Social Background and Need for American Studies in Okinawa
(1)In all walks of life, Okinawa has established a very close social and political connection with the United States of America. It began with 27 years of U.S. civil administration that started in 1945, the influence of which can still be felt strongly even in present-day Okinawa, 50-some years later. The University of the Ryukyus was initially founded by the U.S. Civil Administration in 1950 and has sent many faculty members to universities in the U.S. since its foundation, accumulating significant academic resources in the field of American studies. As a result, the university now enjoys a nation-wide reputation as one of the top educational institutions in American studies in Japan.
(2)At the University of the Ryukyus, most departments and colleges conduct research in the general domain of American studies. The university’s six-year mid-scale plan that was submitted in March 2002 designates American studies as one of the areas to be emphasized in the next six years. The unique perspective on American studies that Okinawa’s postwar experience affords researchers would, if studied as an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary subject, advance understanding of the U.S. further and contribute to the development of American studies in Okinawa and Japan. However, in the past, a research institution that could bring together the dispersed research interests in American studies and further the level of accumulated knowledge did not exist on campus. The lack of such an institution led to researchers working separately and their findings being dissipated. Furthermore, such an institution was urgently needed because many important historical records and materials on U.S.-Okinawan relations had been scattered and lost. ASCUR was born out of the need to unite individual research efforts and to provide an opportunity for a concerted effort to salvage historical data and further promote American studies. ASCURaims to become one of the centers for American studies in the Asia-Pacific region.
(3)ASCUR unites various research efforts from each college, engages in interdisciplinary and collaborative research on both a national and international scale, and publicizes its research results to make them available to the public. Thus far, members of a sister organization on campus, the American Studies Society of the University of the Ryukyus, have published two books: Amerika no bunmei to chiiki [American civilization and regions], 1992; and Sengo-Okinawa to Amerika: Ibunka-sesshoku no gojyu-nen [Postwar Okinawa and America: Fifty Years of Cross-Cultural Contact], 1995 (a book recommended by the National Council of Public Libraries). Moreover, the University has promoted campus-wide collaborative research as well as national and international collaboration through annual meetings of the American Studies Society for more than 20 years. The outcome of such collaboration has been integrated into undergraduate liberal arts courses such as Contemporary American Society. Accordingly, with this substantial foundation upon which to build, ASCUR seeks to contribute to the development of American studies both nationally and internationally.
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