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Organization, Regulations, and Courses 2024-25


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Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages

Chair: Edward Miller

Professors: S. R. Craig (Anthropology), R. Ohnuma (Religion), D. Washburn (ASCL, Film and Media Studies, and Comparative Literature); Associate Professors: J. Dorsey (ASCL), S. J. Ericson (History), L. Gibbs (ASCL), A. F. Hockley (Art History), S. L. Kim (ASCL and Art History), E. Miller (ASCL and History), G. Raz (Religion), S. Schmidt-Hori (ASCL), S. Suh (ASCL and History), A. Wang (ASCL), M. Xie (ASCL); Assistant Professors: S. Eom (ASCL), Y. Lu (History), S. Swenson (Religion), S. Upadhyay (Sociology); Senior Lecturers: M. Ishida (ASCL), A. Li (ASCL), I. W. Watanabe (ASCL), Lei Yan (ASCL); Lecturers: S. Zhang (ASCL)

 

To view Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages Courses, scroll to bottom of this page.

See below for an explanation for ASCL's course number system.

  • ASCL courses are numbered by category, not by their level of difficulty. Most of the courses in the 50s, 60s and 70s do not have prerequisites
  • DS (Discipline Specific) courses for South and Southeast Asia are numbered in the 50s
  • DS (Discipline Specific) courses for East Asia are numbered in the 60s
  • IITD (Interdisciplinary, Interregional, Transnational, Diaspora) courses are numbered in the 70s
  • ASCL 10.01, 10.02, 10.03 and 11.04 may count as IITD courses
  • Advanced Seminars are numbered in the 80s
  • Courses related to independent study and the Senior Honors Program are numbered in the 90s

 

Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages Requirements for Majors & Minors

 

Standard Major

  • One introductory course chosen from ASCL 1: Thinking through Asia offerings
  • Two language courses beyond the first-year level (or the equivalent)
  • Three Interdisciplinary, Interregional, Transnational or Diaspora courses
  • Three Discipline Specific courses
  • One ASCL 80.XX: Advanced Seminar (serves as the Culminating Experience)

 

Language Track Major

  • One introductory course chosen from ASCL 1: Thinking through Asia offerings
  • Five language courses beyond the first-year level (or the equivalent)
  • Three Interdisciplinary, Interregional, Transnational or Diaspora courses or Discipline Specific courses
  • One ASCL 80.XX: Advanced Seminar (serves as the Culminating Experience)

 

Standard Minor

  • One introductory course from among the ASCL 1: Thinking through Asia offerings
  • Two Interdisciplinary, Interregional, Transnational or Diaspora courses
  • Three Discipline Specific (DS) courses

 

Language Minor

  • Six language courses beyond the first-year level


Modified Major

ASCL Modified Majors require seven ASCL courses combined with four from another program or department. Students wishing to pursue a Modified Major must prepare a proposal that includes: 

  • Your list of the courses comprising your modified major. Your list must include
    • An ASCL 1: Thinking Through Asia course
    • An ASCL 80.XX: Advanced Seminar (Culminating Experience)
    • A selection of five additional ASCL courses that represent an equitable mix of DS (Discipline Specific) and IITD (Interdisciplinary, Interregional, Transnational, and Diaspora) courses
    • Four courses from the modifying department or program, accompanied by their ORC descriptions
  • A rationale for the proposed major:

    • In keeping with the College's requirements for all modified majors, your rationale must show that the proposed major is "unified and coherent" by explaining the reasons for including the four modifying courses within your major plan of study.  The reasons may be related to (1) particular geographic subfields of Asian Studies (i.e. China Studies, South Asian Studies); (2) particular academic disciplines (i.e. Literary Studies, Anthropology, History); and/or (3) specific topics or categories of study (i.e. development, political violence, borderlands, visual art).  The rationale should argue for the unity and coherence of the major on intellectual grounds; it should not be based on your post-graduation career plans.

    • Students who are interested in proposing an ASCL modified major should contact the ASCL Vice Chair to discuss their plans and get feedback on their draft rationale.  When the application is completed, the student should submit it to the ASCL Chair and Vice Chair for review and approval.

 

Honors Program

The ASCL Honors Program consists of a two-term, two-course sequence comprised of ASCL 90 and ASCL 91, during which the student completes an honors thesis. To qualify for the Honors Program the applicant must have a GPA of 3.0 overall and GPA of 3.4 in the major. Admission to the program is contingent upon acceptance of the applicant’s thesis proposal. Students should develop a thesis proposal in consultation with a prospective advisor. The primary advisor for an honors thesis must be a faculty member appointed in ASCL or affiliated with ACSL. Secondary advisors drawn from ASCL or other departments and programs are encouraged when the student’s project warrants additional expertise. Proposal guidelines can be found on the ASCL website.

As part of the Honors curriculum, ASCL 90 and 91 carry high expectations regarding student performance with regard to writing, deadlines, accountability, and critical reflection. The thesis advisor will assess the student’s progress at the end of the first term of the Honors course sequence. If insufficient progress has been made on the thesis, students will be dropped from the program and given a grade for the work completed in the first term. The grade can count toward the ASCL major but not as a substitute for the ASCL Culminating Experience. A public presentation of the honors thesis at the end of the second term is a requirement of the Honors program. Completion of both ASCL 90 and 91 can be counted as the ASCL culminating experience. ASCL 91 is an addition to ASCL’s ten-course major and cannot be counted toward the total number of courses needed to complete an ASCL major.

Students wishing to pursue a fall/winter thesis should submit their proposal to the ASCL Department Chair no later than the seventh week of their junior-year spring term. Proposals for winter/spring theses should be submitted to the chair no later than the seventh week of the applicant’s senior year fall term.

Admission to the Honors Program is by vote of the ASCL Department faculty.

 

Study Abroad Programs

ASCL offers study abroad programs in Beijing (LSA+), Japan (LSA+), a winterim program in Vietnam (Fall Term +), and exchange programs with Yonsei University (Seoul), Keio University (Tokyo), Kanda University (Chiba, Japan), and Waseda University (Tokyo). Information about these programs is available through the Frank J. Guarini Institute for International Education.