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News

  • AMES Professor Carolyn Kun Shan Lee with colleagues.
    Celebrating the Career of Professor Carolyn Kun Shan Lee
  • AMES faculty members Kusum Knapczyk (left) & Satti Khanna (right)
    Celebrating the Career of Satendra Khanna, Ph.D.
  • Headshot of Mariam Gulamhusein.
    Mariam Gulamhusein '26: Leadership, Curiosity and Global Perspectives
  • Photograph of Kimberly Hassel (faculty)
    Dr. Kimberly Hassel Awarded Named Professorship
See All News

Events

Jul
14
Tue
APSI Summer Book Club 2026: The Sympathizer
9:00 am
Online

Jul
17
Fri
ADF presents Shen Wei Dance Arts and Guangdong Modern Dance Company
7:30 pm
Bryan Center Reynolds Industries Theater

Jul
18
Sat
ADF presents Shen Wei Dance Arts and Guangdong Modern Dance Company
5:00 pm
Bryan Center Reynolds Industries Theater

Aug
17
Mon
APSI Summer Book Club 2026: To Save and to Destroy
9:00 am
Online

See All Events

 

About the Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

Our department explores East Asian, South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures—primarily Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, and Korean—through the lens of language and literature; social movements, nationalism and diaspora; popular culture and the media; gender, visuality and feminism; film theory, cinema and aesthetics; and the implications of religion on identity and globalization.

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What We Do

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Undergraduate

We offer a major where students focus on one or more languages, and chose either a Regional or Thematic pathway. Two minors are also available.

Learn More about our undergraduate program

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Graduate

Providing advanced training in East Asian Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, our department offers a Master's track in Critical Asian Humanities. 

Learn More about our graduate program

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Language Studies

Our course curriculum of 9 Asian & Middle Eastern languages help students fulfill their Duke University foreign language requirements.

Learn More about our language studies

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Travel Abroad Programs
9
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2020 Fulbright Recipients
3
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Foreign Languages
10

Research

Our department closely examines East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East by studying the languages, cultures, literature, religions, and more that make this region unique. The intellectual focus of the department consists of 10 research fields, with many overlapping into one another.

Research Fields

  • Literature
  • Religion
  • Film & Media Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Conflict & Violence
  • Diaspora & Refugees
  • Language Pedagogy
  • Intercultural Communication

Faculty Books

Speak Hindi with Style: Hindi Idioms & Sayings to Spice Up Everyday Conversation
Speak Hindi with Style: Hindi Idioms & Sayings to Spice Up Everyday Conversation
Kusum Knapczyk
Black Arts, Black Muslims: Islam in the Black Freedom Struggle
Black Arts, Black Muslims: Islam in the Black Freedom Struggle
Ellen McLarney
Conversations with Orhan Pamuk
Conversations with Orhan Pamuk
Edited by Erdağ Göknar & Pelin Kıvrak
Sheikh Moussa Kamara’s Islamic Critique of Jihadists
Sheikh Moussa Kamara’s Islamic Critique of Jihadists
Mbaye Lo
I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar ibn Said's America
I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar ibn Said's America
Mbaye Lo
Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners
Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners
Yan Liu, Jingjing Ji, Grace Wu, Min-Min Liang
Routledge Handbook on Turkish Literature
Routledge Handbook on Turkish Literature
Didem Havlioğlu (editor)
Theorizing Colonial Cinema: Reframing Production, Circulation, and Consumption of Film in Asia
Theorizing Colonial Cinema: Reframing Production, Circulation, and Consumption of Film in Asia
Nayoung Aimee Kwon
Yan Lianke: Discovering Fiction
Yan Lianke: Discovering Fiction
Carlos Rojas (translator)
The Worlds of Southeast Asian Chinese Literature
The Worlds of Southeast Asian Chinese Literature
Carlos Rojas (co-editor)
Hard Like Water
Hard Like Water
Yan Lianke (author), Carlos Rojas (translator)
Acting Chinese (An Intermediate-Advanced Course in Discourse and Behavioral Culture)
Acting Chinese (An Intermediate-Advanced Course in Discourse and Behavioral Culture)
Yanfang Tang, Kun-Shan Carolyn Lee, Li Xu, Jin Zhang, and Peng Yu
Reading Hindi: Novice to Intermediate
Reading Hindi: Novice to Intermediate
Kusum Knapczyk, Peter Knapczyk
친밀한 제국 (Intimate Empire)
친밀한 제국 (Intimate Empire)
Korean translation of Intimate Empire by Kim Jin'gyu, In Ayŏng and Chŏng Giin
Revolution and Disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the Binds of Emancipation
Revolution and Disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the Binds of Emancipation
Fadi A. Bardawil
See All Selected Books
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Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

2204 Erwin Road
Box 90414
Durham, NC 27705

phone: (919) 684-4309

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Department Information

Educational Objectives
Academic Dishonesty

Undergraduate

Major & Minor Requirements
Language Studies
Previous Requirements

Graduate

MA in Critical Asian and Middle Eastern Humanities
Graduate Application Process

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