Why study Asia?

• Coe Semester in Asia, Spring 2007

  Asian culture in America has become more pervasive and Asians' acclimation more complete than that of other immigrants. Whether it is the culture that has become more accepted and fascinating to Americans or whether it is the individuals themselves who have better acclimated to American culture is examined in Contexts magazine (Winter 2004).
• Since its inception in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation region has consistently been the most economically dynamic part of the world. In its first decade, APEC Member Economies generated nearly 70 percent of global economic growth and the APEC region consistently outperformed the rest of the world, even during the Asian financial crisis.
• The region includes some of the world's major sources of conflict (for example in Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, in Aceh or Mindanao, in the Taiwan Straits, the South China Sea and the inter-Korean border). A number of Asian states have a nuclear capability. Asian countries have always played a major part in the working of the UN and its various bodies.

The Asian Studies major is designed to acquaint students with the great cultures and societies of Asia, focusing primarily those of China and Japan. The major is interdisciplinary and requires that the students take courses in the areas of art history, history, literature, and religion, and suggests that they also take courses in economics, music, and political science. Travel and intensive study in the region is also an integral part of Coe’s Asian Studies program.