UC Santa Barbara

East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies

 

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies is dedicated to the study of the civilizations and languages of China, Japan, and Korea in all their richness and diversity. Our programs focus not only on elements of the region’s long and fascinating history, but also on East Asia’s vital role in the world.

We offer B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degree programs, as well as a 5-year B.A,/M.A. option. Students can study modern and classical Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in combination with a large range of other coursework on East Asia. Grounded in their own research, faculty in the department teach courses on premodern, modern, and contemporary topics in literature, performing arts, media, sociology, anthropology, religious studies, history, and art history. Our faculty also contribute to many cross-campus programs, for example, comparative literature, medical humanities, environmental humanities, and translation studies.

Department faculty are by composition an interdisciplinary group of scholars, in terms of training and research approaches. While we each focus on one of the three major countries of East Asia, many of us also research and teach transnational topics within East Asia and between East Asia and other parts of the world. Affiliated faculty from several other campus departments further enrich our undergraduate and graduate curricula with their expertise. Students taking our classes can therefore study popular culture or gender studies or environmental studies, for example, within a specific region or across regions, within a specific disciplinary framework or by bringing different methodologies to bear.

Many of our majors and minors pursue postgraduate academic studies or other professional training towards careers related to East Asia and international relations. We are proud of the many ways they go on to contribute to academia, business, the arts, a range of cultural work, and international political or non-profit work.

Please spend time on our department website to learn more about faculty research, student accomplishments, our language programs, and past and upcoming events. Past Newsletters are posted on the website, and you can also follow us on social media at facebook.com/UCSBEastAsian