Robert E. Wood
Professor of Sociology
Rutgers University, Camden

Besakih Temple complex on the slopes of Gunung Agung, Bali

     This is the fourth edition of a guide intended to supplement the Southeast Asian Societies course offered in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice at Rutgers-Camden. Its purpose is to direct students and other interested people to the various ways in which the world of Southeast Asia can be experienced right here in the Delaware Valley. Nothing of course can replace the experience of traveling to Southeast Asia itself, but thanks to the influx of Southeast Asian immigrants over the past two decades, the range of local possibilities has greatly increased.

Southeast Asia is usually defined as extending from Burma (Myanmar) on the west to the Philippines on the east. On the Asian mainland it includes Burma, Thailand, western Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Island Southeast Asia includes the city-state of Singapore; the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei, which shares the northeastern portion of the island of Borneo with the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak; and Indonesia and the Philippines, each of which consists of vast island archipelagoes.      Southeast Asia's name is taken from the geographical fact that it lies south of China and east of India, its two major sources of external cultural influence for over a millenium before the coming of European colonialism. Yet its societies are not "little Indias" or "little Chinas" as it has sometimes been thought. The entire region is not only culturally distinctive, but also displays considerable cultural unity beneath its dazzling diversity.

     According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 census, there were 11.9 million Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States, comprising 4.2 % of the population. About 600,000 currently live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.   While before the 1970s Southeast Asians made up only a small percentage of these, they now account for close to 50% in the Philadelphia region. The influx of Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees has transformed communities in Camden and Philadelphia. Many of these immigrants have lacked the education and skills of previous Asian immigrants, and some have been deeply traumatized by war and dislocation. Yet the resourcefulness and initiative of many have enriched the region and greatly expanded the opportunities for experiencing a bit of Southeast Asia in the Delaware Valley. It is these new Americans who have made this guide possible.