Founded in 1967 as the East Asian Studies Program, the Asian Studies Program at Vanderbilt has expanded to become the home of the Chinese and Japanese language programs as well as our growing program in Asian literature. We are also the center of interdisciplinary research on the cultures of Asia with program faculty in Chinese religion and core faculty in the departments of History, History of Art, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology whose research interests involve China, Japan, Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

At once a language program and interdisciplinary program, our students range from those with heritage interest in Asian languages and history to those completely new to  Asian Studies. The program faculty encourages students at all levels of engagement to achieve a richer understanding of the human experience of Asia. We offer a major and minor in Asian Studies and minors in Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese Language and Culture. More information on those programs can be found on their individual pages (in the Information drop-down menu).

Our courses are often taken as part of the International (INT), Humanities and Creative Arts (HCA), or Perspectives (P) requirements in AXLE. Our language courses may also be used to fulfill the College of Arts and Science language requirement. A complete list of Asian Studies approved courses can be found here.   

 

Please note:

Asian studies courses taken prior to the 2009-2010 academic year will retain the acronym EAS (East Asian Studies). If you are an Asian Studies major or minor who has taken EAS courses in the past, please double check your degree audit to ensure that your courses are populating the correct categories. If you have any questions please contact the Asian Studies Program director.