East Asian Studies

Emer S. O’Dwyer, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies and History; director

Yu-Chi Chang, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese History
Bonnie Cheng, Associate Professor of Art History and East Asian Studies
Hsiu-Chuang Deppman, Professor of East Asian Studies
Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Professor of East Asian Studies
Mika Kawashima, Lecturer of Japanese Language
Yukumi Kawashima, Visiting Instructor of Japanese Language
Sachiko Kondo, Lecturer of Japanese Language
Kai Li, Senior Lecturer of Chinese Language
Fang Liu, Senior Lecturer of Chinese Language
Andrew Macomber, Assistant Professor of East Asian Religions
Ann Sherif, Professor of East Asian Studies
Ayuka Suemasa, Lecturer of Japanese Language
Dominic J. Toscano, Assistant Professor of Chinese
Qiao Yu, Visiting Instructor of Chinese Language

Appointed by Courtesy
Marc J. Blecher, James Monroe Professor of Politics
Hiroko Kumaki, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Medical and Cultural

Visit the program web page for up-to-date information on program faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

The East Asian Studies Program at Oberlin College is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the region that includes China, Japan, and Korea. The main goals of the program are to provide training in East Asian languages and to introduce students to the societies, cultures, and histories of the region through courses in anthropology, art history, cinema, economics, history, literature, politics, and religion.

See information about Research, Internships, Study Away, and Experiential Learning (RISE).

Explore Winter Term projects and opportunities.

Departmental Policies

Initial and Advanced Language Placement

Students interested in learning Chinese or Japanese who do not have prior experience with the language should enroll in CHIN 101  or JAPN 101  respectively.

Most students who have elsewhere acquired linguistic ability in Chinese or Japanese, or who wish to qualify for advanced courses, are advised to take the relevant language placement test administered by the department during orientation.

Students of all linguistic levels are invited to consult with any program faculty or staff whose focus of study is in the relevant area to determine the level at which their language study at Oberlin should begin.

Majors and Minors

• East Asian Studies Major  
• East Asian Studies Minor  

Courses

• CHIN 101 - Elementary Chinese I
• CHIN 102 - Elementary Chinese II
• CHIN 201 - Intermediate Chinese I
• CHIN 202 - Intermediate Chinese II
• CHIN 301 - Advanced Chinese I
• CHIN 302 - Advanced Chinese II
• CHIN 401 - Readings in Chinese Literature
• CHIN 402 - Readings in Society, History and Contemporary Events
• CHIN 410 - Traditional Chinese Culture
• CHIN 456 - Development of the Chinese Language
• CHIN 457 - Classical Chinese
• CHIN 458 - Traditional Chinese Culture
• CHIN 500 - Capstone Project
• CHIN 995F - Private Reading - Full
• CHIN 995H - Private Reading - Half

• EAST 075 - Japan, Nature, Culture
• EAST 107 - Women and Literary Culture in Japan
• EAST 110 - Japan on Stage and Screen: An Introduction to Kabuki, Noh, and Butoh
• EAST 118 - Modern Japanese Literature and Film
• EAST 120 - Chinese Calligraphy
• EAST 121 - Chinese Civilization
• EAST 122 - Modern China
• EAST 125 - Hong Kong Cinema
• EAST 131 - Japan: Earliest Times to 1868
• EAST 132 - Modern Japan
• EAST 133 - Haunted Archipelago: Ghosts, Spirits, and the Occult in Japanese Religion
• EAST 134 - Masterworks of Premodern Chinese Literature
• EAST 137 - Introduction to Religion: Buddhism in East Asia
• EAST 143 - Approaches to Chinese and Japanese Art
• EAST 153 - Religious Rituals in East Asia
• EAST 154 - Religious Objects in East Asian Religions
• EAST 163 - Korea and East Asia: From Ancient Times to the Present
• EAST 206 - Modern Chinese Literature and Film: The Art of Adaptation
• EAST 208 - Gender and Sexuality in Chinese Culture and Society
• EAST 218 - Ways of Seeing in Classical Chinese Poetry
• EAST 222 - Politics and Protest: Modern Chinese Art
• EAST 225 - Pleasure and Design in Confinement: Japanese Prints in and after Edo
• EAST 233 - The Long War in Modern China
• EAST 235 - China on the Global Stage
• EAST 241 - Living with the Bomb: A Comparative Study of Gender, Race, and Nationalism in Japan and the U.S.
• EAST 248 - Postwar Japan through Music and Film
• EAST 249 - Green Japan
• EAST 261 - On the Edges of China
• EAST 280 - Brothers at War: The Unending Korean War
• EAST 307 - Occupied Japan, 1945-1952
• EAST 309 - Chinese Popular Cinema and Public Intellectualism
• EAST 322 - Avant Garde in Japanese Literature, Art and Film
• EAST 324 - Chinese Queer Cinema
• EAST 327 - Mapping China and East Asia
• EAST 328 - The Great War and Asia, 1914-1925
• EAST 329 - Cultural Property? Art, Heritage, Ownership
• EAST 332 - Discrimination in Modern Japan
• EAST 335 - Buddhism, Healing, and the Body in East Asia
• EAST 358 - Memory and Justice in East Asia
• EAST 367 - The Other Great Game, 1860-1905
• EAST 389 - Archaeologies of China
• EAST 401 - East Asian Studies Honors
• EAST 482 - Discrimination in Modern Japan
• EAST 500 - Capstone Project
• EAST 995F - Private Reading - Full
• EAST 995H - Private Reading - Half

• JAPN 002 - Japanese Language Across the Curriculum (LxC)
• JAPN 101 - Elementary Japanese I
• JAPN 102 - Elementary Japanese II
• JAPN 201 - Intermediate Japanese I
• JAPN 202 - Intermediate Japanese II
• JAPN 252 - Japanese Popular Culture in Japanese
• JAPN 301 - Japanese Reading and Conversation I
• JAPN 302 - Japanese Reading and Conversation II
• JAPN 401 - Advanced Japanese I
• JAPN 402 - Advanced Japanese II
• JAPN 403 - Japanese Translation: Theory and Practice
• JAPN 453 - Japanese Language Proficiency Test Preparation
• JAPN 454 - Japanese Language Pedagogy
• JAPN 457 - Japanese for Professional Purposes
• JAPN 500 - Capstone Project
• JAPN 986 - Japanese-English Translation
• JAPN 995F - Private Reading - Full
• JAPN 995H - Private Reading - Half