Department of East Asian Studies

Chair

David L. Howell

Director of Graduate Studies

Willard J. Peterson

Professor

Chih-p’ing Chou

Martin C. Collcutt, also History

Benjamin A. Elman, also History

Sheldon M. Garon, also History

David L. Howell, also History

Martin Kern

E. Perry Link

Seiichi Makino

Susan Naquin, also History

Richard H. Okada

Willard J. Peterson, also History

Andrew H. Plaks, also Comparative Literature

Visiting Associate Professor

Anna M. Shields

Assistant Professor

Amy Borovoy

Janet Chen, also History

Joy S. Kim

Atsuko Ueda

Senior Lecturer

Joanne Yang Chiu Chiang

Gwee-Sook Kim

Lecturer

Kun An

Yan Yan Chan

Wan-wen Kuo

Keiko Kuriyama

Kyoko Loetscher

Yue Pan

Tomoko Shibata

Joowon Suh

Yukari Tokumasu

Hsin-I Tseng

Jing Wang

Hua-hui Wei

Yan Xia

Lei Yang

Associated Faculty

Robert W. Bagley, Art and Archaeology

Thomas J. Christensen, Politics, Woodrow Wilson School

Christina Davis, Politics, Woodrow Wilson School

Thomas W. Hare, Comparative Literature

Gilbert F. Rozman, Sociology

Yoshiaki Shimizu, Art and Archaeology

Jerome Silbergeld, Art and Archaeology

Jacqueline I. Stone, Religion

Stephen F. Teiser, Religion

Lynn T. White III, Politics

 

The Department of East Asian Studies offers programs leading to the doctoral degree in the literature and history of East Asia, in particular China and Japan. Students primarily interested in modern Chinese and Japanese history, however, normally enroll in the Department of History, and also take courses in the Department of East Asian Studies. The Master of Arts degree is awarded to students who satisfactorily pass all courses, fulfill the language requirements, and complete two research papers.

Language Preparation

Applicants for admission to the department are normally expected to have had at least three academic years of training or the equivalent, in Chinese or Japanese.

Every student in the department is required to demonstrate competence in two foreign languages, one in the East Asian language appropriate to the field of specialization (Chinese or Japanese), the other in a European language. Competence in Chinese or Japanese is evaluated upon arrival and monitored through the course work. The European language requirement must be fulfilled prior to taking the general examination. In addition, some students may be required to acquire special skills, including additional languages, which will be determined in consultation with faculty advisers. For example, students in the China field are expected to achieve competence in the use of Japanese language as a research tool. Language training of this sort may be completed before or soon after the general examination.

All students, including not-yet-enrolled students who have been admitted, are encouraged to avail themselves of intensive summer language instruction in order to accelerate their language preparation. Information on recommended centers and possible grants for such study may be obtained from the departmental director of graduate studies.

The department has arranged with the Department of Comparative Literature for a minor in comparative literature. This involves choosing comparative literature as the third field in addition to other requirements that can be explained by the director of graduate studies in this department or in comparative literature.

General Examination

The general examination consists of both written and oral sections and covers three distinct fields of study, one major and two minor. It is designed to test the comprehensiveness and coherence of the candidate’s knowledge. Candidates submit written proposals for their fields, worked out in consultation with all members of their General Examination Committee, at least one term before their general examinations. Students are further guided by departmental requirements, such that (1) the examination committee shall have at least three members of the faculty; (2) the fields shall include more than one discipline or cultural area, and one of the two minor fields, which may be chosen from another department such as art and archaeology, comparative literature, English, history, politics, religion, or sociology; and (3) although the principal field of specialization may be defined in whatever depth is considered appropriate by the department, the supporting fields must be defined in sufficiently broad terms.

Examples of fields of study are:

• Chinese History
• Ancient China through Han Dynasty
• Six dynasties through T’ang history
• Sung-Yüan-Ming cultural history
• Modern Chinese history
• Chinese intellectual history
• Chinese institutional history
• Chinese Literature
• Classical poetry, ancient through T’ang Dynasty
• Vernacular fiction, Sung through Ch’ing
• Japanese History
• Early Japan to Tokugawa
• Tokugawa to 19th century
• Modern Japanese history
• Japanese Literature
• Early through Tokugawa
• Modern Japanese literature

Dissertation

The dissertation is intended to demonstrate not only technical mastery of the student’s field of specialization, but also a capacity for original and independent scholarship. When feasible, students are encouraged to prepare for this through a period of residence and research in the appropriate country of East Asia. Departmental acceptance of the dissertation qualifies the candidate to stand for the final public oral examination. Although the normal expectation of the University is five years from matriculation to the awarding of the doctoral degree, students may and often do take a longer time to obtain it, in part because of the period of residence and research in East Asia. Students who come to the department with unusually strong linguistic abilities may find it possible to shorten this period, but others may require additional time to complete it.

Joint Programs

A joint program is offered with the Department of Art and Archaeology leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese or Japanese art and archaeology (see the Program in East Asian Art and Archaeology). Qualified candidates pursuing programs with an East Asian concentration in other departments are referred to the Program in East Asian Studies.

Equipment and Facilities

The Gest Oriental Research Library is one of the Western world’s major collections of materials on China. While its great strength is in traditional Chinese civilization, it has an excellent working collection of books for the study of modern China and Japan and a smaller collection on Korea. The resources of the Marquand Library and the Art Museum are described elsewhere in this catalog.

