South Asia Studies: A History

Abstract

South Asia consists of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Afghanistan. Until the Second World War, the study of this area was almost entirely restricted to humanistic subjects as taught by professors of Sanskrit in American universities. Since the 1920's, the humanistic schol ars dealing with South Asia had felt that social science subjects should also be added, but had not succeeded in getting an ex panded program into the American educational system. The Second World War made it evident that social science subjects should be added. After the war, the large foundations assisted in establishing South Asia centers which expanded South Asian studies by adding the study of modern languages of the area and social science subjects. A Joint Committee of the Ameri can Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Re search Council was established in 1949, which published a re port in 1951, "Southern Asia Studies in the United States: A Survey and Plan." Its recommendations were in course of time all implemented. The United States federal government began to support South Asia studies by instituting a foreign language fellowship program. The latest development of South Asia studies has been the establishment of the American Institute of Indian Studies in India, which is supported by United States counterpart funds in India and by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Further necessary developments of South Asia studies are outlined in the rest of the paper.