East Asian Languages and Cultures

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East Asian Languages and Cultures offers undergraduate and doctoral programs in Chinese, Japanese and Korean studies. The department fosters original approaches in East Asian studies. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary and innovative research, the program provides students with systematic training in East Asian languages, literatures and cultures. The faculty is committed to intra-regional and interdisciplinary studies of East Asia, which includes critical interaction among the cultures of China, Japan and Korea across historical times and through diverse media. The department engages the arts, languages, literatures, theatre and performance, histories, media, religions, visual and material cultures of East Asia.

Taper Hall of Humanities 356
(213) 740-3707
Email: ealc@dornsife.usc.edu
dornsife.usc.edu/ealc

Chair: Brett Sheehan, PhD

Faculty

Maria Crutcher Professor in International Relations and Professor of International Relations, Business and East Asian Languages and Cultures: David Kang, PhD (Political Science and International Relations)

T.C. Wang Family Endowed Chair in Cinematic Arts and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, Comparative Literature and East Asian Languages and Cultures: Akira Mizuta Lippit, PhD (Cinema and Media Studies)

Gordon L. MacDonald Chair in History and Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures: Joan R. Piggott, PhD (History)

Professors: Bettine Birge, PhD; Namkil Kim, PhD; Brett Sheehan, PhD* (History); Duncan Williams, PhD (Religion)

Associate Professors: Brian Bernards, PhD; David T. Bialock, PhD; Jenny Chio, PhD; Youngmin Choe, PhD; Joshua Goldstein, PhD (History); Young-Min Jeon, PhD; Sonya Lee, PhD (Art History); Lori Meeks, PhD (Religion); Sunyoung Park, PhD

Assistant Professors: Mengxiao Wang, PhD; Kerim Yasar, PhD

Artist in Residence: John Alexander, MFA

Associate Professor (Teaching): Jason Webb, PhD (Comparative Literature)

Assistant Professors (Teaching): Mengjun Li, PhD; Masako Tamanaha, PhD; Tin-Yu Tseng, PhD; Yi Walker, PhD

Master Lecturers: John Chang, MA; Yuka Kumagai, MA

Senior Lecturers: Xianxian Fang, MA; Mayumi Ikeda, MA; Maki Irie, MA; Hsiao-Yun Liao, MA; Yumi Matsumoto, MA

Lecturers: Hyunjung Ahn, PhD; Xian Jian, MA; Woojoo Kim, MA; Shanshan Li, MA; Christopher Magriney, MA; Sooran Pak, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor (Teaching): Miya Elise Desjardins, PhD

Undergraduate Degree

The core requirements for the EALC major allow students flexibility in designing their own courses of study. Majors typically select one language and cultural area (Chinese, Japanese or Korean) in which they do most of their course work. Majors are encouraged to explore beyond their individual language focus by enrolling in the full range of EALC courses available in literature, film, history, media and other aspects of East Asian cultures.

All EALC majors and minors are required to take at least one course in each of the following two categories. Cross-Cultural Survey courses, to be taken within the first two years, offer students a broad, interregional introduction to East Asian philosophy, literature, film and culture. Cultural Studies courses, also to be completed before advancing to more theme-specific courses, provide students with an in-depth introduction to a cultural tradition within its regional context. For specific courses in these categories as well as upper-division electives (four for majors and two for minors), please refer to the course list on the department’s website and the Schedule of Classes.

Study Abroad Programs

East Asian Languages and Cultures majors and minors are encouraged to take advantage of the numerous semester and year-long study abroad opportunities sponsored by the Office of Overseas Studies. Currently, the office offers programs in China (Beijing and Nanjing), Taiwan (Taipei), Korea (Seoul), and Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya). Each of the programs is affiliated with a world-class institution, such as Waseda University in Tokyo, National Chengchi University in Taipei or Yonsei University in Seoul. Contact the Office of Overseas Studies at (213) 740-3636 for further details or visit online at dornsife.usc.edu/overseas.

The majority of course work offered by these programs may be counted toward the EALC major or minor requirements. Students who receive major credit from any of these programs must still take at least eight units of non-language courses within EALC at the upper-division level while at USC (specifically an EALC civilization and an EALC literature course). Students interested in attending one of these programs must meet with an EALC academic adviser to ensure that the courses enrolled in overseas will meet EALC major or minor requirements.

Chinese Summer Programs in Beijing and Taipei

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers its Chinese language summer courses in Beijing and Taipei. Participants can transition seamlessly to the next level courses upon returning to campus. Cultural visits and excursions are included in the tuition fee. All courses count toward a major and minor in East Asian Languages and Cultures.

Graduate Degrees

EALC offers graduate students advanced training in the languages, literatures, and cultures of China, Japan and Korea. Our students have combined approaches from cultural studies, literature, film and media studies, theater and other disciplines to broaden more traditional paradigms and provide a different perspective on the reading of the texts in their fields. By allowing a greater degree of flexibility, our interdisciplinary approach enhances students’ research skills and enables them to become well-rounded scholars. Appropriate cross-registration with other departments allows students to enhance their theoretical and methodological training.

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• East Asian Languages and Cultures (BA)

Minor

Master’s Degree

• East Asian Languages and Cultures (MA)

Doctoral Degree

• East Asian Languages and Cultures (PhD)

Courses

East Asian Languages and Cultures

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