Department Mission Statement

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures strives to cultivate proficiency in Japanese and Chinese languages and understandings of East Asian cultures from an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspective. Our rigorous curriculum of language, literature, film, and culture develops students’ communication skills and analytical abilities, expands their intellectual curiosity, knowledge, and appreciation of cultures and societies in East Asia, and fosters their critical and empathetic capacities to engage with diverse cultures, experiences, and views. The department firmly believes that translingual and transcultural competencies are crucial to global citizenship and creating a more inclusive, sustainable, and compassionate society. 

Solidarity Statement with AAPI and Asian Communities

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures feels compelled to issue a statement to express our solidarity with Asian-American and Asian communities. A month has passed since the horrific, senseless murder of eight people – including six women of Asian descent – in Atlanta on March 16. We continue to mourn the precious lives of those victims and stand with their families and their community in Atlanta as well as members of AAPI and Asian communities around the country.
We have witnessed intensifying Anti-Asian racism, violence and hate speech in the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Discrimination and violent attacks against members of the Asian-American and Asian communities, specifically Asian women, are deeply rooted in the long history of racism and sexism. The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures denounces, in the strongest terms, any forms of racism, discrimination, and hate, and we affirm our unshakeable commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our department will tackle these issues through teaching and campus events and collaborate with other programs to strive to make our society free from prejudice and hate. Our department is a culturally, linguistically, socially and racially diverse community in which students learn East Asian languages and various aspects of East Asian cultures and societies. In order to maintain such an inclusive community, we continue to commit ourselves to providing a safe space for all our students.

April 16, 2021

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Wake Forest University