View source for East Asian studies

{{Short description|Field of scholarly enquiry and education}}
{{Chinese
| pic =
| piccap =
| order = st
| s = 东亚研究
| t = 東亞研究
| p = Dōngyà yánjiū
| y = Dūng A yìhngau
| altname = Abbreviation
| c2 =
| p2 =
| kanji = 東アジア研究
| kana = ひがしあじあけんきゅう
| romaji = Higashi Ajia kenkyū
|hangul       = 동아시아학
|hanja        = 東아시아學
|rr           = Dongasiahak
|mr           = Tongasiahak
|}}
'''East Asian studies''' is a distinct [[multidisciplinary]] field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad [[humanistic]] understanding of [[East Asia]] past and present. The field includes the study of the region's culture, [[Adoption of Chinese literary culture|written language]], history and political institutions.

East Asian studies is located within the broader field of [[Asian studies]] and is also [[interdisciplinary]] in character, incorporating elements of the [[social sciences]] ([[anthropology]], [[economics]], [[sociology]], [[politics]], etc.) and [[humanities]] ([[literature]], [[history]], [[art]], [[film]], [[music]], etc.), among others. The field encourages scholars from diverse disciplines to exchanges ideas on scholarship as it relates to the East Asian experience and the experience of East Asia in the world. In addition, the field encourages scholars to educate others to have a deeper understanding of and appreciation and respect for, all that is East Asia and, therefore, to promote peaceful human integration worldwide.

At universities throughout North America and the Western world, the study of East Asian humanities is traditionally housed in EALC ('''E'''ast '''A'''sian '''L'''anguages and '''C'''ivilizations<ref>{{Cite web |title=East Asian Languages and Civilizations {{!}} East Asian Languages and Civilizations |url=https://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=ealc.fas.harvard.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home Page {{!}} Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |url=https://ealc.uchicago.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=ealc.uchicago.edu}}</ref> or '''E'''ast '''A'''sian '''L'''anguages and '''C'''ultures<ref>{{Cite web |title=EALC |url=https://ealc.stanford.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=ealc.stanford.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures |url=http://ealac.columbia.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=ealac.columbia.edu}}</ref>), EALL ('''E'''ast '''A'''sian '''L'''anguages and '''L'''iteratures<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome {{!}} East Asian Languages and Literatures |url=https://eall.yale.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=eall.yale.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home {{!}} Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures |url=https://deall.osu.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=deall.osu.edu}}</ref>), EAS ('''E'''ast '''A'''sian '''S'''tudies<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of East Asian Studies |url=https://eas.princeton.edu/front |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=eas.princeton.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-05-14 |title=East Asian Studies {{!}} Brown University |url=https://eas.brown.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=eas.brown.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of East Asian Studies |url=https://as.nyu.edu/departments/eas.html |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=as.nyu.edu}}</ref>), as well as Asian Studies<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of Asian Studies {{!}} Department of Asian Studies |url=https://asianstudies.cornell.edu/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=asianstudies.cornell.edu}}</ref> departments, which run majors in Chinese and Japanese language and literature and sometimes Korean language and literature. 

East Asian studies programs, on the other hand, are typically interdisciplinary centers that bring together literary scholars, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, etc. from their various departments and schools to promote instructional programs, conferences and lecture series of common interest. East Asian studies centers also often run interdisciplinary undergraduate and master's degree programs in East Asian studies.

==History==
In universities across the United States, as part of the [[opposition to the Vietnam War]] in the 1960s, younger faculty and graduate students criticized the field for complicity in what they saw as [[American imperialism]]. In particular, the [[Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars]] debated and published alternative approaches not centered in the United States or funded, as many American programs were, by the American government or major foundations. They charged that Japan was held up as a model of non-revolutionary modernization and the field focused on [[modernization theory]] in order to fend off revolution.

