Dedicated to the languages, literatures, linguistics, and cultures of East Asia
The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures prepares students for B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Chinese and Japanese, and has a thriving program in Korean language and literature.
In the Spotlight
Professor Ban Wang Publishes New Book "China in the World"
In China in the World, Ban Wang traces the evolution of modern China from the late nineteenth century to the present. With a focus on tensions and connections between national formation and international outlooks, Wang shows how ancient visions persist even as China has adopted and revised the Western nation-state form. The concept of tianxia, meaning “all under heaven,” has constantly been updated into modern outlooks that value unity, equality, and reciprocity as key to overcoming interstate conflict, social fragmentation, and ethnic divides. Instead of geopolitical dominance, China’s worldviews stem as much from the age-old desire for world unity as from absorbing the Western ideas of the Enlightenment, humanism, and socialism. Examining political writings, literature, and film, Wang presents a narrative of the country’s pursuits of decolonization, national independence, notions of national form, socialist internationalism, alternative development, and solidarity with Third World nations. Rather than national exceptionalism, Chinese worldviews aspire to a shared, integrated, and equal world.
-- Duke University Press
"At the risk of sounding schmaltzy, I likely would not be the learner nor teacher that I am today without the EALC Department. I had a wonderful time studying Japanese in the then-Department of Asian Languages. So much so that I moonlighted as a department assistant sorting mail and restocking the copy machine during my time there. Thanks to Stanford, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad in the Bing Overseas Studies Program (Kyoto-SCTI) and, after graduation, to teach English at a medical school in Shikoku through departmental connections. I have so many fond memories from classes with Professors Carter, Reichert, and Matsumoto, as well as studying Japanese language with Nakamura Sensei and Kubo-Lowdermilk Sensei. I credit the department with instilling in me a passion for studying Japanese language, literature, and culture, as well as introducing me to manga and pop culture-related topics and texts that I continue to research to this day. Being able to complete a senior honors thesis under the supervision of Professor Reichert was also a fantastic experience and a great primer for the graduate school theses I would write in the future."
- Ben Whaley, B.A. in Japanese '07
Associate Professor of Japanese at the University of Calgary
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