Hampshire College
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Asian Studies
| A Hands-on Education | |
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| Hampshire co-sponsors, with Smith College, the Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program. Through this unique program, students have the opportunity to study Buddhist philosophy, and Tibetan cultures and history. | |
Hampshire students engage with Asian Studies through a variety of lenses: anthropology; Chinese language; economics; environmental studies; ethnography; film and photography; history; international relations; literature; music; politics; religion studies. Geographically, Asian Studies at Hampshire encompasses China, Japan, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Tibet, and Asian American studies.
Asian Studies and Asian American Studies in the Five College Consortium allows Hampshire students to pursue a wide variety of courses in nearly all geographical areas of Asia and Asian America, including many Asian languages. Through Hampshire College and Five College courses, Hampshire students are able to develop an interdisciplinary Asian Studies concentration with both breadth and depth.
Through a recent grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, Hampshire College has particularly encouraged the study of Asia and the environment, creating links between Asian Studies and the natural sciences, the Hampshire Farm Center, and Hampshire’s innovative Farm, Food, and Sustainability Institute. Student work in these interdisciplinary areas is encouraged and supported with a variety of resources.
Using interdisciplinary courses and resources across the College, student projects have examined topics such as recycling in China, ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, urban architecture and gay identity in China, gender and Asian American migration, Indian Buddhist philosophy, ethnic conflict in Malaysia, and entrepreneurship in Bhutan.
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| Sample First-Year Course |
Asian Religious Texts and Traditions |
The aim of this course is to introduce students to several of the oldest religious traditions of South and East Asia through a study of selected canonical texts. Part of our concern will naturally be to determine what these ancient records reveal to us about how people of these cultures understand, or once understood, such perennial human issues as the meaning of death, the nature of suffering, the value of human life, belief in God or the gods, and the possibility of liberation or life after death. But we will also consider such crucial historical and literary questions as, When were these texts produced and under what religious or cultural circumstances? Were these “texts” written and read, or chanted, performed, and heard? How were they produced or revealed, and by whom? Who had access to these traditions and in what form? What roles have these texts played in religious ritual, liturgy, storytelling, or popular culture?
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| Facilities and Resources |
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Center for East Asian Studies They work to improve the quality, quantity, and distribution of resources for teaching about East Asia at the college and precollege levels and to offer opportunities for pre-college educators to experience East Asian cultures firsthand. The center maintains a resource library, publishes a newsletter three times a year, and conducts seminars, institutes, conferences, and workshops for college and pre-college educators. Five College Certificate Programs East Asian Languages Program (EALP) Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program Hampshire College China Exchange Program Through the same connection, two scholars, including a Chinese language teacher trained in teaching Chinese as a second language, reside on the Hampshire campus every year. In addition to teaching Chinese, they pursue their own research and education, auditing classes and utilizing our libraries. During January Term, several undergraduate students from the Chinese university come to take courses and help tutor Hampshire students who are studying Chinese. |
Contact Us
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
413.559.5378
Fax 413.559.6081
dof@hampshire.edu