East Asian Languages and Cultures

Interdisciplinary Studies

The department of East Asian Languages and Cultures is interdisciplinary by its very nature, promoting learning and understanding of one of the most ancient and yet fastest-changing regions in today's world through the lens of different academic disciplines. While we encourage students to ground their study in either the Chinese and Japanese language, our curriculum has begun to place increasing focus upon comparative studies of literatures, histories, cultures and societies in a broad East Asian context.

Several courses offered in EALC feature strong interdisciplinary components. The foundation course of the new East Asian Studies major, East Asian Studies 101: "Beyond the 'Orient': Critical Approaches to East Asian Literature and Film," incorporates an interdisciplinary methodology to examine and redress the various problematic assumptions often brought to the study of East Asian cultures, specifically China and Japan. Other interdisciplinary and cross-listed courses have included Japanese/History 222: "Culture and Colonialism in Japanese History," which investigates the historical conditions and cultural responses to Japan's colonization of Korea, its neo-colonial policy in Okinawa, and America's postwar occupation of mainland Japan and Okinawa; and Chinese/GWS 244 "Modern Chinese Women's Writing in Translation," which uses contemporary theories of gender to explore Chinese literature.

In addition to courses offered through the department, the curriculum also encourages majors to explore East Asia from a multidisciplinary approach by requiring courses in such departments as history, religious studies, anthropology and government.

Many students choose to double major or to minor in a second field, such as international relations, economics, history, philosophy, film studies, English, dance, art history, gender and women's studies, or the sciences. Such students are encouraged to work closely with their EALC advisor to plan a course of academic study that best integrates both majors.

Students majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures may also earn a certificate from one of the college's innovative interdisciplinary centers. Requirements for the certificate programs include a challenging combination of course work, in-depth research and a funded summer internship in the U.S. or abroad. The four centers are:

- Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology
- Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies
- Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy
- Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA)