现在，亚洲不仅是经济强国，而且是全球强国之一，而且尤其是由于其丰富的文化生产，众多政治问题以及对未来的挑战将或多或少地直接影响我们所有人。亚洲研究专业的学生从UCSB毕业，具有最重要的亚洲语言（中文，日语，藏语和北印度语）的能力，但也很重要的是，它具有与亚洲有关的各个领域的跨学科知识：文学，电影，艺术，历史，人类学，宗教研究，政治和经济学。学生还将获得一个比较的背景，以便他们了解亚洲与美国和世界其他地区的关系。
As an Asian Studies major, youll become competent in some of the most important Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, or Hindi). Importantly, youll also develop an interdisciplinary knowledge of various fields relating to Asia: literature, film, art, history, anthropology, religious studies, politics, and economics. Finally, youll acquire a comparative context for your understanding of Asia in its relations with the US and other parts of the world.<br><br>The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies offers the essential tools to delve deeply into these complex cultures of China, Japan, and Korea. We teach the languages and scripts of East Asia. We offer our students ways to think about the experience of modernity, colonialism, nationalism, and state formation, and how they relate to traditional cultures. We train our students in techniques to discover old and new literatures and arts as well as introducing them to films, media, and popular culture. We discuss the religious traditions (including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism) and intellectual discourses (including political thought and the sciences) that have shaped visions of the world and everyday life in East Asia for centuries, some have been rejected during modernization, but some are still alive and part of East Asian cultures.