Asian Studies

The Asian Studies Minor is designed for undergraduates and can complement any of the undergraduate majors of Montclair State University. This minor offers students the opportunity to focus a segment of their university training on Asia and to engage in this dynamic global and interdisciplinary field of study. Students will gain in-depth knowledge of the cultural, social, political, economic, and global components of issues related to Asian nations and identities; they will learn to appreciate and analyze complex cultural objects (text, art, symbols, ceremonies, etc), as well as the traditions behind them. Through such a course of study, students can better understand the complexity of Asian nations and cultures and the diversity of Asian political and economic systems, while gaining insights into global cultural movements of people and ideas and into the global challenges posed by a dynamically changing region. This minor helps students see, through the lens of literature, religion, philosophy, culture, and politics, how worlds of diverse and interconnected meanings are formed. And by  concentrating on  Asia in the context  of  multidisciplinary and inter-regional  courses  students will have the opportunity for a more solid, in depth, comparative understanding of Asia as a discrete yet complex reality and as a critical, dynamic global force.