Asian Languages and Cultures PhD

The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures offers a new interdisciplinary M.A. and Ph.D. program in Asian Languages and Cultures. Students may take advantage of the many opportunities within the department and on campus to do in-depth research on Asia from multiple disciplinary perspectives and across the traditional area studies divisions of East, South, and Southeast Asia. We welcome applications from students who are interested in working transregionally, transdisciplinarily, or both. This includes students with a traditional background in Asian Studies and related academic fields as well as those whose path to studying Asia has been through professional work.

The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures has developed a lively intellectual community around Transasian Studies and is supporting student-led seminars, reading groups, workshops, and other events. Prospective graduate students are encouraged to reach out to faculty members who share their academic and research interests.

Asian Languages and Cultures is home to nearly twenty faculty whose research and teaching specialties cover a wide range of topics, including traditional medicine in India; the history of yoga; contemporary mindfulness practice with insights from Tibetan Buddhism; human rights in Thailand; Chinese ghost stories, traditional poetics and philology; sociolinguistics and discourse analysis of the Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian languages; analysis of classical Japanese tale fiction, early modern comedic narratives, manga, and anime; and Japanese counterculture.

Asian Studies at UWMadison has strong ties across departments, to research centers, area studies programs, extensive library connections, and alumni relations.

1. Demonstrate a thorough and in-depth understanding of research problems, potentials, and limits with respect to theory, knowledge, or practice in the selected area of the student's focus.
2. Formulate ideas, concepts, designs, and/or techniques beyond the current boundaries of knowledge within the specialized field(s).
3. Create scholarship and advance knowledge that makes a substantive contribution to the field(s).
4. Articulate and communicate complex ideas in a clear and understandable manner to both specialized and general audiences.
5. Recognize, apply, and foster ethical and professional conduct.