Exhibition Statement

Celebrating East Asian Studies

Area Studies emerged in the context of the Cold War as an interdisciplinary strategy to educate students and scholars who could help make policy and contribute to our knowledge of parts of the world of strategic concern to the United States Government. To carry out this mission, the government provided funding to well-placed universities across the nation to support area studies research and instruction through the establishment of area studies centers.

The first such center to be established at the University of Kansas was the Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), established in 1959 with the support of a federal grant that also supported library acquisitions that were critical to the mission of the center. KU's East Asian Library was formally established in 1965. Since that time, CEAS and the East Asia library have continuously collaborated and supported each other, and this exhibit represents yet another example of this successful, ongoing collaboration.

Megan Greene
Director, Associate Professor
Center for East Asian Studies