grad studies in Confucianism

Does anybody know of any DL grad program that would enable the study of Confucianism by a foreign devil (c'est moi) who knows no Chinese, and is too old and too stupid to learn Chinese at this point in life?

 

Hello Uncle. I guess the absolute answer to your question (AFAIK) is "no." However, we are not immediately deterred by the mere appearance of a lack of programs. Below is a list of links that may bring you a step or two closer to your goal. It may take some time to sift through the information but I believe you will discover some promising leads inside.
http://www.lib.duke.edu/ias/eac/eastprog.htm
http://www.suce.syr.edu/students/current/courses/distance/isdp/mssc/degree.html
http://cit.nus.edu.sg/dli2003/Presentation/Geoff_Potter.pdf
Beyond that I can only suggest you check out the following Chinese universities:
Tsinghua University
Hunan University
Zhejiang University
They are said to be generally friendly to the concept and practice of DL. Also, look at Sung Kyun Kwan University in Korea. I believe they have a Dept. of Confucian Studies and may be able to provide additional information. Good luck,
Jack

 

I would also fire off a PM or e-mail to that young whippersnapper, Tom Head. He knows more about such programs than most (by far).



Tom Nixon

 

Thanks. The rectification of rites proceeds apace...

 

Sorry Unk, but I've never heard of such a thing.

It's hard for me to think of an American B&M program with any strength in Confucianism. Certainly there's no DL that I know of. I gather that a number of east Asian universities in places like Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan devote attention to Confucian thought. (It has a huge literature, mostly untranslated I guess.) But I've never heard of anything offered by DL in English. (Hong Kong, maybe?)

This is one of those things where you would probably have to be fluent in the languages and then travel to Asia to study.

Given this subject's historical importance and intrinsic interest, it deserves more Western interest than it gets. It's almost crying out for scholarship.

 

Re: Re: grad studies in Confucianism

I had more or less come to the same conclusion. My only other thoughts were that you might be able to find a program in Asian Studies and spin it toward Confucianism or you could enroll in a program of Independent Studies such as at Lesley University and create your own program. The language barrier will create difficulties but I wouldn't be too quick to say it's impossible.
Jack

 

University of Wales - Lampeter offers postgrad research degrees with confucian studies as an available area.

They also seem willing to consider flexibility with their taught degrees.

Also, when I received their literature a while back, they seemed to offer more programs than listed on their web site. (This was my perception anyway)

I'm not sure if this helps, but good luck in any case.

Wales-Lampeter Home Page

Tony

 

Actually Lampeter has a DL MA in Social Anthropology that could perhaps be tailored to the study of Confucianism as basis of several east Asian social constructs. Of course, such a study would be of Confucian cultures rather than an exhaustive immersion in it as a philosophic system. I believe that one of the faculty has an interest in ritual behavior in Japan.