In the following decades, many critics were inspired by [[Edward Said]]'s 1978 book ''[[Orientalism (book)|Orientalism]]'', while others, writing from the point of view of the quantitative or theoretical social sciences, saw area studies in general and East Asian studies in particular, as amorphous and lacking in rigor.<ref>Judith Farquhar, James Hevia, "Culture and Postwar American Historiography of China", ''positions'' 1.2 (1993): 486-525; Andrew Gordon, "Rethinking Area Studies, Once More" ''The Journal of Japanese Studies'' 30. 2, (Summer 2004): 417-429.</ref>

Critiques were also mounted from other points in the political spectrum. Ramon H. Myers and Thomas A. Metzger, two scholars based at the generally conservative [[Hoover Institution]], charged that "the 'revolution' paradigm increasingly overshadowed the 'modernization' paradigm" and "this fallacy has become integral to much of the writing on modern Chinese history", discrediting or ignoring other factors in the history of modern China.<ref>"Sinological Shadows: The State of Modern China Studies in the United States", The Washington Quarterly (Spring 1980): 87-114, quote at p. 89.</ref>

In Europe, notable scholars of East Asian studies have long occupied professorships at prominent universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy, while recent publications also suggest that the "Nordic countries offer some unique contributions in the field of East Asian studies."<ref>{{cite book |last=Hebert |first=David |url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319684321 |title=International Perspectives on Translation, Education, and Innovation in Japanese and Korean Societies |publisher=Springer |year=2018 |location=New York}} {{ISBN|9783319684321}}, p.13</ref>

==Subfields==

=== [[Chinese studies|Sinology]] ===
The sub-field dedicated to [[China]], [[Chinese history]], [[Chinese culture]], [[Chinese literature]], and the [[Chinese language]]. In the context of the [[Republic of China]] also specified as [[Taiwan studies]] ([[Academia Sinica]]).

=== [[Japanese studies|Japanology]] ===
The sub-field dedicated to [[Japan]], [[Japanese culture]], [[Japanese history]],  [[Japanese literature]], and the [[Japanese language]]. The foundation of the [[Asiatic Society of Japan]] at [[Yokohama]] in 1872 by men such as [[Ernest Satow]] and [[Frederick Victor Dickins]] was an important event in the development of Japanese studies as an academic discipline.

=== [[Korean studies|Koreanology]] ===
The sub-field dedicated to [[Korea]], [[Korean culture]],  [[History of Korea|Korean history]], [[Korean literature]], and the [[Korean language]]. The term Korean studies first began to be used in the 1940s, but did not attain widespread currency until [[South Korea]] rose to economic prominence in the 1970s. In 1991, the South Korean government established the [[Korea Foundation]] to promote Korean studies.

=== [[Mongolian studies|Mongolistics]] ===
The sub-field dedicated to [[Mongolia]], [[Mongolian culture]], [[Mongolian literature]] and the [[Mongolian language]]. Mongolian studies are also presented as a sub-field of the study of [[Inner Asia]] (as opposed to East Asia). The [[American Center for Mongolian Studies]] was founded in 2002.

===[[Orient]]===
In addition to the above, studies about the history of the [[eastern world|Orient]] have mainly developed in Japan. Orient means areas in [[North Africa]], [[Eurasia]] except [[Europe]] and islands around them because of chaos due to studies about the history of [[Greater China]] and [[Korea]] under the Tokugawa shogunate before 1868 and those about the Eastern world from the establishment of European-style high-educational institutions after that year.

The notion about Oriental history that was made between 1868 and 1945 did not spread on other East Asian areas including Korea as the colony of Japan. There have been some Japanese notable historians about Oriental history but they are less famous in other countries.

