Program Requirements

  • Total Units Required: 36

Global Asias provides the means for students to study Asia transnationally and transculturally, thereby expanding the geographic concept of the region beyond a set of political entities occupying a specific world region. East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Asian diaspora are all part of this concentration, with the goal of recognizing that the flows of people, objects, ideas, and practices of Asia have spread across the region and around the globe.

Concentration Objectives

Drawing on a range of approaches, the Global Asias concentration provides the means to study Asia in its many manifestations — in the past and in the present — in our world today.

General Requirements

One semester of language must be completed before declaring the major.

  • Students must complete a minimum of 36 units in Global Studies, including at least three courses focused on a world area.
  • Students must complete at least 24 units at the 3000 level or above, including courses across a minimum of three academic disciplines.
  • Students must complete at least 6 units at the 4000 level, no more than 3 of which may be directed research or independent study.
  • In addition to the 36 units, students must complete a four-semester sequence of courses in one modern language appropriate to their concentration.

These requirements may be fulfilled only with college-level coursework undertaken during a student's undergraduate enrollment. Courses must be taken for a grade, and a student must receive a grade of C+ or higher in all courses, including courses for the language requirement and study abroad courses.

This concentration requires 36 units of coursework:

  • 3 units of core coursework: GLOBAL 2020 Global Futures: An Introduction to Global Studies
  • 3 units of core coursework: GLOBAL 4897 Global Asias
  • 3 units of research methods coursework (3000-4000 level)
  • 3 units of introductory coursework (1000-2000 level)
  • 6 units of multiethnic, diaspora, transnational, or transregional Asia-related coursework (at least 3 units at the 3000-4000 level)
  • 18 units of advanced Global Asias coursework (3000-4000 level; at least one course must focus on premodern Asias [pre-1850])
  • East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Asian diaspora are the relevant areas for the Global Asias concentration. A student must complete one course in at least three of these areas or with a transregional focus.
  • Students must fulfill the standard Global Studies language requirement with Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, or Urdu. Russian may be considered upon petition if a student is a native speaker of one of the listed languages or has tested into the fourth year of one of the listed languages.
  • The study abroad location must be in a country relevant to this concentration area. Otherwise, the student will not meet the study abroad requirement and will need to complete an additional 3000- or 4000-level course on campus.

Note: A single course may satisfy more than one of the distribution requirements (i.e., disciplinary or regional). Some of these requirements may be completed while abroad.

Research Methods Courses

Students choose one course from the following list, for a total of 3 units:

APL 4111Linguistics and Language Learning3
COMPLITTHT 3120Introduction to Digital Humanities3
ECON 3150Introduction to Econometrics3
ELIT 3000Introduction to Literary Theory3
ENST 3710Introduction in GIS3
GLOBAL 4007Global Studies Research Methods Proseminar and Assistantship3
HISTORY 3006Historical Methods3
POLSCI 3630Quantitative Political Methodology3
PSYCH 3000Introduction to Psychological Statistics3
PSYCH 3150Introduction to Social Psychology3
REST 3635Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion3
SOC 3040Statistics for Sociology3

Introductory Courses

Students choose one course from this list, for a total of 3 units:

AMCS 2003Doctors and Terrorists: The Fictions of South Asian America3
ARTARCH 1111First Year Seminar: Beijing and the Forbidden City3
ARTARCH 1510Introduction to Asian Art3
CHINA 2270Chinese Civilization3
GLOBAL 1102First-Year Seminar: The Vietnam Wars3
GLOBAL 1104First-Year Seminar: Chinatown: Migration, Identity, and Space3
GLOBAL 2000Crossing Borders: An Introduction to Institutions and Concepts in Global Studies3
HISTORY 1099First-Year Seminar: Silk Roads and Empires3
HISTORY 1124First-Year Seminar: The Meaning of Pakistan: History, Culture, Art3
JAPAN 2260Japanese Civilization3
JIMES 2100Introduction to Islamic Civilization3
KOREA 2230Korean Civilization3

