Students may choose to focus their studies in a thematic track, such as; Asian Religions, Asian Medical and Health Humanities, and Asian Rights, Violence, and Law. Initially working with two co-advisors, each student will craft a program of coursework that combines Asia-focused courses with disciplinary study in and beyond the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. This may include linkages with other departments as well as UW-Madison’s rich array of centers and programs, including the Center for Healthy Minds, Center for Visual Cultures, Human Rights Program, Religious Studies Program, and the Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for South Asia, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
These tracks are internal to the program and represent different pathways a student can follow to earn this degree. Track names do not appear in the Graduate School admissions application, and they will not appear on the transcript or diploma.
Asian Medical and Health Humanities Track
The M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Languages and Cultures welcomes students interested to do interdisciplinary research that employs theories and methods in medicine and health humanities to probe questions in Asian societies and histories about healthcare, patienthood, embodiment, and psychology. Students may work in a transasian perspective and will be encouraged to work across multiple disciplines, including anthropology, history of science, literature, cognitive science and religious studies. Drawing on the resources in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and across the UW-Madison campus, students may examine such things as the imperial, cultural, and structural-economic matrixes that impact human flourishing and suffering in Asian societies; the spread of biomedicine in Asia and Cold War politics; the appropriation of traditional modalities and contemplative practices such as mindfulness and yoga into contemporary medical contexts; links between western biomedicine and the politics of nation building under and after colonialism in Asia; and the entwined histories of religion, politics, and medicine in premodern Asian societies.
Core Faculty: Buhnemann, Cerulli, Dunne
Asian Religions Track
The M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Languages and Cultures welcomes students interested to do interdisciplinary research on the numerous religious traditions of East Asia, the Himalayan region, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Students may focus on one or more traditions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism. Study of such traditions, whether in their past or present forms, using a combination of approaches, such as philology, history, ethnography and philosophy, is generally conducted with faculty members in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures as well as affiliates in other units on campus, including Religious Studies, Art History, History, Comparative Literature, the Center for Healthy Minds, and UW-Madison's area studies centers.
Core Faculty: Buhnemann, Cerulli, Dunne
Asian Rights, Violence and Law Track
How are rights, law and justice understood and experienced comparatively in and beyond Asia? How are rights violated and promoted by states and citizens? How does violence – regional, state, communal – and its memory reshape societies and nations? What are the manifestations of the rule of law and its opposites? What representations and metaphors for justice are found in art, film, and literature? The M.A. and Ph.D. program in Transasian Studies particularly welcomes students who would like to answer these and other questions comparatively, either across multiple countries, and/or drawing on more than one disciplinary approach, including history, literature, law, political science, art, and anthropology.
Core Faculty: Haberkorn Affiliate Faculty: McCoy