Cultural & Educational Exchanges

American Studies Programs

American Studies Associations in Bangladesh

The American Center, the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America, Dhaka has worked closely with three American Studies associations in Bangladesh and has supported American studies efforts at all four liberal arts universities -- Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, and Rajshahi University. The Bangladesh Association for American Studies (BAAS), formed in 1986, has worked persistently to expand the American studies content in the departments of English, history, political science, public administration, international relations, economics, sociology, and anthropology in the principal universities.

An independent, research-oriented, interdisciplinary body, BAAS publishes a journal, organizes biennial conferences and occasional lecture-discussion programs on issues relating to American studies, and holds an annual conference on American society and culture for college and university teachers.

BAAS efforts to popularize American studies have been strengthened by the subsequent formation of two other American studies associations -- the Bangladesh Society for American Studies (BSAS) at Rajshahi University and the Bangladesh Association for American Studies at Chittagong University (BAAS-Chittagong).

The American Center has extended continued support to the American studies associations and universities. We have donated American studies book collections to several universities and provided grants to the Associations to support American studies conferences. USIS regularly sends American studies scholars from all principal universities on Fulbright programs and other USIS Academic Exchange programs, including research grants at the American Studies Research Center in Hyderabad.

Titles Available from BAAS: The American Studies Collection was created by an endowment fund established by the Congress of the United States "in order to promote a thorough understanding of the United States" abroad. Designed expressly for university libraries outside the United States, the resulting collection of more than 1,300 volumes is a selective but authoritative library of literature and scholarship intended to provide foreign students, teachers and scholars with the opportunity to increase their understanding of American life and institutions, past and present.

The tiles cover the fields of history, literature and poetry, political science, economics, fine and performing arts, government, linguistics, philosophy and communications. All volumes are new.

American Studies Degree Program at Dhaka University

Dhaka University will soon begin its American studies M.A. degree program. An honors B.A. degree program will be instituted subsequently. These degree programs will serve as national models. In addition, Dhaka University plans to set up an American Studies Center on campus.

American Studies Collections

The American Studies Collection was created by an endowment fund established by the congress of the United States "in order to promote a thorough understanding of the United States" abroad. Designed expressly for university libraries outside the United States, the resulting collection of more than 1,300 volumes is a selective but authoritative library of literature and scholarship intended to provide foreign students, teachers and scholars with the opportunity to increase their understanding of American life and institutions, past and present. On February 19, 1997, USIS donated an American Studies Collection to Dhaka University. Both this collection and the former circulating collection are available to American scholars at the Dhaka University Library.

American Studies Journal: The American Center Bonn publishes the American Studies Journal twice a year, which covers a variety of fields of studies of American life and institutions.