Multiethnic, Diaspora, Transnational, or Transregional Asia-Related Courses

Students choose two courses from this list, for a total of 6 units; at least one course must be at the 3000 or 4000 level:

AMCS 2003Doctors and Terrorists: The Fictions of South Asian America3
ANTHRO 3102Topics in Anthropology: Sustainability in Extractive Communities (: Vibrant Matter: Social Ecology of the Asia-Pacific)3
ANTHRO 3313Women and Islam3
ANTHRO 3775Ancient Eurasia and the New Silk Roads3
ANTHRO 4033Culture, Illness, and Healing in Asia3
ARTARCH 1109FYS: Collecting Art/Excluding People: The Contradictions of Chinese Art in U.S. Museums3
ARTARCH 4320East, Meet West: Asia Encounters Europe3
CHINA 3300Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture (: Screen Culture in the Sinophone World)3
CHINA 3500U.S.-China Relations from 1949 to the Present3
CHINA 4590Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture (:History and Fictionality in East Asian Cinema)3
COMPLITTHT 3330Topics in Comparative Literature: (: Finding China: From Sojourners to Settlers in Chinese Diaspora and Chinese American Literature)3
EALC 3340Topics in East Asian Religions (: The Lotus Sutra in East Asia: Buddhism, Art, Literature)3
EALC 3800EALC Seminar (: Kitchen, Studio, Factory: Making in East Asia)3
ELIT 3111Topics In Literature (: Asian American Fictions: Space, Place, and the Makings of Asian America)3
FILM 4430Memory, Tears, and Longing: East Asian Melodrama Film3
GLOBAL 1008Ampersand: Connecting Local Worlds and Global Systems Global Citizenship Program3
GLOBAL 1102First-Year Seminar: The Vietnam Wars3
GLOBAL 1104First-Year Seminar: Chinatown: Migration, Identity, and Space3
GLOBAL 1106Ampersand: Geographies of Globalization and Development3
GLOBAL 1107Ampersand: Global Migration and Transnational Cultures in Modern Times3
GLOBAL 1109First-Year Seminar: Mapping the World: Introduction to Human Geography3
GLOBAL 2100Sophomore Seminar: The Public Servant and Other Heroes: A History of Japan Through Film3
GLOBAL 3512Model Minority: The Asian American Experience3
GLOBAL 3811Global Asian Pop Culture3
GLOBAL 3822From McDonald's to K-Pop: New Movements in East Asia3
GLOBAL 3860Empire in East Asia: Theory and History (WI)3
GLOBAL 4036Children of Immigrants: Identity and Acculturation3
HISTORY 1099First-Year Seminar: Silk Roads and Empires3
HISTORY 2102Topics in History ( Where Do We Come From? Families, Ancestors, and Genealogies in World History)3
HISTORY 3006Historical Methods (: Decolonization in the 20th Century)3
HISTORY 3049Chinese Diasporas3
HISTORY 308519th-Century China: Violence and Transformation3
HISTORY 3289Economic History of China: From the Silver Age to Reform and Opening, 1500-19903
HISTORY 3295Modern South Asia3
HISTORY 3296Environment and Empire3
HISTORY 3384Historical Methods– Premodern Transregional History3
HISTORY 3458Cultural Encounters: China and Eurasia Since the Middle Ages3
HISTORY 4070Advanced Seminar: Japan in World War II-History and Memory3
HISTORY 4804Advanced Seminar: Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan3
HISTORY 4871Colonial Cities and the Making of Modernity3
HISTORY 5377Science and Technology in East Asia4
JIMES 2100Introduction to Islamic Civilization3
JIMES 2243Ampersand: Mediterranean Migration: Dynamics and Consequences on the EU and MENA3
JIMES 3510Muhammad in History and Literature3
JIMES 3540Anthropological and Sociological Study of Muslim Societies3
WGSS 3740Imperialism and Sexuality: India, South Asia, and the World: Writing-Intensive Seminar3
WGSS 3083
WGSS 4153Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire3

Advanced Courses

Students choose six courses from current, relevant, internationally focused course offerings in the following departments.* All courses must be approved by the student's Global Studies advisor in order to count for the major. Visit the concentration webpage and concentration course list for the most current and full list of options.

