The 1960s and early 70s were the height of the Vietnam war and
opposition to it. They also witnessed a kind of golden age in Southeast Asian
studies at Cornell University. Cold war politics coupled with modernization
theory meant the backing of the US State department and private foundations
for the development of the idea of “Southeast Asia,” of unities of experience
among its components, despite the thin and often contradictory evidence.
With the withdrawal and defeat of the US in Vietnam, state and foundation
funding began to dry up and American students began to turn their backs on
this once-dynamic field. The previous decade came to resemble a golden
age, a Lost Eden.