Program Overview
The Asian and Asian American Studies Program at CSULA was established in 2005 after many years of efforts by faculty and students. It is an interdisciplinary program with an emphasis on the connections between Asian and Asian American Studies. The program is built on a solid foundation of languages, literature, cultures and histories of Asia while emphasizing both the global and the local dimensions of social, cultural, economic and political connections between Asia and Asian America.
The primary objectives of the program are: 1) to explore and study historical and contemporary transnational links between Asia and Asian America, between diasporas and their homelands, and the flexible and dynamic mutual social, cultural, economic and political influences they have on each other; 2) to provide background on cultural continuity and reconstructions as immigrant and diasporic groups are formed and as they settle in new homelands; and 3) to explore interactions and mutual influences as different cultural groups interact with multiethnic, multicultural and multi-religious communities such as the United States.
The AAAS program is committed to educating our students to be successful in the rapidly globalizing world. To this end we aim to provide the best preparation for career opportunities in education, government, private enterprise, and multinational corporations.