NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS
A Statistical View of Asian Studies in the Netherlands

In April this year the IIAS send a questionnaire to 650 Asianists in the
Netherlands then on the IIAS mailing list. The response to this first mailing
hovered around 50%. A second batch was sent in June. To date 425
questionnaires have been returned. This means that the overall return is about
65%. In October the third phase of this research will be commenced. This time
those who have not responded will be approached by telephone. In this manner
we hope to increase our return to 90%.
The graphs in this article are based on the returns so far. However, one
should bear in mind that the research has not yet been completed and that the
number of Asianists in the Netherlands is well above 650. Furthermore, one
must allow for errors in the figures due to the fact that a number of the
respondents did not fill in their questionnaire completely. Nevertheless, some
principle trends can already be discerned.

By Paul van der Velde

Not surprisingly we found out that the number of female researchers in the
field of Asian Studies is on the rise. If we take a look at the researchers
born before 1945 the ratio is 80% male to 20% female. The figure for the
researchers born between 1945 and 1955 stands at 70% male and 30% female,
whereas the distribution in the generation 1955-1965 is 60% male to 40%
female. It is still too early to draw conclusions for the generation born
after 1965, but if the figures do not lie we can discern a trend which would
produce a distribution of 40% male and 60% female. 
When we take a look at the consecutive generations we see a decline in the
number of researchers involved in Asian Studies. Before 1945, there were 147,
between 1945-1955, 138, and between 1955-1965, 115 researchers. This is a
paradoxical development. One would have expected a growth per generation in
the number of researchers working in the field of Asian Studies not merely in
view of the demographic factor, but certainly in view of the growing
importance of Asia. However, since we do not have adequate information on the
generation born after 1965, we are not sure whether this downward trend is
continuing.

AREA OF EXPERTISE AND REGIONAL SCOPE
We also asked respondents to fill in the area(s) of expertise. 30% indicated
just one area of expertise; 33% two areas of expertise; 18% three areas of
expertise; 10% four areas of expertise; and 9% indicated more than four areas
of expertise. In general, younger scholars indicated more areas of expertise
than did their senior colleagues. This could be attributed to the modesty of
senior scholars but, on the other hand, it could point to the fact that in
modern academia it is no longer possible to stick to one field during one's
academic career.
History and anthropology are the most popular areas of expertise with scores
of 148 and 127 respectively, closely followed by developmental studies (96),
religion (70), linguistics (64), and literature (57). Once the research has
been completed, we will also be able provide information on the correlation
between age groups and choice of area of expertise.

REGIONAL SCOPE
Whereas a good many respondents claimed to have more than one area of
expertise, an overwhelming majority of 75% indicated one region as their area
of specialization. 20% claimed two regions, 4% three regions, and 1% of the
respondents considered the whole of Asia to be their domain. 
Not surprisingly, Southeast Asia was indicated by 264 and South Asia by 152
Dutch Asianists. 68 scholars indicated East Asia and 32 Central Asia as their
regional scope. 

SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
The majority, namely 50%, was specialized in one country. 20% is specialized
in two countries, 10% in three countries, 5% in four, 5% in five, and 10%
claimed to be specialized in more than five countries. 1% even indicated more
than 10 countries. 
Indonesia still remains the country most studied by Dutch Asianists. 226
researchers are involved in the study of Indonesia. India emerges as the
second most studied country with 135 researchers, followed by the People's
Republic of China (57), Malaysia (51), Pakistan (44), and Sri Lanka (42). All
the other countries scored less than 30 researchers. 

MEMBERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS CONNECTED WITH ASIAN STUDIES
We also asked people to indicate their membership of national and
international organizations. We discovered that there is a bewildering number,
especially of international organizations in the field of Asian Studies. We
counted no less than 85 organizations. It seems as if every scholar has his
or her own organization. The membership of Dutch Asianists in bigger national
and international organizations is very low. Two possible conclusions may be
drawn from this fact: 1) the respondents forgot to fill in this entry or 2)
Dutch Asianists only tend to become member of  small organizations for
specialists only.
In the next issue of the IIAS Newsletter we hope to include the final results
of the research pertaining to Asian Studies in the Netherlands. We will also
give some rough figures on Asian Studies in Europe, based on the returns of
our questionnaire-mailing to European Asianists.

DISCIPLINE

Agriculture 28 
Anthropology 127
Archaeology 22
Art History 33
Developmental Studies 96
Economics 35
Environmental Studies 32
Gender Studies 31
History 148
International Relations 34
Law 16
Linguistics 64
Literature 57
Philosophy 24
Political Science 31
Psychology 7
Religion 70
Sociology 56
Others 37

COUNTRY

Bangladesh 24
Bhutan 12
Brunei 8
Cambodia 13
Hongkong 12
India 135
Indonesia 226
Japan 26
Kazakhstan 9
Kirgizistan 10
Korea 8
Ladakh 7
Laos 11
Malaysia 51
Mongolia 2
Myanmar 4
Nepal 28
Pacific Islands 19
Pakistan 44
Papua New Guinea 18
People's Republic of China 57
Philippines 28
Sikkim 9
Singapore 25
Sri Lanka 42
Tadzhikistan 9
Taiwan 18
Thailand 29
Tibet 19
Turkmenia 8
Vietnam 25
Others 18