*

Students may submit a request to add a course by following the instructions for the Petition Process.

Anthropology
  • ANTHRO 3102 Topics in Anthropology: Sustainability in Extractive Communities
  • ANTHRO 3163 Archaeology of China: Food and People 
  • ANTHRO 3313 Women and Islam
  • ANTHRO 3285 Warriors, Merchants, Monks, and Courtesans: Ancient Narratives of Globalization in Google Earth
  • ANTHRO 3775 Ancient Eurasia and the New Silk Roads
  • ANTHRO 4033 Culture, Illness, and Healing in Asia
Art History
Chinese
  • CHINA 3160 Historical Landscape and National Identity in Modern China
  • CHINA 3210 Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Chinese Cities in the Global Context
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Modern Chinese Poetry
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Poets, Musicians and Revolutionaries
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Screen Culture in the Sinophone World
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Stories & Storytelling in Late Imperial China
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Stranger Things: Tales of the Supernatural in Chinese Literature
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: The Art of War & Peace: Modern Reception of the Three Kingdoms Story
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: The Cultural Lives of the Environment in China, 1949-Present
  • CHINA 3300 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Three Streams: Major Religious Traditions in Premodern East Asia
  • CHINA 3410 Early and Imperial Chinese Literature
  • CHINA 3420 Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature
  • CHINA 3500 U.S.-China Relations from 1949 to the Present
  • CHINA 4240 Culture and Politics in the People's Republic of China: New Approaches 
  • CHINA 4390 Topics in Chinese Literature and History: Literary Representation of Colonial Modernity: Taiwan & East Asia
  • CHINA 4390 Topics in Chinese Literature and History: Writing Women of the Late Imperial and Early Republican Periods
  • CHINA 4510 Urban Culture in Modern China
  • CHINA 4590 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Chinese Cities in the Global Context
  • CHINA 4590 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Commentary, Philology, & Theories of Reading in East Asian History
  • CHINA 4590 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: History and Fictionality in East Asian Cinema
  • CHINA 4590 Topics in Chinese Literature and Culture: Jingju (Beijing/Peking Opera)
  • CHINA 4670 The Chinese Theater
  • CHINA 4790 Reading Seminar in Modern Chinese Literature: Envisioning a New China: The May Fourth Era, 1919-1949
  • CHINA 4800 Reading Seminar in Chinese Popular Literature and Culture
  • CHINA 4890 Topics in Modern Chinese Literature
  • CHINA 4905 Guided Readings in Chinese
Comparative Literature
  • COMPLITTHT 3330 Topics in Comparative Literature:Finding China: From Sojourners to Settlers in Chinese Diaspora and Chinese American Literature
  • COMPLITTHT 3330 Topics in Comparative Literature: The Asian Experience: Negotiating the In-Betweeness
  • COMPLITTHT 3330 Topics in Comparative Literature: The Trope of "China" in the Imagination of the Chinese Diaspora
  • COMPLITTHT 4492 Topics in Comparative Literature : Writing from the Periphery: The Question of Chineseness
East Asian Languages and Cultures
  • EALC 3250 Topics in Early Modern Korea: Guns, Tobacco, and Sweet Potato: A History of Material Culture 
  • EALC 3340 Topics in East Asian Religions: The Lotus Sutra in East Asia: Buddhism, Art, Literature 
  • EALC 3400 Writing New Horizons: Explorers, Envoys, and Other Encounters in Korean Travel Narratives
  • EALC 3510 Pleasure, Amusement, and Play: Entertainment Culture in Premodern China
  • EALC 3600 US-China Relations from Conflict to Engagement, 1949-2016
  • EALC 3750 Imagined Pasts: Traditional Korea Through Film
  • EALC 3800 EALC Seminar
  • EALC 3800 EALC Seminar: East Asian Buddhism
  • EALC 3800 EALC Seminar: East Asian Buddhism: Chan/Son/Zen
  • EALC 3800 EALC Seminar: Kitchen, Studio, Factory: Making in East Asia
  • EALC 3800 EALC Seminar: Screening East Asia: From Scroll Painting to Haptic Interface
  • EALC 3810 EALC Seminar: Ghosts, Gods and Monsters Reimagined
  • EALC 4200 Nature, Technology, and Medicine in Korea
  • EALC 4250 Topics in Religion and Culture in East Asia: Women, Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia 
