Asian Studies
Founded in 1964, the program in Asian Studies is administered by a committee of faculty drawn from multiple departments. It involves a wide variety of courses and activities aimed at enhancing appreciation and understanding of the art, life, and thought of the cultures of Asia, past and present. We concentrate on three regions: East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam), South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tibet), and Central Asia (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, the Islamic former Soviet republics, Manchuria, inner and outer Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang). The program consists of courses on Asia in nine departments, extracurricular events on campus, and off-campus studies. An interdisciplinary, regionally-focused major in Asian Studies is offered, which is especially suitable for students with an overriding interest in one or more regions of Asia whose academic needs cannot be met by majoring in a single discipline. Students who do major in single discipline departments are strongly encouraged to concentrate in East Asian Studies or South Asian Studies, although in exceptional cases a double major with Asian Studies can be approved.
Requirements for a Major
A total of 66 credits:
I. 18 credits in a disciplinary-based department: Art History, Asian Languages, History, Political Science/International Relations, Religion, and Sociology and Anthropology which must include:
a) at least 12 credits in courses related to Asia
b) 6 credits in an appropriate methodology course:
No courses found for {titles gov_code="ASSTMETH"}
II. 42 additional credits in Asia-related courses (including appropriate off-campus credits, excluding ASST 400 and language-department courses below 228 or their equivalents); these must include:
a) at least 6 credits in each of three distribution areas: Literary/Artistic Analysis, Humanistic Inquiry, and Social Inquiry
b) a maximum of 18 credits at the 100 level
c) a minimum of 24 credits at the 200 level or above
III. 6 credits of Senior Integrative Exercise (ASST 400), normally taken during winter term of the senior year.
The Senior Integrative Exercise, normally is a research paper of 30 pages or more that delves into some aspect of the student's focal region. The project normally is developed by the student during the fall term, and proposed to, and approved by the Asian Studies Committee, which assigns two faculty members as readers and advisers for the project. The first draft of the exercise is due by the end of the ninth week of winter term, and a final draft by the end of the fourth week of spring term. The student defends the project before the two readers, and presents the research publicly to interested members of the community.
IV. A regional focus: East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam), South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet), or Central Asia (Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, the Islamic former Soviet republics, Manchuria, inner and outer Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang) involving:
a) at least 48 credits (exclusive of the Senior Integrative Exercise) related to one's focal region
b) at least 6 credits related to an Asian region different from one's focal region.
Courses by regional focus, subdivided by distribution area:
EAST ASIA:
No courses found for {titles gov_code="ASSTEAST"}
SOUTH ASIA:
No courses found for {titles gov_code="ASSTSOUTH"}
CENTRAL ASIA:
No courses found for {titles gov_code="ASSTCENT"}
V. One year of study of an appropriate Asian language, or its equivalent
For languages offered at Carleton, this will involve completion of a language through 103, or its equivalent. For languages not offered at Carleton, which may be studied through off-campus programs, summer study, or special arrangement at Carleton, it will involve completion of the equivalent of 103. Language (as opposed to literature) courses may not be applied to the major. The following courses do not count towards the 66 credits needed for the Asian Studies major.
CHIN 101, 102, 103 Elementary Chinese
CHIN 204, 205 Intermediate Chinese
CHIN 207 Chinese Studies Seminar in Tianjin: Intermediate Chinese Language
CHIN 212 Chinese Studies Seminar in Tianjin: Chinese Culture
JAPN 101, 102, 103 Elementary Japanese
JAPN 204, 205 Intermediate Japanese
Languages available at Carleton through special arrangement may include: Uzbek (Adeeb Khalid); Sanskrit, Pali, and Classical Tibetan (R. Jackson).
VI) Normally, at least one term of off-campus study in Asia Students interested in studying in Asia may apply to one of a number of overseas programs. Carleton College has several of its own term-long off-campus studies programs. The Carleton Chinese Studies Seminar in Tianjin and Shanghai is a Chinese language and culture program at Nankai University and Tongji University. Students take courses in Chinese languages, civilization and society and culture including art, Taichi and other martial arts are also available. The Japanese Linguistics in Kyoto Off-Campus Seminar offers courses in Japanese history and culture in addition to linguistics. The Carleton program in Political Economy and Ecology of Southeast Asia provides opportunites for students to learn about social and ecological changes in Thailand, Lao PDR and Myanmar.
Carleton also cooperates with several other colleges to sponsor the Associated Kyoto Program, which takes 50 students and seven faculty members to Japan for an academic year. Carleton also participates in a one-year program at Waseda University sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM). The ACM Program in India consists of five months stay in Pune, where students study Marathi, take academic courses centered on India, and investigate an independent study topic. The program in Hong Kong at the Chinese University, also for students from ACM institutions, normally lasts one year, though a semester-long program is also possible. Carleton, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Swarthmore, Grinnell and Holy Cross jointly sponsor the Intercollegiate Sri Lanka Education Program (ISLE), in which students and a faculty member study at the University of Peradeniya near Kandy, the old capital in the middle of the island. Opportunities to study in Asia also are available through a variety of non-Carleton programs and non-consortial programs.
Courses taken on off-campus programs may be applied to the major. Because of the paucity of Carleton courses in South Asian languages or on many aspects of Central Asia, off-campus programs generally form an important component of the major for those who focus in those two Asian regions.