About Us
Over the last decade East Asian countries have become highly political, economic and cultural powers. This impact is no longer restricted to the established economic and cultural hubs such as Japan and Hong Kong, but also that of the Asian Tigers such as South Korea and Taiwan together with the ever developing might of the PRC. The focus on the East Asian student market has become a central element in most universities recruitment strategies and the field of East Asians studies is vital to fully understand and engage with this region in an academic as well as non-academic light. Studying Asia and gaining experience in the Asian world are important to understanding the global flows of peoples, cultures, technology, and business in today's world. Today, as the East Asian community expands and diversifies inside Bangor, and as Asian cultural and technological influences have become part of Bangor life, learning about Asia is not so exclusively about the ‘Other’, but often about ‘Self’. To study East Asia, then, is to trace the diverse strands of Asian cultures that have originated in different regional, national, and local traditions, but which have now become increasingly intertwined with the current experience of global life.
The centre has a series of clear aims and objectives:
- Promote internationalisation across the university with a particular focus on East Asia.
- Support and provide language and cultural learning in an academic context.
- Encourage Bangor students to learn about and develop an interest in East Asia and to take part in the summer schools, year abroad opportunities and exchange programmes that Bangor offers in this area.
- Engage the wider university with the Confucius Institute as part of an academic programme.
- Support home students going aboard to Asia as well as being pivotal in the engagement with the East Asian academic market.
- Become a site of collaborative research across disciplines.
- Support and promote staff research publications and impact activities as related to East Asia.
- Collaborative Grant Applications.
- Support and development of PhD students.
We welcome all interested members who work with, or have an interested in, any aspect of East Asia. Please email us for more information.
Why East Asia (for staff):
For all subject areas the benefits to research are clear. A hub where staff can engage, promote and formulate research work and grant applications will be beneficial to many schools and disciplines. The highly interdisciplinary nature of the subject means this will cross boundaries and will encourage staff to look further afield for their research collaboration and engagement. Bangor is the home for the new East Asian Journal of Popular Culture and the Welsh-Chinese Literature network and this raises Bangor research profile on an international stage and this, together with recent grants successes, conferences and publications, begins to place Bangor as a site of cutting edge East Asian scholarship. We are keen to help you develop and enhance contacts and work in East Asia and please contact us if you have projects you wish to develop.
Why East Asia (for Students):
Bangor offers a series of opportunities to travel to a variety of East Asian countries and all student are able to study Japanese and/or Chinese as part of their degrees or as an enjoyable extra. For students in College of Arts and Humanities there is also the change to study modules such as Japanese Cinema, East Asian Popular Culture, Translation studies, Japanese and Chinese. Future classes on East Asian Literature are also planned in the future.
An interest and knowledge about East Asia is highly beneficial for future employment. Knowledge of East Asia combined with a focus on economics, finance or law can be a great asset for pursuing an international profession in today's globalized economy. For those interested in the diplomatic service and other Government agencies, as well as those interested in NGO employment, knowledge of East Asian languages, cultures and histories is a valuable skill.
Why East Asia (for everyone else):
All the events will be open to the public and CEAS is committed to facilitating wider community engagement. All materials that we provide will be presented in Welsh and English. As the number of East Asian students grows in Bangor, it is important to allow the local community to engage and develop new knowledge and to this end, CEAS will be active in promoting East Asian engagement in the community. Partner in CEAS with relation to the PRC is the Confucius Institute that is devoted to public engagement of local people with all aspects of Mainland Chinese culture and language.