Department of Asian and Asian American Studies

The Department of Asian and Asian American Studies (DAAAS) supports the study of Asia and transoceanic, transnational Asian diasporas of the world. It places emphasis on studies of histories, languages and cultures within Asia as geographically defined, and studies of Asian diasporas. Students benefit from the cross-national work and research agendas of both Asianists and Asian Americanists in productive dialogue. The department houses six interrelated programs: Asian American and Diaspora Studies, Asian Comparative Studies, South Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, and Korean Studies.

Asian American and Diaspora Studies

The Asian American and Diaspora Studies program offers an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and transnational approach to the study of Asian American and Asian diasporic peoples and cultures. The program focuses on Asians in the Americas, including the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. AAD faculty members are interdisciplinary scholars who research and teach across fields such as history, literary and cultural studies, ethnic studies, diaspora studies, U.S. empire, Third World studies, postcolonial studies, critical mixed race studies, women’s studies, queer studies, migration studies, food studies, and engaged digital humanities. Pedagogically the program is committed to social justice by fostering teaching and research practices of community engagement. Through this approach, the program bridges traditional gaps between academy and community, faculty and students, and knowledge and experience. DAAAS offers Asian American and Diaspora Studies as a track in the Asian and Asian American Studies major.

Asian Comparative Studies

The Asian Comparative Studies program encourages work that is interdisciplinary, comparative or global in methodology and theory, as well as work that is specialized locally or regionally. It also supports the study of Asia and Asian diasporas as complex nexuses of sociological, geographical and political regions, and traces their economies, histories and ideas across national and oceanic boundaries. DAAAS offers Asian Comparative Studies as a track in the Asian and Asian American Studies major.

South Asian Studies

The South Asian Studies program offers students the opportunity to study the social, cultural and intellectual history of the nations of South Asia, a region often defined to include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Students can learn about the teachings and historical development of South Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. They can also develop a greater understanding of the lived experience of South Asian peoples through premodern and modern times, including the experience of women and of socially marginalized groups. DAAAS offers South Asian Studies as a track in the Asian and Asian American Studies major.

Chinese Studies

The Chinese Studies program is an interdisciplinary community of researchers, educators, and students of premodern, modern, and contemporary Chinese culture, language, and society, who are dedicated to sharing and disseminating balanced, objective, non-partisan knowledge of Chinese culture, history, and society. The program offers students a diverse curriculum encompassing premodern, modern, and contemporary Chinese culture. Our language courses stress verbal and textual mastery, cultural competency, and include offerings in Chinese linguistics, language pedagogy, as well as cutting-edge classes that impart Chinese language learning through music, comic book art, and traditional Chinese culture. Content courses (taught in English) explore both ancient and modern Chinese literature, cinema, visual arts, society, history, philosophy, economics, performing arts, geography, history, translation studies, and other disciplines.

The Chinese Studies Program also embraces research and courses that treat China comparatively and interactively with other parts of East Asia and the world. Faculty stress global/transnational perspectives and area/regional knowledge and linguistic skills, in order to best prepare students for a broad spectrum of future educational and career goals and opportunities. The importance of the US-China relationship in the 21st-century will generate strong job market demand in the fields of journalism, governmental & non-governmental organizations, educational institutions (K-12 and higher ed.), non-profit research institutions, policy institutes, arts organizations, business, law, and more. Students with academic training in Chinese Studies will be ideally positioned to meet that demand. Additionally, knowledge in Chinese culture, language, society, and history will be essential to understanding and working in Chinese diasporic communities situated outside Asia, especially the diverse Chinese communities of the United States and Canada. DAAAS offers a major and minor in Chinese Studies.

Japanese Studies

The Japanese Studies program fosters detailed, nuanced knowledge and understanding of various aspects of premodern, modern and contemporary Japanese culture and society, including history, language, literature, visual culture, war, politics and economics. It provides a solid foundation in Japanese language skills, including reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension. The courses offered by our program are ideal for students wishing to gain practical communicative skills, those planning to further specialize in Japanese Studies, and those pursuing careers in areas such as education, business, government and NGOs.

Our program faculty believe that the foundation of Japanese Studies is literacy in written Japanese and proficiency and fluency in spoken Japanese. As a program, we also aim to teach and foster informed, nuanced, accurate knowledge and practical, critical understanding and appreciation of premodern, modern and contemporary Japanese languages, histories, cultures, societies and arts, including poetry, literature, visual culture, performing arts, cinema and genres of popular culture such as anime, manga and video games. Our desired learning outcomes for our students are the development of linguistic, historical, social and ideological literacy, critical thinking and the ability to practically apply and articulate this knowledge and insight to real life phenomena and situations in Japan, East Asia, the west and the world as a whole.

While valuing and underscoring the importance of historical commonalities amongst Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures, societies and worldviews, we also firmly believe that it is incumbent on us to enable our students to develop well informed, critical perspectives, awareness and appreciation of the differences/distinctiveness of Japan vis-à-vis neighboring East Asian countries. We do so with the moral and ethical goal of dispelling overgeneralizations, stereotypes and conscious/unconscious biases and prejudices and empowering students to confidently and critically assess and navigate fraught, politicized, international relations and contested histories past and present. These constitutive elements of our collective pedagogical mission contribute substantially to the university-wide initiative of facilitating and promoting internationalization, mutual respect and understanding. DAAAS offers a major and minor in Japanese Studies.

Korean Studies

The Korean Studies program provides students with a solid foundation in Korean language skills and knowledge of Korea’s history, literature, religions, politics and economics. The program is based on the premise that both contemporary and historic understanding of Korea, its interrelations with larger East Asia and its global importance today cannot be fully grasped without a deep understanding of its language, history, social systems and culture. Hence, the program aims to provide students with not only language training, but also a solid understanding of how Korean societies and people function and interact with other cultures in both the premodern and modern periods. The wide range of courses is designed to introduce various aspects of Korean Studies and provide students with the knowledge necessary for business, professional or academic endeavors. DAAAS offers a major and minor in Korean Studies.

Honors

To be eligible to apply to the Honors Program in Asian and Asian American Studies, students must possess at least a 3.5 GPA in their DAAAS major (excluding any courses taken Pass/Fail). If accepted, students must also submit to the department a 10,000- to 15,000- word honors thesis. The thesis topic must be pre-approved by a DAAAS or DAAAS-affiliated faculty advisor. Positive evaluation of the thesis by the advisor and an appropriate reader results in honors. Students may register for AAAS 498/499 (Honors Thesis I & II) and may count one of them toward the major.