== Institutions ==
[[File:Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies 2.jpg|thumb|[[Chang-Lin Tien]] Center for East Asian Studies, [[UC Berkeley]]]]
===North America===

====Canada====
* [[University of Toronto]]: [https://www.eas.utoronto.ca/ Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Alberta]]: [https://www.ualberta.ca/east-asian-studies/index.html East Asian Studies]
* [[McGill University]]: [https://www.mcgill.ca/eas/ Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[York University]]: [https://futurestudents.yorku.ca/program/east-asian-studies East Asian Studies]

====United States====
* [[Brandeis University]]: [https://www.brandeis.edu/east-asian/ East Asian Studies]
* [[Stanford University]]: [https://ceas.stanford.edu/ Center for East Asian Studies]
* [[Yale University]]: [https://gsas.yale.edu/programs-of-study/east-asian-studies East Asian studies]
* [[Princeton University]]: [https://eas.princeton.edu/ Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[Columbia University]]: [https://www.gsas.columbia.edu/content/east-asian-regional-studies East Asian Regional Studies]
* [[Harvard University]]: [https://eas.fas.harvard.edu/ East Asian Studies]
* [[Johns Hopkins University]]: [https://krieger.jhu.edu/east-asian/ East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Chicago]]: [https://ceas.uchicago.edu Center for East Asian Studies]
* [[Brown University]] [https://www.brown.edu/academics/east-asian-studies/home Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Southern California]]: [https://dornsife.usc.edu/ealc/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University of Pennsylvania]]: [https://ealc.sas.upenn.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations]
* [[New York University]]: [https://as.nyu.edu/departments/eas.html Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[Indiana University Bloomington]]: [https://ealc.indiana.edu/ East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[Georgetown University]]: [https://ealac.georgetown.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University of Pittsburgh]] [https://www.deall.pitt.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures]
* [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]]: [https://ealc.illinois.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[Washington University in St. Louis]]: [https://ealc.wustl.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University at Albany, SUNY|University at Albany]]: [https://www.albany.edu/eastasianstudies Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[University of California, Berkeley]]: [https://ealc.berkeley.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University of California, Irvine]]: [https://www.humanities.uci.edu/eastasian East Asian studies]
* [[University of California, Davis]]: [https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/east-asian-studies East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Virginia]]: [https://eastasiacenter.as.virginia.edu/ East Asia Center] and [https://eastasian.as.virginia.edu/east-asian-studies East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures]
* [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]]: [https://sllc.umd.edu/research-innovation/center-east-asian-studies Center for East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Texas at Austin]]: [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/eastasia/ Center for East Asian Studies]
* [[George Washington University]]: [https://eall.columbian.gwu.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures]
* [[University of Arizona]]: [https://eas.arizona.edu/ Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Notre Dame]]: [https://eastasian.nd.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University of Kansas]]: [https://ceas.ku.edu/ Center for East Asian Studies]
* [[Wake Forest University]]: [https://ealc.wfu.edu/ Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[Dickinson College]]: [https://www.dickinson.edu/homepage/113/east_asian_studies Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[Ohio State University]]: [https://easc.osu.edu/ East Asian Studies Center]
* [[Oberlin College]]: [https://www.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/east-asian-studies Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[Western Washington University]]: [https://chss.wwu.edu/east-asian-studies East Asian Studies]

===Asia=== 
* [[National Taiwan Normal University]]: [https://en.ntnu.edu.tw/p-EastAsianStudies.php Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[National Chengchi University]]: [https://eastasia.nccu.edu.tw/eng/PageFront Institute of East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Malaya]]: [https://fass.um.edu.my/department-of-east-asian-studies Department of East Asia Studies]
* [[Delhi University|University of Delhi]]: [[Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi]]
* [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]]: [https://www.jnu.ac.in/sis/ceas Centre for East Asian Studies]
* [[Tel Aviv University]]: [https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/eastasia-en Department of East Asia Studies]

