Southeast Asia Program
Kaja Maria McGowan
Associate Professor, History of Art
Kaja McGowan’s studies the reciprocal relationships between neighboring countries in South and Southeast Asia. Her research explores the flow of ideas and artifacts along this highway—architecture, bronzes, textiles, ceramics, performance traditions, and visualizations of texts like Panji Malat, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. The reciprocal flow accounts for the shaping of ideas and the development of styles across vast geographical and historical distances.
Geographic Research Area: India and Indonesia
Additional Information
Program
Role
- Faculty
- SAP Core Faculty
- SEAP Core Faculty
Contact
Email: kmm22@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-255-7068
John Wolff
Professor Emeritus, Linguistics and Asian Studies
Research Interests: Historical linguistics, lexicography, Austronesian linguistics
Additional Information
James Siegel
Professor Emeritus, Anthropology and Asian Studies
James Siegel retired from full-time teaching in 2007. He is the last of the second-generation SEAP faculty to retire. Like other emeritus SEAP faculty, he retains an office at the Kahin Center and is available to help mentor future scholars of Southeast Asia.
Additional Information
Stan O'Connor
Professor Emeritus, Art History and Asian Studies
In 1964, before he completed his PhD, Stan O'Connor was invited to become an instructor in the Department of the History of Art; this was the first university-level appointment in America of a specialist in the field of Southeast Asian art. In 1971, he was appointed full professor.
Contrary to the usual stereotype of an art historian, he was an excellent administrator. From 1966 to 1970 he served as chair of the Department of Asian Studies; from 1971 to 1976 he chaired his own department; and from 1979 to 1984 served the Southeast Asia Program as one of its ablest directors.
Additional Information
Thak Chaloemtiarana
Retired Professor, Graduate School
Thak Chaloemtiarana retired from the Department of Asian Studies and as director of the Southeast Asia Program in 2010. He retains appointments in the Graduate School in the fields of Asian literature, religion and culture, and Asian studies. He continues to serve on graduate student committees and teaches the Thailand country seminar with Tamara Loos. He was associate dean and director of admissions for the College of Arts and Sciences from 1985 to 1998.
Additional Information
Anne M. Blackburn
Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Asian Studies
Anne M. Blackburn the Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities of South Asia studies and Buddhist studies in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University. She received her BA from Swarthmore College and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago. Blackburn studies Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, with a special interest in Buddhist monastic culture and Buddhist participation in networks linking Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia before and during colonial presence in the region.
Additional Information
Program
Role
- Faculty
- SAP Core Faculty
- SAP Advisory Council
- SEAP Core Faculty
Contact
Email: amb242@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-254-6501
SEAP Publications
SEAP Publications, an imprint of Cornell University Press, publishes and distributes academic books and a semiannual journal on Indonesia. SEAP Publications seeks to make scholarship on Southeast Asia widely available to interested readers.
ILR Vietnam Engaged Learning Program in Winter
The ILR International Programs Office and the Scheinman Institute are offering a winter break Engaged Learning opportunity in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The ILR International Programs Office and the Scheinman Institute are offering a winter break Global Engaged Learning (GEL) opportunity in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The focus of the program will be in the area of labor relations and conflict resolution. Students will learn about labor relations and dispute resolution with peers from Ton Duc Thang University
For more information, visit their up-to-date travel blog.
NOTE--due to the focus of this program only ILR undergraduate students are eligible for this program.
Stay Connected for Updates
More details about the program are available on the ILR website and on Experience Cornell. Make sure you have subscribed to the SEAP listserv to receive the latest updates on deadlines for study abroad applications and funding deadlines.
Additional Information
Cornell in Cambodia Winter Program
Journey to Cambodia during the winter session.
In collaboration with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), Cornell's Southeast Asia (SEAP, Einaudi) Study Abroad program in Cambodia will provide an in-depth focus on the cultural heritage of Cambodia both past and present. This winter course will focus on Cambodian heritage past and present — how it's been created in the past, including the city of Angkor, and how that heritage and history is understood and engaged today. We will visit historical sites as well as museums and other relevant sites, including performances, where history is remembered and engaged. There will be lectures, including by Cambodian experts, as well as film showings. Based primarily out of Siem Reap, Cambodia, CKS has a long-standing partnership with Cornell to help us arrange in-country logistics as well as other relevant excursions while in Cambodia including the capital, Phnom Penh.
