The Asian Studies Department is Vanderbilt's home for the study of Asian languages, cultures, and diasporas. As a center for interdisciplinary inquiry, our program explores Asia through the multiple lenses of literature, history, history of art, religious studies, political science, sociology, film, and media studies. Our faculty's expertise spans widely across Asian regions, especially encompassing the countries of China, Japan, Korea, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. We offer language instruction in Chinese, Hindi-Urdu, Japanese, and Korean. Tibetan is offered through a telepresence consortium with the University of Virginia and Duke University. Over three hundred students from all around campus study Asian languages with us each year.
The Asian Studies and Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies (AAAD) majors, along with minors in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and South Asian Languages and Cultures, equip students with a crucial understanding of Asia’s central role in the world, both past and present. Through its challenging global curriculum, Asian Studies prepares students for dynamic careers in multiple fields, including business, finance, law, medicine, policy, and academia.
