American Studies Institute
The
American Studies Institute (ASI), a six-week summer program to teach Muslim
undergraduates from South Asian universities about American history and
culture, has been one of the Starr Center’s most successful and innovative
projects, and served as a pilot for similar programs nationwide. In partnership
with the U.S. State Department, the ASI program brought several dozen students
from Islamic universities in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to Washington
College in the summers of 2003 and 2004. The students read and discussed
basic texts of American democracy – from the Declaration of Independence
to the speeches of Martin Luther King – while also exploring the small-town
culture of Chestertown and the Eastern Shore. At Fourth of July picnics
and minor-league ballgames, and in meetings with historians, local mayors,
members of Congress, and even a former president of the United States, the
visitors developed a richer understanding of America’s past and present.
Read the Washington Post Magazine’s November 2004 cover story on
the Starr Center’s American Studies Institute, “Worlds
Apart.”