To prepare for CU in Cambodia, students are required to take KHMER 1100 “Elements of Khmer Language and Culture.”
Info Session: Thursday, April 23, 4:45pm ET, Rockefeller Hall 374 (Asian Studies Lounge)
Check out the CU in Cambodia Blog (written by past students)
Current Course Topics
Kingship, Nation, and Heritage in Asia
Magnus Fiskejö
Fall 2026
This course also serves as a prequel to the separate in-country Winter semester course Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia.
In this course, we will study Asia's kingdoms, states, and empires, and how this past is formulated as national heritage in present-day modern Asian states. We examine how Asian states and their royal traditions first came to be, including Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian kings and emperors, and how the legacy of these glorious pasts is reinterpreted and staged as national heritage. Our examples will include Cambodia's Angkor empire modeled on Indian traditions, as well as Burma, Thailand, Japan, China, and more. We will use readings, films, lectures and in-class student presentations on many topics.
Elements of Khmer Language and Culture
Hannah Phan
Fall 2026
To prepare for CU in Cambodia, students are required to take KHMER 1100 “Elements of Khmer Language and Culture” this fall with Cornell's Khmer language lecturer Hannah Phan. The course will introduce basic Khmer/Cambodian language and culture to anyone with interest in the subject matter and those planning to travel to Cambodia.
Heritage, History, and Identity
Magnus Fiskejö and Hannah Phan
Winter Session 2027
Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia
This 3-credit course will be held in Cambodia.
Cornell students who have taken 3+ credits of SEA courses are eligible for funding from SEAP.
Previous Course Topics
This course is a two-to-three week immersive experience in Cambodia during the winter session. Students join a faculty member and TA in Cambodia to receive a hands-on, in-country instruction. The enrollment capacity is 10 to 12 Cornell students. Dates and course content are subject to change depending on which faculty member will lead the course—stay tuned! Previous courses have included:
- "Labor, Development, and Society," taught by Richard Fincher, Esq (Industrial and Labor Relations).
- "Heritage, History, and Identity in Cambodia," taught by Magnus Fiskesjö (Anthropology).
- "Contemporary Cambodia: Labor, Development, and Society," taught by Sarosh Kuruvilla (Industrial and Labor Relations).
- "Performing Angkor: Dance, Silk, and Stone," taught by Kaja McGowan (Art History).
- "Chinese Empire and the Cambodian Experience," taught by Andrew Mertha (government).
Stay Connected for Updates
The Cornell in Cambodia Winter Program is on hiatus for the 2025-26 academic year. Information about future years will be available in Spring 2026.
Make sure you have subscribed to the SEAP listserv to receive the latest updates on deadlines for study abroad applications and funding deadlines.
Email cu-in-cambodia@cornell.edu to receive updates and information on how to apply.
More information also available at Experience Cornell.
Students who are interested in studying abroad in Southeast Asia are aksi encouraged to enroll in the 7-week Fall 2025 course GDEV 3500/5500 that prepares students for a faculty-led winter study trip to Vietnam within the Department of Global Development: Climate Change and Socio-Environmental Transformation in the Mekong Delta. Applications for Fall '25-Winter '26 trips were due in September 2025.
Additional Information
Khmer Language and Culture Study Program: Summer in Cambodia
Delve deep into Khmer language and culture in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
The CKS Khmer Language and Culture Study Program (KLCP) provides an opportunity for faculty, post-graduate researchers and undergraduates from U.S. universities to participate in an intensive eight-week study abroad program in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia.
This program is administered in collaboration with the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa. The program is designed for those who wish to develop Khmer language skills and an understanding of contemporary Cambodian society for academic and professional purposes, but who have not completed two years of formal language training. Beginners are welcome to apply.
The program is intended to complement Hawaii’s Advanced Study in Khmer (ASK) program and is structured along similar lines.
CKS will cover the costs of tuition, administration, and local travel on field visits for participants. Participants are responsible for their international travel and living expenses including accommodations and food during the program.
Application Deadline
Applications to the Advanced Studies of Khmer Program are due at the end of February.
Specific dates and details regarding the application can be found on this page.
Stay Connected for Updates
More details about the program are available on the CKS website, and make sure you have subscribed to the SEAP listserv to receive the latest updates on deadlines for study abroad applications and funding deadlines.