East Asian Studies
For more information contact:
Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
Box 90411
Durham, NC 27708-0411
(919) 684-2604
Email: brianna.phillips@duke.edu
General Information
Degree offered: Certificate, A.M.
Faculty working with students: 39
Students: 14
Students receiving Financial Aid: 30%
Spring Application: no
Part time study available: yes
Test required: GRE general
Application Deadline
Program Description
The Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke offers a master's degree in East Asian Studies, as well as a certificate in East Asian Studies (available to students enrolled in other degree programs at Duke in the Graduate School, the Nicholas School of Environment and Earth Sciences, the Law School, the Fuqua School of Business, the Pratt School of Engineering, and the Sanford School of Public Policy).
Duke's East Asian Studies program offers comprehensive coverage of East Asian politics, societies, history, and cultures, with particular strengths in politics and society; literature; modern history; comparative history and culture; film, media and visual studies; comparative studies of capitalism; and religious studies. Duke’s interdepartmental concentrations in Japanese history and East Asian colonialism, and in modern Chinese literature, film and cultural studies are among the deepest in the nation. Duke also has close ties with East Asia faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and students can receive credit for courses at either institution.
The master's degree requires ten courses (30 semester hours -- including an integrated core course), of which at least eight courses (24 semester hours) must be in East Asian studies, drawn from two or more departments or programs. Two language courses (six semester hours) may be counted as part of the ten courses needed for the degree. In lieu of a thesis, each student, after consulting with his/her advisor, will submit a research paper or annotated bibliography, produced in a capstone course taken during the program, to their capstone committee, composed of three faculty, at least two of which must be from the APSI core faculty list. The degree is dependent on the acceptance of the research paper or annotated bibliography and successful completion of an oral examination on this paper/annotated bibliography by the capstone committee. At the conclusion of the program, students must have attained advanced proficiency in one East Asian language, equivalent to three years of college level study. It is strongly recommended that applicants complete at least one year of language study before beginning the program at Duke. Students whose native tongue is an East Asian language are encouraged to take one year (two semesters) of another East Asian language.
The certificate requires completion of four courses from an approved list of courses relating to this region, as well as minimum language proficiency (two years) in an East Asian language.
The department also offers a joint JD/MA program with the Duke School of Law; contact the Law School Admissions Office at (919) 613-7200 for more information.
Other Requirements
* While priority is given to applications received by the Graduate School deadline of January 30, East Asian Studies will consider fall applications until May 1.
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