===Europe=== 
* [[SOAS University of London]]: [https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/schools-and-departments/department-east-asian-languages-and-cultures Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures]
* [[University of Cambridge]]: [https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/subjects East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Leeds]]: [https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/east-asian-studies East Asian Studies]
* [[Trinity College Dublin]]: [https://www.tcd.ie/Asian/ Trinity Centre for Asian Studies]
* [[University College Cork]]: [https://www.ucc.ie/en/asian/ Department of Asian Studies]
* [[University College Dublin]]: [https://www.ucd.ie/apren/ UCD Centre for Asia-Pacific Research]
* [[Comenius University|Comenius University Bratislava]]: [https://fphil.uniba.sk/en/departments-and-research-centres/department-of-east-asian-studies/ Department of East Asian Studies]
* [[Université Paris Cité|Paris Cité University]]: [https://u-paris.fr/en/eastasian-studies-en/ School of East Asian Studies]
* [[Heidelberg University]]: [https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/study/all-subjects/east-asian-studies East Asian Studies]
* [[University of Göttingen]]: [https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/east+asian+studies/419927.html Department of East Asia Studies]
* [[University of Turku]]: [https://www.utu.fi/en/university/faculty-of-social-sciences/ceas Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS)]
* [[Vytautas Magnus University]]: [https://asc.vdu.lt/ Centre for Asian Studies]

==Journals==
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
*''[[Asian Culture (journal)|Asian Culture]]''
*''[[Asian Survey]]''
*''[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies]]''
*''[[East Asian History]]''
*''[[Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies]]''
*''[[Journal Asiatique]]''
*''[[Journal of American-East Asian Relations]]'' 
*''[[Journal of Asian Studies]]''
*''[[Journal of Chinese Religions]]''
*''[[Journal of Contemporary China]]''
*''[[Journal of East Asian Studies]]''
*''[[Late Imperial China (journal)|Late Imperial China]]''
*''[[Modern Asian Studies]]''
*''[[Modern China (journal)]]''
*''[[New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies]]''
*''[[Pacific Affairs]]''
*''[[The China Quarterly]]''
*''[[T'oung Pao]]''
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* [[Area studies]]
* [[List of academic disciplines]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150222013135/http://www.najaks.org/ Nordic Association of Japanese and Korean Studies]

=== Library guides to East Asian studies ===
* {{cite web |url = http://anulib.anu.edu.au/subjects/asia-pacific/east-asian-studies/ |title = East Asian Studies Subject Resources |work=Subject Guides |publisher=Australian National University Library |access-date=2014-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208050149/http://anulib.anu.edu.au/subjects/asia-pacific/east-asian-studies/ |archive-date=2014-02-08 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EAL/help/guides.html |publisher= University of California, Berkeley |author=C.V. Starr East Asian Library |title= Research Guides |location=USA }}
* {{cite web |url=http://guides.library.ucla.edu/cat.php?cid=10719 |publisher=University of California |work=Research Guides |title=East Asian Studies |location=Los Angeles }}
* {{cite web |url= http://guides.library.harvard.edu/EAS |publisher= Harvard University Library |title= East Asian Studies |work= Research Guides |access-date= 2014-04-23 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140909170731/http://guides.library.harvard.edu/EAS |archive-date= 2014-09-09 |url-status= dead }}
* {{cite web |url = http://guides.library.jhu.edu/eastasia |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |work=Library Guides |title=East Asian Studies |location=USA |access-date=2014-04-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141228194641/http://guides.library.jhu.edu/eastasia |archive-date=2014-12-28 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |url = http://guides.lib.umich.edu/eastasianstudies |publisher=University of Michigan |work=Research Guides |title=East Asian Studies |location=USA }}
* {{cite web |url= http://libguides.princeton.edu/content.php?pid=359565 |publisher= Princeton University Library |title= East Asian Studies Research Guides |work= Princeton LibGuides |location= USA |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121203044218/http://libguides.princeton.edu/content.php?pid=359565 |archive-date= 2012-12-03 }}
* {{cite web |url = http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/eastasia |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries |work=Research Guides |title = East Asian Studies |location=USA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225111528/http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/eastasia |archive-date=2013-12-25 }}
* {{cite web |url= http://guides.library.yale.edu/eastasia?hs=a |publisher= Yale University Library |title= East Asian Studies in Western Languages |work= Library Subject Guides |location= USA |access-date= 2014-04-22 |archive-date= 2016-03-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185606/http://guides.library.yale.edu/eastasia?hs=a |url-status= dead }}

{{-}}{{Regional cultural studies}}{{East Asian topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:East Asian studies| ]]
[[Category:Asian studies]]