The PhD Program in East Asian Languages: Chinese
The PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC) is a research-intensive, inter-disciplinary, area-based degree in the study of the traditional and modern languages and cultures of China and Japan. Students may focus on literature, literary criticism, comparative cultural studies, cultural history, or linguistics. In every case students will be expected to acquire a solid grounding in the classical and modern versions of the primary language of their area. The primary purpose of our degree training is to prepare students to become scholars and teachers of Chinese or Japanese literature and culture or to prepare them for the increasing number of other professional careers that utilize knowledge of Chinese or Japanese languages and cultures.
 For the 2009-2010 academic year, a special admissions round will be held, opening on February 16, 2009 and closing on April 15, 2009. Students will be notified by the end of April about admission. A small number of Research and Teaching Assistantships will be available. Application procedures and forms may be found at the Graduate College web page for admissions. For more information, please contact Barbara Tibbets (barbara.tibbets@asu.edu) or Stephen H. West (Stephen.H.West@asu.edu). |
REQUIREMENTS
Potential applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution in a related field are eligible to apply to the program. The following entry-level competencies are needed for admission to the program: for Chinese concentration, completion of at least three years of modern Chinese and one year of classical Chinese; for Japanese concentration, completion of at least three years of modern Japanese and one semester of classical Japanese. Applicants will be required to submit an official ASU graduate application, official GRE scores, official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate course work, a statement of career and educational goals, and three letters of recommendation (two of which should be academic recommendations). Regular admission may be granted to applicants who have achieved a grade point average of 3.5 (4.0 scale) or better in the last two years of work leading to the bachelor’s degree and who are competitive in the applicant pool as evidenced by GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, and analytical), the statement of career and educational goals, and the letters of recommendation.
The program will require a minimum of 84 credit hours. Up to 30 hours earned in a Master’s degree program that is directly relevant to the degree may be counted toward that number. However, a minimum of 30 credit hours of course work and 24 hours of research are required beyond the MA level. If a student already has an MA, it will not be necessary to complete the existing SILC MA in Asian Languages and Civilizations. However, the student will be required to satisfy all course requirements for the MA. After their first year in the PhD program, all students will be evaluated before being permitted to continue.
All students, whether in Chinese or Japanese, are required to complete SLC 500 Theory and Methodology of East Asian Literature and Culture. Each student must complete the following requirements in his or her area of concentration:
Chinese Concentration: 81 units plus SLC 500 (3)
1. Core Concentration Requirements: (12)
a. Completion of CHI 511–512 (3–3)
b. Completion of CHI 521–522 (3–3)
2. Completion of at least 6 of the following courses (18) (Each may be repeated once for credit.)
CHI 530: Readings in Chinese Religions
CHI 540: Readings in Poetry and Poetics
CHI 550: Readings in Prose
CHI 561: Readings in Traditional Xiaoshuo
CHI 562: Readings in Traditional Performance Literature 3
CHI 570: Readings in Modern Lit and Cult
CHI 580: History of Chinese Language
3. Completion of 5 seminars (15) (Each may be repeated once for credit with instructor permission; the following list is meant to serve only as an example of the seminars that will be offered.)
CHI 620: Seminar in Literary History
CHI 630: Seminar in Chinese Religions
CHI 640: Seminar in Poetry and Poetics
CHI 650: Seminar in Literary Prose
CHI 660: Seminar in Traditional Vernacular Literature
CHI 670: Seminar in Modern Literature and Culture
CHI 680: Seminar in Chinese Linguistics
4. Approved electives/research (24)
5. Dissertation (12)
6. Field requirements
A "field" is an area of study within the overall domain of Chinese language and civilization that the PhD student shall investigate in some depth. The student shall be expected to be familiar with both the original texts and the secondary scholarship of the field and to show some potential for carrying out original research in the area in question. Each student must pursue four such fields of special study, and will be examined separately by an appropriate faculty member or members. The field examinations must be written.
