What do we mean by Transnational Asian Studies? Students in our department work across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to better understand the peoples, ideas, practices and cultures of greater Asia, including immigrant communities across the globe. We research and study Asia not as a collection of nation-states or regions but as a series of global transformations, influences, demographic movements and migrations, trade and political formations. Classes in Asian studies are taught by the faculty in our newly expanded Department of Transnational Asian Studies and our many affiliates in departments across campus. Classes and research opportunities can include the study of gender, migration and diasporas, race and identity, medicine and technology, literature and history, religion and the arts, globalism, consumerism and economics.
The B.A. degree in Asian studies is flexible and can be easily adapted to your individual interests. Majors in Asian studies engage in faculty-supervised research, internship programs, language acquisition, study and work experience abroad. Those who choose the minor are able to bring their interest and understanding in Asian studies to their major field of study, enhancing their academic and professional goals.
Students interested in Asian studies may also choose to join the Rice Asian Studies Organization, which is responsible for promoting and planning Asian studies programming and organizing student-led events. One of RASO’s major activities is the publication of the Rice Asian Studies Review, which publishes exceptional undergraduate research. The Department of Transnational Asian Studies and the Chao Center for Asian Studies are now housed on the third floor of Lovett Hall.
Major: Asian Studies
Minor: Asian Studies
Learn more about Transnational Asian Studies in the School of Humanities >