Department of Asian & Middle Eastern StudiesIn the fall of 2020 the East Asian Studies MA program’s core course, East Asian Studies: Fields and Methods invited Duke faculty members to respond to the broad question “What is East Asian Studies”? Respondents were provided with the following list of sub-questions, developed by the students in the class:
- What does “East Asia” mean to you?
- What motivated/s you to spend your life studying it?
- Why study “East Asia” and not just one nation, e.g. China?
- What are the big issues in East Asian studies, in your opinion?
- What questions do you seek to ask/answer?
- What use is the academic study of “East Asia”?
- How has your personal identity shaped your perception of East Asia/East Asian studies?
We hope that these responses will help listeners think about the various meanings of “East Asia” and its scholarship.