ASTD 285 Introduction

WHAT IS ASIA, AND HOW DO WE STUDY IT?

modern maps of the world reveal political borders, but trade, religious beliefs, and cultural norms often cross these lines as well.
like maps, academic disciples also divide the human experience into fields like politics, economics, art, and literature.

WHAT IS ASIA?

notion of their being an asian country originated from the greeks.
most people use to view themselves in terms of family, village, religious community, and region until modern nationalism of our current political boundaries emerged.
orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the coporate institution for dealing with the orient.
asia is preferred to the orient ( east or far east ) — refers to a specific geographic region rather than vaguely indicating any place east of europe.
for a century, english-language scholarship on asia told the story of europe modernizing first then spread ideals of industry and democracy to asia
- now — we recognize indigeous developments rather than considering every cultural achievement a reaction to the west.

East Asian Countries

South Asian Countries

Southeast Asia

What Does it Mean to Say that Asian Studies is Interdisciplinary?

in each department scholars conduct research and teach classes organized around questions asked in the discipline and the methods used to answer those questions.
when areas of inquiry overlap, interdisiciplinary programs emerge

Academic studies share certain features:

a narrowly defined set of questions
a collection of data in form of texts, artifacts, detailed observations, statistics, or surveys
conclusions that logically follow from the data

confucian scholars believed that we learn moral virtues by reading and studying classical texts and history lessons
buddhists believes that everything in life is impermanent and in constant flux