and transnational dynamics, seeking to inform public debates on issues such as regional security, migration, heritage, and faith traditions. Objectives include building capacity in area studies, promoting collaborative research with partners like Asian Development Bank, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and World Bank, and producing knowledge accessible to policymakers, civil society, and students at Ateneo de Manila University and beyond. Strategic goals have aligned with global initiatives such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and regional frameworks including the ASEAN Vision 2025.
Administratively situated under the School of Social Sciences (Ateneo de Manila University), the center is led by a director drawn from faculty with expertise in history, political science, or anthropology. Its governance typically includes an advisory board composed of representatives from Ateneo de Manila University, visiting scholars from University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan University, and public intellectuals who have held positions at Commission on Human Rights (Philippines), Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines), and Philippine Historical Association. Research clusters operate on thematic lines—e.g., Philippine studies, maritime Asia, religious pluralism—and coordinate with graduate programs in partnership with units like Ateneo Graduate School of Business and the Ateneo Law School for interdisciplinary supervision.
The center administers fellowships, visiting scholar residencies, and graduate-level seminars that draw on methodologies from comparative history, ethnography, and legal studies. Regularly hosted programs include postdoctoral fellowships, summer institutes bringing together doctoral candidates from University of the Philippines Cebu, Chulalongkorn University, Nanyang Technological University, and short courses co-taught with faculty affiliated with King’s College London, University of Oxford, and École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Research foci have encompassed migration studies linking the Overseas Filipino Workers phenomenon to labor flows between Philippines and Saudi Arabia, maritime security analyses related to the South China Sea dispute, and cultural heritage projects on Catholic and indigenous syncretism referencing the Santo Niño de Cebu and Ifugao Rice Terraces.
The center publishes working papers, edited volumes, and journals that feature scholarship on Asian affairs, often collaborating with presses such as Ateneo de Manila University Press, University of the Philippines Press, and international publishers including Routledge and Cambridge University Press. Its conference series has hosted panels alongside major meetings like the Asian Studies Association of the Philippines biennial conference, sessions linked to the International Convention of Asia Scholars, and thematic workshops on topics from transitional justice referencing Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to urban heritage in cities like Manila, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City. Notable guest speakers have included fellows and authors affiliated with Princeton University, Yale University, Peking University, Seoul National University, and think tanks such as the International Crisis Group.
Strategic collaborations span regional research centers, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. Longstanding partners include Asian Center (University of the Philippines), ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, Smithsonian Institution exchanges, and bilateral research links with Japan Foundation and Korea Foundation. Project-based partnerships have connected the center with UNICEF Philippines on migration policy workshops, Philippine Commission on Human Rights on human rights archives, and cultural initiatives with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines). Academic exchange agreements facilitate joint supervision of theses with institutions such as University of British Columbia, Monash University, and Seikei University.
Located in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, the center maintains a specialist library collection emphasizing Asian studies holdings, archival materials on Philippine history, and digital repositories that link to international databases including records from Asia-Pacific Journal archives and selected documents from Asia-Europe Meeting. Seminar rooms and lecture halls support symposia and public lectures, while a visiting scholars’ office provides workspace and access to the Ateneo University Library Consortium. Resources for researchers include grants administration, a research assistants’ pool drawn from Ateneo de Manila University undergraduate and graduate students, and online platforms for disseminating working papers and multimedia oral-history projects documenting events such as the Martial Law (Philippines) era and community responses to regional crises.
Category:Research institutes in the Philippines Category:Ateneo de Manila University