The Department of and the Program in East Asian Studies sponsor coffee-hour talks for staff members and graduate and undergraduate students, a regular series of visiting lecturers from other institutions, and symposia in Chinese and Japanese studies conducted in the appropriate East Asian language, which are frequently addressed by visiting scholars from East Asian academic centers. In addition to the departmental faculty, normally there are visiting East Asian specialists in residence whose counsel is available to advanced students.

Courses

EAS 501, 502 Proseminar in Chinese and Japanese Studies

Staff

General seminar dealing with the problems, methods, and possibilities of research peculiar to the fields of East Asian studies. Students may pursue their particular interests in their individual assignments, while participating in the general work of the seminar.

EAS 503, 504 Early China

Martin Kern

Selected topics in Chinese political and institutional, or cultural and literary, history in the pre-Qin period and during the Qin and Han dynasties. Focus on sources, traditional historical scholarship, and modern interpretations.

EAS 505, 506 Medieval China

Staff

Issues and methods in the interpretation of the historical development in the period from the 3rd to the 10th centuries. The precise topic varies from year to year. Students may elect to take the course either as a reading or a research seminar.

EAS 507, 508 Chinese Intellectual History

Willard J. Peterson

Methods, sources, and problems of research in Chinese thought, including examination of some broad interpretations of intellectual development in China. A reading knowledge of Chinese or Japanese is required for the study of selected problem areas through seminar discussion, oral reports, and research papers.

EAS 513, 514 Special Topics in Chinese History

Staff

Selected problems on the historiography of the early, medieval, or late empires, with a focus on literati thought, religion, or literature in the historical context. A working knowledge of classical Chinese is strongly recommended.

EAS 515, 516 Late Imperial China

Staff

Selected topics in Chinese history, 1000–1800, with a focus on the most important secondary readings on a given problem. A reading ability in modern Chinese is highly recommended.

EAS 517, 518 Qing History

Benjamin A. Elman, Susan Naquin

Topics in Chinese social and cultural history, 1600–1900, ranging from material culture, popular religion, and education to the history of science.

EAS 519 Modern China (also HIS 529)

Staff

Reading and research on selected problems in the history of modern China are the focus of this course.

EAS 520 Research in Modern Chinese History (also HIS 530)

Susan Naquin

Selected topics in Chinese history in the 20th century in the West, the People’s Republic, and Taiwan.

EAS 521 Readings in Early Modern Japanese History (also HIS 526)

David L. Howell

Selected topics in the history of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan.

EAS 522 20th-Century Japanese History (also HIS 527)

Sheldon M. Garon

Selected topics in Japanese social and economic history since 1900.

EAS 523 Research in Japanese History

David L. Howell

Selected topics in the history of early modern and modern Japan.

EAS 524 Early Japanese History (also HIS 524)

Martin C. Collcutt

Selected major periods or topics in the institutional, intellectual, and cultural history of Japan prior to 1600.

EAS 531 Chinese Poetry

Martin Kern

Critical and historical studies of classical poetry and poetics, with particular stress on the application of linguistic theory and other tools of literary analysis to Chinese poetry.

EAS 532 Chinese Fiction and Drama

Andrew H. Plaks

A study of the development of Chinese narrative and dramatic literature, with emphasis on generic and thematic analysis.

EAS 533, 534 Readings in Chinese Literature

Martin Kern, Andrew H. Plaks

To suit the particular interests of students and instructor, a subject for intensive study is selected from classical or vernacular literature based on genres, periods, or individual writers, such as the prose of the Six Dynasties, the poetry of Tu Fu, the plays of Kuan Han-ch’ing, or the Dream of the Red Chamber.

EAS 535 Readings in Modern Chinese Literature

E. Perry Link

The course explores readings in 20th-century literature and related scholarship. Emphases vary from year to year to suit the needs of students. There is discussion in Chinese or English, as appropriate.

EAS 536 Studies in Modern Chinese Culture

E. Perry Link

Selected research topics in 20th-century culture, especially literature, are studied. Topics vary from year to year, depending upon the interests of the instructor and the students. Class discussion is in Chinese or English, as appropriate.

EAS 538 Topics on Modern Chinese Intellectual History

Chih-p’ing Chou

The focus of the course is the intellectual transition occurring in China from the late 19th century to the present. Topics include the vernacular movement, language reforms, issues of democracy, Westernization and the relative value of science and metaphysics, and debates that polarized the academic community and have shaped intellectual trends.

EAS 541 Classical Japanese Prose

Richard H. Okada

Aspects of the development of the narrative tradition in Japan, with an emphasis on analytical discussion of selected texts.

EAS 542 Modern Japanese Prose

Atsuko Ueda

A study of selected major authors and literary trends in modern Japan, with an emphasis on the Meiji and Taisho– periods. Possible topics include the development of the modern novel, “inter-war” literature, and Taisho modernism

EAS 543 Classical Japanese Poetics

Richard H. Okada

Man’yo– shu–, the Imperial Anthologies, and the works of Basho–.

EAS 544 20th-Century Japanese Literature

Atsuko Ueda

This course examines Japanese literary modernism through 20th-century narrative and criticism. Analysis of texts are augmented through discussion of contemporary literary, theoretical, and historical developments.

EAS 547 Topics in Classical Japanese Literature and Poetics

Staff

The course discusses the critical presumptions explicit and implicit in pre-Meiji literature.

EAS 550 Topics in Social Theory and East Asia

Amy Borovoy

An introduction to classical social theory and an exploration of the impact of new directions in historical and social science literatures in East Asia. Weber’s construction of capitalism, Durkheim’s notion of society, and Marx’s concept of ideology all continue to inform contemporary East Asian studies; in turn, East Asian studies has also been central in demonstrating the Eurocentrism of many of these theories.

EAS 561 Comparative Poetics (see COM 531)