2005-06 - Office of the Registrar - Duke University

Litzinger, Mazumdar, McKean, Nickerson, Partner, Yoda, Shi, and Weisenfeld; Assistant
Professors Feng, Hong, H. Kim, S. Kim, and Metzger
The Asian/Pacific Studies Institute (APSI) at Duke University administers an
innovative and interdisciplinary M.A. Program in East Asian Studies. The Program offers
broad choices and can be individually tailored. It meets the needs of students planning to
enter professional careers such as the diplomatic corps, international law, education, and
business as well as providing academic enhancement for mid-career professionals in these
fields. The Program is also designed to prepare students who want to enter doctoral programs
in the social sciences and humanities.
The Program encourages the crossing of traditional disciplinary boundaries through
thematic seminars while retaining a firm grounding in a disciplinary base. The temporal
focus of the Program is on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with fields of
specialization available in Art and Art History, Cultural Anthropology, History, Modern
Literature, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, and Sociology. Although currently
limited to Chinese and Japanese Studies, language instruction in Korean is also available.
The thematic foci of the Program include cultural and literary studies, development and
policy studies, gender, sexuality and ethnicity, institutional transformation, and politics and
society.
Degree Requirements
The master’s degree in East Asian studies requires ten courses (30 credit hours,
including an integrated required core course), of which at least eight (24 credit hours) must
be in East Asian studies. These must be drawn from a list of approved courses, with no more
than four taken in any one department. Fourth-year college-level East Asian language
courses may be counted toward the eight-course requirement. In all, no more than two of the
ten required courses may be lower level language (third year or below) or non–East Asian.
In lieu of a thesis, the Program requires the completion of a capstone course and a research
paper or annotated bibiography in area or topic of specialization. The degree is dependent
on the acceptance of the research paper or annotated bibiography by the Graduate
Committee and successful completion of an oral examination on this paper or bibiography
by an MA advisory committee of three faculty members, two of whom must be APSI core
faculty members.
Students are directed in their course of study by the APSI Director of Graduate Studies
along with an individual faculty advisor. The capstone course is to be chosen with the help
of the advisor, who must be a member of the core faculty of the Asian/Pacific Studies
Institute.
At the conclusion of the Program, students must have attained advanced proficiency in
one East Asian language, equivalent to three years of college-level study. It is strongly
recommended that applicants complete at least one year of such language study before
beginning the program at Duke. Students who are native speakers an East Asian language
are encouraged to take one year (two semesters) of another East Asian language.
Joint JD/MA Degree
The Asian/Pacific Studies Institute also administers a joint JD/MA degree. Admission
to this program is contingent upon admission to the Duke Law School. Degree requirements
for the MA portion are the same as for the East Asian MA, with the exception that a
maximum of two of the eight required East Asian courses may be in Law, pertaining to East
Asia.
Certificate in East Asian Studies
The Asian/Pacific Studies Institute offers a Certificate in East Asian Studies to allow
graduate students at Duke to demonstrate their training and competence in East Asian
Studies. To receive the Certificate, students enrolled in the graduate school or in the
professional schools must formally apply for the program and must complete at least four
114 Courses and Academic Programs