University of California Berkeley

University of California Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies

The Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies in Language and Culture Studies is offered by University of California Berkeley.

The Undergraduate Group Major in Asian Studies is a rigorous but flexible interdisciplinary program designed to help students take advantage of the rich course offerings in the Asian field campuswide in a way that is not available through individual departments. 

Utilizing the faculty and facilities of the entire university, these degree programs cut across conventional disciplinary lines and emphasize a basic core of knowledge concerning one particular geographic area of Asia. Within this core, which requires coursework in multiple departments and reading knowledge of at least one Asian language, regionally-oriented students have the freedom to plan an individual program according to their particular interests and approaches.

No two programs are alike, and students work closely with the student affairs office and with a faculty mentor in designing their customized academic plan.A number of Asian Studies majors are double majors, finding the focus on Asia useful for complementing the political science, economics, anthropology, or history of art majors, for example.

The Asian Studies: China major program (denoted Area 2) is one of three major programs offered by the Group in Asian Studies.

Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

  1. All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.
  2. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs, with the exception of minors offered outside of the College of Letters & Science.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in both upper and lower division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.
For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.


Major Requirements

  1. Lower Division Prerequisites (two courses): ASIANST 10 (Introduction to Asia) and history course (see list below for course options)
  2. Language Requirement: two years of Mandarin Chinese or equivalent. Students can take the placement exam (for students who want to take more language courses at UCB) or the proficiency exam (for students who want to waive the language requirement) offered by the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department.
  3. Upper Division Requirements (total of eight courses as outlined below):
  • Disciplinary Focus: two courses from the same discipline/department.  The first course must be a theories and methods course whose primary focus is to introduce the theories and methods of the chosen discipline.  The second course, taken in the same department, must focus on China.  In the case that the department does not offer a China course, other courses on Asia from the same department may be substituted. Note: students who want to take an interdisciplinary theories and methods course can take IAS 102 or ISF 100A or ISF 100B. The course must be paired with an ASIANST 150 topics course.
  • History: one upper division course must be a course in Asian history appropriate to the student's concentration.
  • Concentration: three upper division courses focusing on China (50% or more of the course must be on China). Advanced language study classes, such as the Chinese 100 series or Chinese literature courses, can be counted towards the three upper division courses on China. Students completing the honors program can apply ASIANST H195A and ASIANST H195B towards the upper division requirements.
  • Outside of Area: select one upper division course focusing on an area outside of China (courses on Japan, Korea, Taiwan, countries of Southeast Asia or South Asia).
  • Regional: select one upper division course that focuses on Asia as a region (situates your country of focus in a larger regional context). Regional courses deal with more than one country.


Prerequisite courses 

ASIANST 10 Introduction to Asia4In addition to ASIANST 10, select one of the following history courses:4
HISTORY 6 Chinese Civilization
HISTORY 6A History of China: Origins to the Mongol Conquest
HISTORY 6B Introduction to Chinese History from the Mongols to Mao
HISTORY 11 India
HISTORY 14 Introduction to the History of Japan
KOREAN 7A Introduction to Premodern Korean Literature and Culture
KOREAN 7B Introduction to Modern Korean Literature and Culture
SEASIAN 10A Introduction to the Civilization of Southeast Asia
SEASIAN 10B Introduction to the Civilization of Southeast Asia
S ASIAN 1A Introduction to the Civilization of Early India
S ASIAN 1B Introduction to the Civilization of Medieval and Modern India

Language Courses

Students must complete four semesters of Chinese (end of intermediate level) by taking courses from this list or students can take the placement or proficiency exams offered by the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department.

Theories and Methods Courses

Asia-focused Courses



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