This course is designed as an introduction to scholarly approaches in Asian Studies for students who are beginning graduate studies and to advanced undergraduates. This course will introduce crucial moments in the development of the field of Asian studies. It focuses on some of the central problems, the major debates, and intellectual discussions that have shaped and continue to shape the scholarly, critical study of Asia. The course will prepare students to assess Asia as a region, as a history, as a discourse, and as a site of lived experiences, and to engage in the issues associated with its study. The seminar will consider the fundamental questions in the study of Asia: What is Asia? How do we approach its study? What are the issues determining our study of it? We will discuss the historical forces that have affected popular and scholarly thinking about "Asia." The skills emphasized in the course are common to good scholarship in many fields: the ability to evaluate research, methodology, and approach using critical discursive and rhetorical skills, and the ability to craft a written essay with a clear and persuasive argument. Students are encouraged to think about the commonalities and differences among different disciplinary approaches to Asia as well as the specific history and interdisciplinary character of Asian Studies.