International Master's Program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

History and Goal

International Master’s Program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, University System of Taiwan (IACS-UST) breaks with existing modalities of higher education and ventures into cross-university alliances. As the result of these alliances, IACS enable the integration of research and teaching resources,  admits both local and international students. Each year, the four UST universities enroll students separately, but all students enrolled in the IACS program are entitled to inter-university curriculum.

 

Goal

IACS promotes the use of inter-Asian cultural connections as a novel framework for approaching world history and global cultures. Taiwan’s geographic and historical specificities, unique in terms of the potential for linking the distinct sociocultural experiences of Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Australia while benefitting from academic resources circulated in the Asia-Pacific region, provide the initial points for such exploration. The Master’s program aims not merely to invest in future research talent and support worthy research projects, but also to foster transnational scholarly exchange so as to expand the scope of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies and strengthen Humanities and Social Science research within the region. In addition, the program’s interdisciplinary orientation engages the global academic community by actively and flexibly responding to emerging intellectual challenges. 

 

Programs

Using IICS as the operative platform to facilitate international collaboration as well as cooperation among the four UST universities, IACS is privileged to be able to offer a curriculum that simultaneously benefits from inputs by the global academic community and from prolific local scholars based at all four UST universities.
The core curriculum covers subjects as diverse as Critical Intellectual History in Asia, East Asian Political Thoughts, Chinese History and Culture, Taiwan Literature and Culture, History of Modern Japanese Thoughts, Critical East Asian Cinema, Contemporary Migrant Workers in Asia, Gender Issues in Asia, Comparative Studies of the Democratic Movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Contemporary Critical Theory, and much more. Courses are grouped into four highlighted course clusters, which correspond with the four focal research clusters formed by the UST faculty members. All four clusters are devoted to inspiring original thought that reflects the uniqueness of each Asian culture without negating the relevance of inter-Asian commonalities:
  1. The cluster of “Critical Theory and Asian Modernity” emphasizes inquiries into contemporary mechanisms of knowledge formation, adopting theoretical as well as contextual approaches to inter-regional and inter-cultural issues. Major concerns include nationalism, colonialism, post-colonialism, subjectification, bio-politics, language (use) and identity, historiography, state violence, globalization, and labor migration.
  2. The cluster of “Contemporary Thought-trends and Social Movements” studies contemporary thought-trends in an endeavor to get a handle on the empirical connections of these trends to inter-Asian cultural resources, historical experiences, and social realities. Through supporting concrete practices of social movements, it intends to explicate and advance the multi-layered, dialectical relationships between the “ideal” and the “real.” The cluster designs courses that cover three major themes: “East-Asian Civil Society,” “East-Asian Ecology,” and “Memories, Experiences and Visions of the Second World War.”
  3. The cluster of “Visual Culture Studies” integrates methods of art history and film studies. Concerned with formal aesthetics, historical significance, and social relevance of visual culture within a regional network that connects Taiwan, Northeast Asia, and Asia in general, its focus lies in cultural interactions and the actual impact of globalization.
  4. The cluster of “Gender/Sexuality Studies” pays close attention to the trends and practices of gender/sexuality governance. Acknowledging strong ties between civilization and gender/sexuality governance, the cluster is interested in developing its critical interpretation of civilization/multiple modernity, analyzing the power maneuvers of gender/sexuality governance both on the local and on the global scale. It plans and organizes courses that interrogate gender/sexuality politics as they can be mapped locally, regionally, and globally from a distinct, localized perspective. With its main focus on the issue of knowledge/power, the cluster has investigated questions of agency, grassroots movements, and history as it delves into structural dimensions of gender/sexuality governance, such as those of law and policy.