Information for Graduates
Graduate Program of Study
Doctoral training in East Asian languages, literature, history, and civilizations is offered by the Department of East Asian Studies, while programs in art, comparative literature, modern history, religion, politics, and sociology, with a principal focus on the civilizations or societies of East Asia, are arranged through the cooperating departments represented on the interdepartmental committee. Training and research in East Asian Studies requires intensive language work and familiarity with the special methodological and bibliographical traditions of scholarship on East Asia. Students in the Program in East Asian Studies are expected to achieve the same level of proficiency in at least one East Asian language as that which is required of regular students in the Department of East Asian Studies. At the same time, a thorough grasp of the discipline as represented by the cooperating department is essential in order to qualify students for their professional careers. East Asian language requirements are in addition to those set by the several departments, which may, in some instances, accept Chinese or Japanese as substitutes for French or German.
The general examination, conducted by the departments, covers fields selected to represent appropriate disciplinary strength combined with particular emphasis on East Asian material. Programs are arranged in cooperation with the departmental representatives serving on the committee. Doctoral dissertations are written on subjects drawn from the history, societies, and civilizations of East Asia and involve the use of materials in the relevant East Asian languages.
Normally, qualified students are encouraged to seek fellowship support for a period of study in residence in the country whose language they are studying. The East Asian Studies Program provides some support for language training and research, including the Princeton in Beijing and the Princeton in Ishikawa summer intensive language programs. It also provides substantial support for the East Asian Library.