  • EALC 4300 Topics in Chinese Media Culture: Charting Identity in the Digital Age
  • EALC 4380 Approaches to East Asian Cinema
  • EALC 4710 Topics in Japanese Culture: Otaku: Anime and Beyond
  • EALC 4750 Worldviews, World-Building, and World Literature: New Approaches to Chinese Literature (1500-1900)
  • EALC 4930 Guided Readings in East Asian Languages and Cultures
English Literature
  • ELIT 3104 The Writing of the Indian Subcontinent
  • ELIT 3106 Topics in Asian American Literature
  • ELIT 3111 Topics In Literature: Asian American Fictions: Space, Place, and the Makings of Asian America
Environmental Studies
Film and Media Studies
  • FILM 3260 Samurai, Rebels, and Bandits: The Japanese Period Film
  • FILM 3410 Transnational Cinema(s): Film Flows in a Changing World
  • FILM 4310 Renegades and Radicals: The Japanese New Wave 
  • FILM 4430 Memory, Tears, and Longing: East Asian Melodrama Film 
  • FILM 4580 Major Film Directors: Oshima Nagisa and the Japanese New Wave 
  • FILM 4850 Visualizing Orientalism: Art, Cinema and the Imaginary East 1850-2000
Global Studies
Hindi
  • HINDI 3050 Religion and Culture in South and Southeast Asia
  • HINDI 3090 Understanding Indian (Hindi/Urdu) Literature: Through Text and Images (Visual)
History
Japanese
  • JAPAN 3260 Topics in Modern Japanese Literature
  • JAPAN 3260 Topics in Modern Japanese Literature: Japanese Horror Cinema
  • JAPAN 3320 Japanese Literature: Beginnings to 19th Century
  • JAPAN 3330 The Modern Voice in Japanese Literature
  • JAPAN 3360 The Floating World in Japanese Literature
  • JAPAN 3460 Japanese Literature in Translation: Mystery Fiction 
  • JAPAN 4310 Topics in Japanese Literature & History: Popular Culture and the Literary Imagination in Early Modern Japan
  • JAPAN 4450 Topics in Modern Japanese Literature
  • JAPAN 4490 Modern Japanese Women Writers
  • JAPAN 4500 Masterworks of Early Japanese Literature: The Tale of Genji and Its Afterlives 
  • JAPAN 4910 Guided Readings in Japanese
Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
  • JIMES 3510 Muhammad in History and Literature 
  • JIMES 3540 Anthropological and Sociological Study of Muslim Societies
  • JIMES 3623 Topics in Islam: Islam and Human Rights
  • JIMES 3623 Topics in Islam: Islam and the West
  • JIMES 3623 Topics in Islam: Islam in the Indian Ocean
  • JIMES 3623 Topics in Islam: Islam in the Modern World
  • JIMES 3623 Topics in Islam: Religious Authority in Modern Islam
  • JIMES 3730 Topics in Near Eastern Cultures: Freedom in the Middle East 
  • JIMES 4450 Topics in Islam: Readings in Islamic Political Thought and Practice
Korean
  • KOREA 3520 Literature of Modern and Contemporary Korea
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: Buddhist Culture of Korea
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: From King Sejong to Global K-Pop
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: Introduction to K-pop: Korean Popular Music and Society
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: Power, Miracles and Self-cultivation in Korean Buddhism
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: Sexing Korea: Gender & Sexuality in Korean Popular Culture
  • KOREA 3550 Topics in Korean Literature & Culture: The Korean Wave: Reading Korea through Popular Culture and Media 
  • KOREA 3700 When Tigers Smoke: Songs and Stories From Traditional Korea
  • KOREA 4037 Contemporary Korean I: Language, History, and Musical Culture
  • KOREA 4037 Contemporary Korean I: History, Literature, and Popular Culture
  • KOREA 4037 Contemporary Korean I: Topics in Korean Lit & Culture
  • KOREA 4038 Contemporary Korean II: Language, Text and Screen 
  • KOREA 4038 Contemporary Korean II: Topics in Korean Lit & Culture 
  • KOREA 4550 Topics in Korean Literature and Culture
  • KOREA 4550 Topics in Korean Literature and Culture: Gender in Korean Literature and Film
  • KOREA 4550 Topics in Korean Literature and Culture: Global Korean Music Through a Cultural Lens
  • KOREA 4920 Guided Readings in Korean
Political Science
  • POLSCI 3320 Topics in Politics: Terrorism & Counterterrorism 
Religious Studies
  • REST 3635 Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • WGSS 3555 Caste: Sexuality, Race and Globalization. 
  • WGSS 3740 Imperialism and Sexuality: India, South Asia, and the World: Writing-Intensive Seminar
  • WGSS 4153 Decolonization to Globalization: How to End an Empire

