Asian Studies explores diverse topics and themes on the literary, cultural, philosophic-religious, aesthetic, social, institutional-political, educational, and other related spheres of Asian people and civilization. It also endeavours to explain the complex interactions between them in terms of both tradition and transformation. Some emphasis is placed not only on the cultural diversity, unity, and achievements of Asian countries, but also on the comparative and interdisciplinary ways of promoting a broader and deeper understanding of the East. This may shed new light on Western civilizations, histories, traditions, cultures, and modern changes.
Asiantudies at many major universities in the West (including Canada) offers programs of study that lead to the degrees of BA, MA, and PhD. It is a popular and rewarding major program, for the growing importance of Asia in the world scene means more career opportunities in business, trade, law, journalism, government, education, social work, and art for students who choose Asian Studies. In particular, it covers the geographical and cultural areas of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong), South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka), and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia), offering various courses in most of the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. Asian Studies courses, on the undergraduate level, attract students with divergent academic interests and career goals. Many of these courses are usually credited toward majors in regular degree programs.
In a broad geographical and historical context, Asian Studies also relates to Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, a significant discipline that examines the western part of Asia (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, and other Islamic countries). Furthermore, Asian Studies interacts with Near Eastern Studies, a full program in the study of the Near East that presents another significant region belonging to West Asia, prior to the rise of Islam, with extension to the Middle Ages in the case of Jewish and Syriac literature, and even to the present in the case of Modern Hebrew.
On the undergraduate and graduate levels in North America, Asian Studies is maintained by its three main groups of scholarship and teaching: East Asian Studies, South Asian Studies, and Southeast Asian Studies. At some major universities, these three paradigms of Asian Studies, along with Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Near Eastern Studies, have collaborated to develop some exciting introductory courses such as Civilizations of Asia, which deal with the histories and cultures of not just East Asia (the Far East) and South Asia, but also the ancient Near East and the medieval and modern Middle East. With their emphasis on non-Western/non-European traditions, these new courses are certainly a welcome addition to the core university curriculum.
At the beginning stage of development in the
1950s and 1960s, Asian Studies grew out of core Arts disciplines
such as language and literature, history, anthropology and
sociology, geography, religious studies, philosophy, and
political studies. Since the early 1970s, it has been an
established major discipline at many large universities. It not
only supports its related programs in the humanities and social
sciences, but also promotes a good deal of growing
interdisciplinary and comparative knowledge about Asia in many
professional programs such as Business Management, Education,
Journalism, International Relations, Urban and Regional Planning,
International Communication, and even Technology and Medicine.
