Are You Getting an Asian Studies Certificate?

By Anthony Gavazzi, Asian Studies Center Global Ambassador

You might be, whether you realize it or not.

What do the courses “Anthropology of Food” and “Introduction to Contemporary Art” have in common? To be frank, almost nothing, but both count towards the fulfillment for an Asian Studies Certificate at Pitt. These two courses aren’t the only surprising finds on the Asian Studies Certificate course list – classes across a wide variety of disciplines, from economics to music, are also accepted. In fact, classes with content related to East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East are all Asian Studies Certificate courses.

Assistant Director of Academic Affairs, Emily Rook-Koepsel, is always open to student suggestions for potential Asian Studies Certificate courses.

“If you take a class and a considerable portion of the content is related to Asia, let me know and we can add that to our list,” she recommends. Plus, students are able to use credits they have already earned for their majors and minors towards their Asian Studies Certificates.

When one thinks of Asian languages, the first that come to mind are typically Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. However, the Asian Studies Center takes a much broader approach to its classification of Asian languages, accepting languages like Hindi, Farsi, and Turkish for the certificate’s language requirement, too. Most of these languages are offered by the Commonly-Less-Taught-Languages Center. The Asian Studies Certificate requires only two years of language study, so students minoring in an Asian language commonly already fulfill the language requirement upon completion of their minor.

If you’re interested in finding out whether or not you’ve been taking Asian Studies courses, or if you’re interested in learning more about the certificate, check out the links below.

• Asian Studies Certificate Course Spreadsheets
• Certificate Requirements
• Advising Appointment Sign-Up

Event Recap: Lantern Festival

By Jenn Nguyen, Asian Studies Center Communications & Media Intern

On Thursday, February 6th, the Asian Studies Center and Pitt Global Hub hosted a Lantern Festival to celebrate the conclusion of Lunar New Year celebrations. The Global Hub was decorated with bright red lanterns and a video compilation of Lunar New Year festivities from around the world was displayed on the jumbo screen. Various riddles for visitors to solve dangled from the red lanterns, too.
At the festival, I made mini red lanterns and served tangyuan, a popular Chinese dessert that consists of rice balls in a sticky syrup. A lot of students and faculty passing by tried tangyuan and asked about the significance of the Lantern Festival. So far, I’ve liked a lot of the collaborations between the Asian Studies Center and the Pitt Global Hub and think it’s great that the Pitt community has a new space to gather and celebrate with one another.

Samurai and Western Film with Dr. Charles Exley

By Chris Kraemer, Screenshot: Asia intern

This semester, Dr. Charles Exley is teaching a class at the University of Pittsburgh that examines the close ties between Samurai film (Chanbara) and Westerns. The meeting of two pioneering genres often creates new and exciting films, something that Dr. Exley is covering in class. With close attention being paid to the works of Akira Kurosawa, the class covers a wide variety of films throughout the years. From Yojimbo (1961) to Star Wars: Episode 1–The Phantom Menace (1999), the class explores how the mixing of the genres has changed and how Western ideals are expressed in Japanese cinema and vice versa. Tropes of both genres are analyzed in the class and discussions are had about their overall impact on the “canon” in their given social contexts.

The class is a great way for anyone interested in film, or just interested in the genres, to watch and analyze some serious classics. It also provides some excellent insights into how general culture interprets and interacts with media. Samurai films offer a brilliant look into the film culture of Japan from the 50s up to the present day, granting us some ways of recontextualizing and understanding certain events in Japanese history (and giving us new ways to understand the films that come out of those periods). Westerns are much the same, really laying the American mindset bare for all to see and directly engaging cultural trends and movements. Dr. Exley touches on all of these in the class. I hope the rest of the semester will continue to be as riveting and enthralling as these first four weeks.

Event Recap: Asian Studies Center x Global Hub’s Lunar New Year Celebration

By Weiping Xiao, Asian Studies Center Chinese Social Media Intern

On Friday, January 24th, the Asian Studies Center and Global Hub hosted a Lunar New Year Celebration. As a Chinese international student, I couldn’t help but think of home when I was helping setup the event. Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in mainland China.

It was a rainy day, but everyone was enthusiastic. We started preparing for the event at 11 AM. I picked up pork and vegetable dumplings from the Chinese restaurant, Szechuan Express. Meanwhile, other staff members laid out candy and snacks, decorated the Global Hub, and cut out paper templates for crafts. The large screens started showing the Lunar New Year video specially prepared for the event.

After the preparations were complete, the Global Hub became a magnet for those walking in Posvar Hall and grabbed the attention of a lot of people. The large screens showed the Lunar New Year video specially prepared for the event. A lot of people were interested in learning about the Chinese zodiac, too.

I think the Lunar New Year Celebration was a success. Attendees seemed to have a lot of fun and really enjoyed the crafts and food. Thanks to the Asian Studies Center and Global Hub, the Pitt community was able to celebrate a very important holiday in the newly renovated space.