Additional Requirements and Information

Study Abroad

  • We strongly encourage students to study abroad. For those who do not study abroad and receive credit toward the Global Studies General Requirements, an additional 3-unit course at the 3000 or 4000 level is required.
  • Before studying abroad as a Global Studies major, students must consult with the Global Studies Study Abroad Advisor (Dr. Elizabeth Reynolds) about their plan of study and choice of program.
  • We strongly prefer students to select a study abroad location and regional specialization consistent with their chosen language of study (e.g., if a student wishes to study in Latin America, they must satisfy their language requirement with either Portuguese or Spanish).
  • Students may receive a maximum of 6 credits from a single semester, 12 credits from a year, or 3 credits from a summer term of study abroad.
  • Study abroad credit only counts at the 3000 level and must be approved by the Global Studies Study Abroad Advisor prior to departure.
  • Students may apply no more than 12 total credits to the Global Studies major from study abroad, the School of Continuing & Professional Studies, summer school at other U.S. universities, or any combination thereof.
  • To receive credit for a summer course completed at another institution, a student should fill out the Approval for Non-WashU Course Credit form with Arts & Sciences to take the course for "general credit" and then petition to have the course count as an elective toward their Global Studies major.
  • Students may not receive credit for January Intensive Term (J-Term) study abroad programs; these programs are too short in duration.
  • Visit the Study Abroad section of the Global Studies website for more details.

Latin Honors

  • Students must graduate with an overall grade point average of 3.65 or higher to qualify for Latin Honors.
  • Students must submit an intent form and be accepted for candidacy.
  • Students should enroll in GLOBAL 4985 Preparation for Global Studies Honors Thesis during the fall of senior year and in GLOBAL 4986 Global Studies Senior Honors Thesis during the spring of senior year (under the corresponding section number of the faculty member overseeing the student's thesis).

Language Requirement

All Global Studies majors must satisfy a language requirement that entails both the successful completion of four semesters of a modern language for a letter grade and placement into the third year of that language.

Available modern languages include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili.

Please see the FAQs on the Global Studies website for more information.

Visit the Global Studies page
for additional information about this program.

Contact Info

Contact:Toni Loomis
Phone:314-935-5073
Email:aloomis@wustl.edu
Website:https://globalstudies.wustl.edu