1 Mongolian and Tibetan Quarterly, Vol.21, No.3 The Current Trends of Mongolian Studies in the U.S.A Tsai, Wei-chieh│Graduate student, Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, USA Abstract The academic tradition of Mongolian studies in America started in the years after the Second World War. Many refugee Mongolists or Mongol intellectuals went to the United States escaping from the Communist rule in Soviet Union or China. Due to their endeavors, Mongolian studies had flourished in the United States. However, after the end of the Cold War, Mongolian studies in the United States did not take advantage of the opening of independent Mongolia State and Inner Mongolia of China. In contrast, it began to recess. The difficulty of Mongolian studies in the United States is that it had not been widely recognized as an independent academic field because of international politics and corresponding academic situation under the Cold War. Therefore, the prospect of Mongolian studies in the United States is to find its own niches in the given academic fields and keep developing. So far, except continuing the studies about history of the Mongol Empire and its successor khanates and relevant Altaic peoples, there are five trends: 1) to build strong links with Inner Asian Buddhist kulturkreis and Buddhism studies through Tibetan Buddhism; 2) to connect to East Asian Studies via history of early modern and modern history of China; 3) to bond with Soviet Central Asia by comparing the development of socialist states; 4) to tie to Russian Studies via the Mongols in Russia; 5) to focus on cultural exchange between China and Inner Asia by Silk Road; 6) to conduct fieldworks of the humanities and social science in Mongolia. Key Words: United States of America, Mongolian studies, Inner Asia, Tibetan Buddhism, Silk Road Ⅰ. Introduction This paper focuses discussion on the current trends of Mongolian studies in the U.S.A. Before opening the discussion, it is essential to construct a clear definition of Mongolian studies in the U.S.A. In a broader sense, Mongolian studies in the U.S.A. include several different academic subjects, and some of which might have overlapping interests and focuses. However, the majority of these academic subjects fall outside the scope of Mongolian studies, and specialists in these academic subjects might not consider themselves specialists of Mongolian studies. First of all, the history of Mongol Empire has traditionally been considered a subject of Mongol studies in the U.S.A. It covers the history of Mongol Empire