About AMES

Asian and Middle East Studies (AMES) is a genuinely interdisciplinary program that offers courses from many departments: Anthropology, Arabic, Art History, Chinese, Economics, English, Government (and International Relations program), History, Japanese, Music, Religion, Sociology, and Theatre, Speech and Dance. AMES has also been instrumental in establishing the new Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies program (APIA). While AMES acts as a fully integrated program, we offer three major tracks—East Asian Studies (EAS), Middle Eastern Studies (MES), and Comparative AMES; we also offer three minor tracks in East Asian Studies, Middle East Studies, and South Asian Studies.

The major (concentration) and minor require a series of courses across a range of cultural, historical, political, social, religious, and artistic topics. AMES students are also encouraged to study abroad. Previous and current majors have studied in the Middle East—largely, in Morocco and Jordan—as well as East Asia— Keio University and Akita International University in Japan and Tsinghua University in China.

Student and faculty life within AMES is robust. The program actively organizes and sponsors high-profile speakers, student and professional performances, learning-based and student-centered activities, film series, workshops, student conferences, and field trips. AMES also hosts two music ensembles, the Middle East Music Ensemble and the South Asian Music Ensemble. These music ensembles bring together performers from the student body, the faculty, and the Williamsburg community, offer frequent performances, often with prominent guest musicians, and travel nationally and internationally to perform.