Organizer and Chair: Carol L. Mitchell, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Discussants: Martin Hatch, Cornell University; Carl J. Hefner, Kapiolani
Community College, Honolulu; Karl G. Heider, University of South Carolina; John
A. Lent, Temple University; Steve O'Harrow, University of Hawai'i, Manoa; Ricardo
Trimillos, University of Hawai'i, Manoa; Truong Buu Lam, University of Hawai'i,
Manoa
Video technology has altered the way people view themselves, their nations, and the world in general. Video is not just a middle and upper class phenomenon in Southeast Asia. It is just as likely to be found in village homes and urban slums. Video has long been recognized as a potentially powerful cultural force, but remains largely unexplored in the Southeast Asian context. For some years now, research libraries have been collecting video cassettes to support research and teaching. In addition to Western film and television products, libraries have made an effort to acquire videos produced by Southeast Asians for Southeast Asians. Videos present challenges not only in their organization and preservation by libraries but also in their use in the classroom and research. The Committee on Research Materials on Southeast Asia (CORMOSEA) recognizes video as a new and challenging resource for the study and teaching of Southeast Asian history and culture. It seeks a venue in which to engage faculty and librarians in a discussion of the challenges, issues, and possibilities of video as a late twentieth-century teaching and research source. This Round Table invites faculty representing a wide range of disciplines and geographic specializations to explore what video represents in Southeast Asian societies and how it can be used it to explore these societies. An anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, linguist, historian, communications expert, and cinema expert will explore the impact of video in their own work in an effort to stimulate collection, preservation, and use of this new and challenging resource.