Asia: Pre-History to Present

The University of Washington offers graduate training in the pre-modern histories of East, South and Southeast Asia. The Chinese history program is particularly strong in social history and the history of women of the early imperial modern period, and the social, cultural and political history of the later imperial period. Our South Asia program is particularly focused on religious movements in the Mughal and post-Mughal period. Fields of specialization in Southeast Asian History include the pre-modern histories of Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, with particular focus on the politics of language. We are also able to offer instruction in pre-modern Sino-Vietnamese history.

The University of Washington offers graduate training in the modern histories of East, South and Southeast Asia. Fields of specialization in East Asian History include the cultural social and political history of imperial and modern China, the political and social history of modern Japan, and the history of imperial and modern Korea. The Chinese history program is particularly strong in the history of women of the imperial and modern periods. Fields of specialization in Southeast Asian History include the modern histories of Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, with particular focus on the related issues of social memory, colonialism, nationalism, and the politics of language.

The University's long-standing commitment to teaching in these areas is reflected in a significant infrastructure supporting study. The teaching of Asian histories draws also on the offerings of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, which teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese and Korean and Sanskrit. Instruction is also offered in Filipino, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese. The University has federally funded Interdisciplinary Area Studies Centers in EastSoutheast and South Asian Studies, which provide fellowships and organize seminars and provide outreach to the community in their respective areas. In addition, there are endowed ChinaJapan and Korea Studies centers that also organize programs and provide fellowship and research support. The East Asia Library has significant holdings in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Tibetan; while South and Southeast Asian materials are found in the relevant sections of the Suzzallo Library.

Associated Faculty

Professor Purnima Dhavan

Purnima Dhavan

Associate Professor, Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor in History
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    Early Modern South Asia

    Graduate students preparing a field in the history of South Asia 1200-1800 will be expected to gain a broad familiarity with the history of the Sultanate and Mughal period in addition to the histories of various regional dynasties. The social, cultural, and political history of the period is emphasized and includes state formation and the emergence and transformation of caste and ethnic identity, religious traditions, warrior and peasant cultures, trading networks, and intellectual traditions.

    Students will create a specialized course of study in consultation with the professor. Proficiency in one South Asian language and/or Persian is required for students who wish to pursue a primary specialization in this field. Students who select this as a secondary field need not have knowledge of a South Asian language.

    Required course work for a first field in this area includes completing HSTAS 502 and 590 and two supervised directed readings in coordination with the HSTRY 596-7 paper. One will focus on reading primary sources in the original languages.

    For those selecting Early Modern South Asia as a second field, HSTAS 502 is required. Two additional directed readings will also be required, one connected to the applicant’s regional/linguistic focus and the other in Historiography.

    For those selecting Modern South Asia as a third or fourth field, HSTAS 502 is required. Depending on research and training needs, a directed reading (HSTRY 600) will also be supervised by Prof. Dhavan.

    Proficiency in one South Asian language and/or Persian is required for students who wish to pursue a primary specialization in this field. Students who select this as a secondary field need not have knowledge of a South Asian language.

    Division: Comparative History (Historiography & Comparative Gender)

    Students preparing a field in Historiography will study the impact of modern historical theories and methodologies on our understanding of early modern South Asian history including nationalist, feminist, marxist, and subaltern modes of analysis. The course of study in the field will also explore oral traditions, mythological concepts of time, memory and history in textual sources and art from the early modern period.

    A field in Comparative Gender in South Asia from 1200-1800 will examine the construction of gender in early modern South Asia and its specific interactions with caste, social class, and ethnicity. Readings will focus on the construction of gender in courtly, warrior, ascetic, and mystical traditions in the early modern period as well as the considerable body of theoretical and methodological debates about the history of gender put forward by modern scholars.


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Professor Dong

Madeleine Yue Dong

Professor, Joint Appointment: Jackson School of International Studies
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    Students preparing this field will consider China in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including social, cultural, gender, urban history.

    Division: Comparative History (Comparative Gender & Comparative Ethnicity & Nationalism)

    Students preparing a field in Comparative Gender will consider the transformation and reconstruction of gender boundaries and identities through political, social, and cultural discourses and practices. Students preparing a field in Comparative Ethnicity and Nationalism will study China from an empire to a nation state, and formation/transformation of regional, ethnic, gender, and class identities in the process, as well as Chinese nationalism and revolutions and their relations to imperialism and colonialism.

