Asian Studies

Professor Samuel Yamashita, program coordinator
Professor Zayn Kassam (fall 2017), Associate Professor Arash Khazeni³ (spring 2018), Middle Eastern Studies coordinator

Steering Committee: Hou, Kassam, Le, Yamashita
Lisa Maldonado, academic coordinator

The Asian Studies Program offers a major and a minor in Asian Studies and a major and minor in Middle Eastern Studies (MES).

The Asian Studies Major is an interdisciplinary program of study combining the humanities, the social sciences and language study. Asian studies courses, taught both at Pomona and at the other Claremont Colleges, offer a variety of perspectives on Asia’s past and present. The Asian Studies Major provides not only a broad introduction to the culture and history of Asian societies, but also an opportunity for specialized study of an academic field within Asian studies. Prospective majors and minors should plan their programs with a member of the Asian studies faculty at Pomona College. Asian studies majors profit from their intellectual training in a wide range of careers, including government service, positions with the United Nations and other agencies, college or university teaching, journalism, banking and international trade.

Middle Eastern Studies (also known as West Asian Studies) is an interdisciplinary, liberal arts major offered by the Asian Studies Program that allows students to develop a broad knowledge of the societies, languages, cultures and histories of the Middle East and their connections to the wider world. Courses draw on the expertise of faculty from a wide variety of departments, including anthropology, history, literature, music, politics and religious studies. Students majoring in Middle Eastern Studies are free to study a wide variety of subjects in their courses and are encouraged to develop complementary skills in another field, such as anthropology, history, literature, politics, international relations and religion. In addition to serving as a focus of a broad liberal arts education, the major and minor in Middle Eastern Studies equip students to take up careers in international affairs, public policy, law, economics, journalism, scholarship and the arts.

Pomona’s Asian resources include the Pacific Basin Institute (PBI) and its archive of documentary video and film materials. The Asian Studies Program joins with PBI in sponsoring a continuing series of conferences, workshops, film showings and lectures, featuring scholars, writers and public figures from countries along the Pacific Rim.

The faculty in the program include Mr. Andrabi (economics), Mr. Barr (Chinese language and literature), Mr. Beck (sociology), Mr. Boduszynski (politics and international relations), Ms. Cheng (Chinese language and literature), Ms. Chin (history), Ms. Chu (history), Mr. Flueckiger (Japanese language and literature), Mr. Gladney (anthropology), Ms. Goel (economics), Ms. Hou (Chinese language and literature), Ms. Kassam (religious studies), Mr. Khazeni (history), Ms. Kurita (Japanese language and literature), Mr. Le (politics), Mr. Lehman (economics), Ms. Mahdavi (anthropology), Mr. Marks (economics), Ms. Miyake (Japanese language and literature), Ms. Ng (religious studies), Ms. Runions (religious studies), Mr. Shay (dance), Mr. Silverman (history), Mr. Schreffler (music), Ms. Takahashi (Japanese language and literature), Ms. Terada Landis (Japanese language and literature), Mr. Thai (sociology), Mr. Traoré (history),  Ms. Williams (politics), Mr. Wolf (history), Ms. Wu (Chinese language and literature) and Mr. Yamashita (history).

• Asian Studies Major
    
• Asian Studies Minor
    
• Asian Studies Courses
    
• Middle Eastern Studies Major
    
• Middle Eastern Studies Minor
    
• Middle Eastern Studies Courses
    

Read more about our learning objectives:
www.pomona.edu/administration/academic-dean/learning-objectives