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Asian Religions BA

Buddha statues

Asian Religions BA

About the Major

Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA offers undergraduate students the rare opportunity to study religion—arguably among the most important categories of human experience—through a focus on the diverse, rich, and vibrant traditions that have spanned Asia. Students take a variety of courses that cross regional divisions and modern borders, just as they also develop deep language and cultural expertise in one of our concentration areas, which are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, or Southeast Asian Religions. Our majors will have the opportunity to read ancient texts in translation and in primary languages, view and touch religious manuscripts held in our library, make site visits to religious spaces in Los Angeles, and may have the chance to participate in study abroad programs.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Expertise in analyzing cultural and historical trends through religious ideas, objects, persons, and institutions.
  2. The ability to think about Asia as a cross-cultural whole not bound by modern borders and the defense of them.
  3. The development of intermediate-level expertise in a classical Asian language that will facilitate the reading of ancient texts.
  4. Deep appreciation of the wisdom traditions, ritual practices, and artistic productions of classical cultures across Asia.
  5. Learn how to work with primary and secondary source materials in the development of research projects.
Buddha hands
Candles melting on a metal bar
colorful cover above a tree
Buddha statue

Curriculum & Requirements

The Asian Religions major sees students develop three major skills: 1) language acquisition in the selected concentration area; 2) deep learning and analysis of religious traditions in the concentration area; 3) breadth learning through a selection of comparative courses or courses from concentration areas outside one’s own.

  • All majors will graduate with at least 2nd-year level proficiency in a modern Asian language.
  • All majors will also graduate with at least one year of study in upper division language courses, including classical languages.
  • Majors will develop analytical and literary foundations through the completion of one major religion-based General Education (GE) course and multiple upper division religion course.
  • Majors will take a series of upper-division religion courses to develop both depth and breadth in the study of Asian religion.
  • Majors are required to take at least two upper-division electives in Asian, China, Japan, South Asia, or Southeast Asia.

Links

To plan for the Asian Religions Major, please consult the UCLA Registrar Catalog and the ALC Department Asian Religions Major Worksheet:

Download the Asian Religions Major Worksheet

Faculty in Asian Religions