     


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Professor Christoph Giebel

Christoph Giebel

Associate Professor, Joint Appointment: Jackson School of International Studies, Howard and Frances Keller Endowed Professor in History
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    Professor Giebel offers fields covering the material and human history of Viet Nam from the beginnings to the present. Students focusing on the period before 1800 will emphasize local cultures and early kingdoms through the study of religion, architecture, art, archaeology, economics, ecology, and textual studies (literature, laws, chronicles, and oral traditions). Students working in the modern period will focus on the social, political, cultural and economic changes in Viet Nam from 1800 to the present. Emphasizes the growth of staes, imperialism, nationalism, the transformations of modernity, independence and the challenges of gendered, ethnic, and religious identities in the post-colonial world.


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Portrait

Hajin Jun

Assistant Professor, James B. Palais Professor of Korean History, Joint Appointment: Jackson School of International Studies
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia: Pre-history to Present

    Students may work with Professor Jun in modern Korean history. The field examines the social,
    political, and cultural history of Korea from the late nineteenth century to the present. Students
    will develop a broad understanding of key historiographical questions related to the emergence
    of Korean nationalism, Japanese colonization, colonial state and society, decolonization, and
    the divergent trajectories of North and South Korea. Students will also be encouraged to
    deepen their expertise in a thematic subfield relevant for their teaching and/or research.

    Required course for first and second fields: HSTAS 581 and two supervised directed readings.

    Students who select modern Korean history as third or fourth fields are encouraged to take
    HSTAS 581, though they may opt instead for a supervised directed reading depending on their
    research and training needs.

    Korean-language proficiency is required for students who pursue a primary specialization in
    modern Korean history.


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Mark Metzler

Mark Metzler

Professor, Joint Appointment: Jackson School of International Studies
Professor Matthew Mosca

Matthew W. Mosca

Associate Professor, Joint Appointment: Jackson School of International Studies, Dau-lin Hsu Endowed Professor
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    Graduate students taking a field in Late Imperial Chinese History will develop a general knowledge of the Ming and Qing periods (1368-1912), the development of relevant historiography, particularly in English, and specialized expertise in one or more subfields. The field will cover both China and Inner Asia. A reading list will be determined in consultation with the instructor.  Students for whom Late Imperial China is their primary field will be expected to command at least literary and modern Chinese in order to develop research proficiency. Students taking this as a secondary field are not required to know Chinese.


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Vince Rafael 2022

Vicente L. Rafael

Professor
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    This field is constructed with an emphasis on island Southeast Asia and the Philippines from 1521 to the present.

    Division: United States History

    Asian American socio-cultural histories, with an emphasis on Filipino Americans and Filipino overseas workers

    Division: Comparative History (Historiography, Comparative Ethnicity & Nationalism, and Comparative Colonialisms)

    A field in Comparative Historiography will include Nationalist and postcolonial conceptions of history, deconstruction, critical theory especially as these relate to the politics of translation, religion, and media technologies. A field in Comparative Colonialisms will carry a focus on United States and Spanish imperialism in Asia and the Pacific. The field in Comparative Nationalism and Ethnicity focuses on the historical and technological conditions for the rise of nationhood, as well as the role of mass media, translation and the languages of power in nationalist discourses.


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Professor Anand Yang

Anand Yang

Professor
  • Graduate Studies Description

    Division: Asia--Pre-History to the Present

    Modern South Asia

    Required course work for a first field in Modern South Asia includes completing HSTAS 503 and 504 as well as two supervised directed readings in coordination with the HSTRY 596-7 paper.

    For those selecting Modern South Asia as a second field, HSTAS 503 and 504 are required. Depending on the previous preparation of the applicant, an additional directed reading may also be recommended.

    For those selecting Modern South Asia as a third or fourth field, HSTAS 503 or 504 are recommended. Depending on research and training needs, a directed reading (HSTRY 600) may be substituted for one of these classes.

    Proficiency in one South Asian language is required for students who wish to pursue a primary specialization in this field.


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