Three of the fields shall be chosen from areas that are well represented within the SILC PhD graduate curriculum. The student’s PhD advisory committee shall, in consultation with the student, determine the actual content of the fields. A fourth field will be chosen from beyond the SILC Chinese program and involve working with faculty from other ASU schools and departments. This may be a supporting field in another area of Chinese culture and civilization (e.g., history, religion, art history), in another language and culture contingent to China or with long historical association (e.g., Japan, Korea, Vietnam), or in a particular methodological or theoretical area (e.g., gender studies, place studies). The student shall prepare this field through coursework or independent study with a person selected by the student and authorized by the committee.
7. Language Requirements
Prior to the General Examination the student must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one additional pertinent Asian language and one pertinent European language, aside from English, by completing a reading examination in that language. (The student may apply any foreign language reading examination required for the MA to this requirement.)
8. Comprehensive Examination, Dissertation, Oral Defense
Upon the successful completion of the student's program of course work and study, the completion of the field examinations, and the completion of the foreign language requirement, the student's supervisory committee will administer the Comprehensive Examination. This will be a written and oral examination that covers principally, but not exclusively, the four fields that the student has prepared. Within one semester after passing this examination, the student presents a dissertation prospectus to his or her dissertation adviser. The dissertation prospectus is normally closely related to one of the field examinations. After approval of the prospectus, the student writes the dissertation under the direction of the adviser. Please note that in the US, dissertations on Chinese and Japanese topics are uniformly written in English. This increases the readership and makes it easier for would-be employers to judge the students’ work. The acceptance of the finished dissertation and passing the oral defense of the dissertation completes the degree requirements for this program.
FACULTY IN EAST ASIAN STUDIES
Anthony Chambers specializes in twentieth-century Japanese fiction, particularly the work of Tanizaki Jun'ichirô. He is also a noted translator of Japanese literature into English.
Stephen Bokenkamp studies early medieval literature and religion, particularly Daoism. He has written most extensively on Six Dynasties religious developments and Tang-period poetics.
Chen Huaiyu’s research interests span medieval monasticism, religious cultures on the Silk Road, Nestorian Christianity, Chinese Buddhism, and medieval Chinese social, cultural, and intellectual history.
Hyaeweol Choi’s research and teaching interests are the sociocultural history of women in Korea and East Asia, gender and religions, transcultural encounters, postcolonialism, and visual culture.
Robert Cutter works primarily on early medieval Chinese literature.
John Creamer’s research interests are in medieval Japanese imperial patronage of the arts and theater, the scribal and visual culture of 14th to 15th century Japan, and the connection of calligraphy and manuscript culture to notions of imperial legitimacy and sovereignty.
Young Kyun Oh teaches Chinese linguistics, history of Chinese language, and books and print culture of East Asia. His research interests are historical phonology of Sino-Korean, Sino-Korean cultural connections, and book history of Korea.
Pori Park's research interests include Buddhism, Sôn Buddhism, Korean Religions, and the interaction between Buddhism, modernity, and
nationalism.
Madeline K. Spring’s research interests lie in two main areas: Chinese language pedagogy and medieval Chinese literature. In pedagogy her focus is on second language acquisition, teacher training, curricular design, assessment, and cultural literacy. Her scholarly interests focus mainly on medieval prose, Six dynasties and Tang fiction, and rhetorical studies. She has also taught courses and given papers on modern Chinese fiction and film.
Hoyt Cleveland Tillman's interests are in Chinese intellectual and cultural history, and his research has focused on Southern Song Confucians, especially Zhu Xi and his contemporary friends and rivals; however, he has also published on Confucianism under the Jurchen Jin and the Mongol Yuan dynasties, as well as on intellectual trends in late imperial China and the twentieth century.
Stephen H. West’s research interests and teaching areas are in urban culture, garden studies, performance literature, and literary production from 900–1400.
Timothy C. Wong studies Chinese fiction as a tradition with significant differences from the Euro-American novelistic tradition, under the conviction that such differences provide greater insight into both. His various published studies and translations have mostly revolved around this effort.
Zhang Xia’s research and teaching interests are in Chinese language and linguistics, second language acquisition, especially the acquisition pattern of Chinese grammatical structures, and Chinese language pedagogy.
John Yu Zou reads in late imperial and modern Chinese literature, comparative literature, postcolonialism, performance and film theories, and teaches surveys of modern Chinese literature and cinema, readings in modern Chinese literature, and a seminar on modern Chinese literature and culture.
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