ASIAN STUDIES
Bachelor of Arts

Matthew Levey (BSC), Director
Brian Hesse (UAB), D. Gregory Jeane (Samford), Digambar Mishra (Miles), Vice-Directors

The Asian Studies program is an interdisciplinary curriculum available to students at Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, Samford University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Montevallo. The program offers a major and a minor, but it is open to students with other majors as well. Students who study Asia add a multi-cultural dimension to their college education which is useful in graduate study and careers in fields as diverse as government service, international business, banking, marketing, law, education, and journalism. This curriculum gives the student the opportunity to study Asian societies from many disciplinary perspectives and to develop important analytical and disciplinary skills. Asian Studies is particularly relevant to today's undergraduate because it emphasizes the changing traditions of Asia, contemporary problems faced by Asian nations, and the relations between Asian nations, as well as between them and Western nations. The courses in the curriculum cover East, South, and Southeast Asia.

Major Requirements:

The following courses are required (12 units):

• AN 101
• two courses in Asian language
• eight elective courses:
• at least five at 300/400 level; at least five in one geographic area (East Asia or South-Southeast Asia), and at least one outside the area of concentration; from three to five courses in humanities and in social sciences, and no more than two in applied sciences (which are otherwise optional); no more than two courses in any one discipline will count toward the requirements for the major
• AN 499 (in geographic area of concentration)

Minor Requirements:

The following courses are required (6 units):

• AN 101
• five elective courses:
• at least two at the 300/400 level; two or three in social sciences and in humanities, and no more than one in applied sciences (which is otherwise optional)

The following chart shows the courses arranged by geographic track and discipline, and indicates courses that overlap; it can be used to aid in choosing the courses for one's Asian Studies curriculum:

Descriptions of courses appearing on the chart above, if they are courses taught at Birmingham-Southern, may be found under their respective disciplines in the Curriculum section of this catalog. Descriptions of courses taught at other institutions may be obtained by contacting the Director of Asian Studies.

Courses in Asian Studies

AN 101 Introduction to Asia (1)
A broad-based, multi-disciplinary introduction to the civilizations of India, China, and Japan. The course attempts to capture–through readings, films, activities, lectures, and discussions–the national styles, past and present, of the three countries and the role of the past in their historical evolution.

AN 499 Senior Project in Asian Studies (1)
A research project that demonstrates a student's ability to investigate a problem relating to Asia. The research paper required must use scholarly and, if possible, primary sources, either in translation or in the appropriate Asian language. Prerequisite: senior standing in Asian Studies. Interim.