Asia
Asia
The Asian History program in the History Department is a vibrant and dynamic field, with eight faculty members specializing in various regions across Asia, particularly East and Southeast Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines), as well as South Asia and Central Asia. Our research strengths include East Asian migrations and diasporas, modern transpacific history, law and culture, printing and history of information, economy and capitalism, labor and technology, environmental history, military history, Cold War international history, and U.S.-Asia relations. The program also thrives through strong collaborations with faculty and students from related fields and centers such as Global Interaction and Exchange (GIE), the Center for Global Migration Studies, and the Center for East Asian Studies.
Graduate Students
The History Department offers graduate degrees in the following areas:
● East Asian migrations and diasporas (PhD, MA)
● Late imperial/early modern China (PhD, MA)
● Modern China (MA)
● Modern Japan (MA)
● Modern Korea (MA)
● Modern Philippines (PhD, MA)
*Students interested in studying Central Asia primarily through Russian imperial or Soviet history should apply to our European History MA or PhD program.
*We do not offer South Asia as a subfield of primary specialization, but students whose interests may connect South Asia with one of the areas listed above are welcome to apply.
Graduate Course Offerings
General Seminar: Korea and Japan (Choi)
General Seminar: China (Zhang or Li)
Reading Qing Documents (Zhang)
Late Imperial China: Law, Culture, and Society (Zhang)
China's Long Twentieth Century: Social and Economic Changes (Li)
Socialist China in Historiography: Themes and Methodologies (Li)
The Japanese Empire and East Asia (Choi)
The Cold War in East Asia (Choi)
The Unending War: From the Korean War to the Korean Wave (Chung)
Race and Migration (Hsu)
Asia and the Americas (Hsu)
Resources
The D.C. area offers excellent research resources for studying Asian history. The Library of Congress holds more than 4 million items in Asian languages. For example, the Chinese collection is one of the largest collections of Chinese books in the world outside China, including a large number of rare books produced in late imperial China. In addition to the Library of Congress, our own library’s Gordon W. Prange Collection provides an ideal setting for graduate students who study the history of early postwar Japan. The Prange Collection is the most comprehensive archive of print publications in Japan during the first four years of the Allied Occupation (1945–1949), and students can utilize all kinds of Japanese historical materials including newspapers, periodicals, news agency photographs, posters, maps, and books published during the early postwar period. Finally, the National Archives at College Park (Archives II) is less than a mile from campus. Archives II holds the majority of US federal government records related to Asia from the 20th century, including those produced by the US military, US State Department, and US Agency for International Development (and its predecessors). The facility contains a significant number of Asian language sources produced by foreign governments, militaries, diplomats, corporations, and non-government organizations.
Language Requirement
There is no language requirement for M.A. admission.
For Ph.D. admission, in addition to English, students must have proficiency at the advanced level in at least one of the major Asian languages (for example, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). All Ph.D. students must pass the language exam or get a waiver before advancing to candidacy. Depending on the area of interest, the adviser may determine that the student needs to show proficiency in an additional language.
Faculty
Sarah Cameron
Associate Professor, History
2101J Francis Scott Key Hall
College Park
MD,
20742
Patrick Chung
Assistant Professor, History
2101G Francis Scott Key Hall
College Park
MD,
20742
Madeline Hsu
Professor, History
Director, Center for Global Migration Studies
Affiliate Faculty, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Affiliate Faculty, Asian Ameriican Studies Program
2135 Francis Scott Key Hall
College Park
MD,
20742
Mircea Raianu
Associate Professor, History
2136 Taliaferro Hall
College Park
MD,
20742
Colleen Woods
Associate Professor, History
2101H Francis Scott Key Hall
College Park
MD,
20742
Ting Zhang
Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair, History
2115C Francis Scott Key Hall
College Park
MD,
20742