Southeast Asian Studies Minor

From environmental ecologies and languages to systems of belief and political histories, Southeast Asia is one of the most diverse regions in the world. This minor provides an interdisciplinary overview of the cultures and peoples residing in the 11 countries that constitute this region, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam, as well as their diasporas.

Requirements

In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:

• take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
• earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.

For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Core requirements
Four courses chosen from among the following:		12
GEOG 64	First-Year Seminar: Vietnam
HIST/ASIA 131	Southeast Asia before 1800 through Digital History
HIST/ASIA 132	Modern Southeast Asia
MUSC/ASIA 240	Performance in Southeast Asia: Gongs, Punks, and Shadow Plays
LING/ASIA 260	Languages of Southeast Asia
GEOG 266	Society and Environment in Southeast Asia
RELI/ASIA 285	Monks, Magic, & Meditation: Theravada Buddhism Across Space and Time
AMST/ASIA 353	Southeast Asian North Carolina
ANTH/ASIA 375	Memory, Massacres, and Monuments in Southeast Asia
RELI/ASIA 384	Religion and Globalization in Southeast Asia
HIST/ASIA/PWAD 570	The Vietnam War
VIET 204	Intermediate Vietnamese II (taught in Vietnamese)
Total hours		12

Placement credit (PL) may not be used to meet minor requirements.

One transfer or Study Abroad course that is sufficiently focused on Southeast Asia may be approved for use in the minor.

Special Opportunities 

Many opportunities are provided to students through the Bringing Southeast Asia Home initiative at the Carolina Asia Center, including research funding, both independently and through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. Students are encouraged to pursue funding for Southeast Asian language study outside of UNC through the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) awards. Students may also consider engaging with the National University of Singapore, one of UNC’s strategic partners, either through the joint degree program, other Study Abroad opportunities, or the Phillips Ambassador Program. Students hoping to engage with the Southeast Asian diaspora may apply for funding through the Southern Futures program. Lastly, numerous Southeast Asia focused events are held annually by the Carolina Asia Center.

Department Programs

Majors

• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–Interdisciplinary Concentration
• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–Arab Cultures Concentration
• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–Chinese Concentration
• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–Japanese Concentration
• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–Korean Studies Concentration
• Asian Studies Major, B.A.–South Asian Studies Concentration

Minors

• Arabic Minor
• Asian Studies Minor
• Chinese Minor
• Modern Hebrew Minor
• Hindi-​Urdu Minor
• Japanese Minor
• Korean Minor
• Middle Eastern Languages Minor
• Persian Minor
• Southeast Asian Studies Minor

Graduate Programs

• M.A. in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies