ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some recurrent issues in bringing Asian studies into college life, noting several of the fundamental choices that faculty and administrators face in deciding what is appropriate for their particular campuses. It considers the place of the study of Asia in the Western academy generally, without regard for the particular kind of educational institution. Conventional classroom learning can be seen as juxtaposed with an alternative focus, such as service learning or study abroad or internships. No liberal arts college in the country should be without On Common Ground, a powerful tool for understanding the new ways in which Asian studies has come to overlap with American studies. The study of Asia can redeem the contemporary academy from its preoccupation with discipline-based methodology, for it is inherently and necessarily interdisciplinary: "The notion 'interdisciplinary' offers a ladder for climbing out of a hole into which true scholars have never fallen".
