Please Join Us for the East Asian Languages & Literatures Department Commencement Ceremony!

PLEASE RSVP HERE for the East Asian Languages & Linguistics Department Commencement Ceremony for undergraduate and graduate students hosted by The School of Global Studies and Languages. The ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 16^th at 10:00 am on the East Campus Green. No tickets are required. The commencement ceremony will be followed by a reception.

We offer instruction in all levels of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language, as well as courses on the literatures, cultures, and linguistics of East Asia. Faculty and graduate students engage in research on a broad array of texts and forms of cultural production (written, visual, or aural), regions and historical time period, from ancient China to the contemporary East Asian world.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures condemns the recent murders in Atlanta and the rising frequency of bias and violence against people of Asian descent. For more information:

https://president.uoregon.edu/standing-against-hate-and-acts-violence

https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/

https://stopaapihate.org/

Statement Against Systemic Racism: 

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Asian Studies Program wish to affirm our support for the struggle against systemic racism in all its forms, and in all places.

The unrest unleashed by recent instances of unjust persecution, harassment, and killing of Black Americans and Asian Americans have revealed the deep-seated historic patterns of discrimination, violence, and systemic disenfranchisement against racial and ethnic minorities in the US. Because we teach the cultures and histories of Asian communities, we are reminded that each of them has been affected by American legacies of exclusion, internment, and war. In the wake of fears about COVID-19, people of Asian descent in the US and the world over have been targeted for harassment, and sometimes violent attacks. Likewise, the same fears have led to the unjust treatment of communities of African descent in East Asia. These terrible events serve to remind us of the interconnected nature of many different forms of discrimination. The tragedy in Atlanta in particular recall the powerful and enduring stereotype of the hypersexualized, “exotic,” and even “dangerous” Asian woman, who becomes a figure of both fascination (“temptation”) and hatred for White men. The endurance of these dangerous stereotypes continues to plague our nation with violence.

We hope that these tragedies can also point the way to more redemptive forms of universal tolerance, healing, and understanding. As teachers and students of different languages and cultures, our utmost imperative is to always listen to others, and to pay special attention to voices crying out in pain. Empathy and acknowledgement are a crucial part of our department’s academic mission. We express our solidarity and support for all communities that suffer in inequity. For details about our diversity plan and statement against systemic racism, please see here.