Columbia Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum (Master Works of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective)

The 1980s witnessed the introduction of Asia into the core curriculum at undergraduate institutions throughout the United States, and Asian materials are now at the threshold of general knowledge in literature, history, and the social sciences: The Columbia Project On Asia In The Core Curriculum was inaugurated in 1984 under the sponsorship of Columbia University to support this integration of Asian materials into the general "education curriculum. The project, chaired by Wm. Theodore de Bary, Ainslie T. Embree, and ‘Carol Gluck, has received ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Panasonic Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

The three Guides that we are pleased to announce here are designed for faculty members who are integrating Asian material into general education courses primarily focused on the Western tradition or canon. Each Guide. contains approximately forty-essays, written by leading specialists, and "each essay conforms to a common format that makes the Guides useful to those who are integrating these materials into introductory courses in the various academic disciplines, The Guides will be an invaluable resource for ~course preparation. And each will be an indispensable reference for faculty and students alike.

The Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum began in 1984 to support the introduction of material on Asia into the core curricula of undergraduate institutions throughout the country. Three "Guides for Teaching" are the result of dialogue between Asian specialists and colleagues specializing in the Western tradition who most often teach the introductory, general education courses -n the various academic disciplines. There was no attempt to stress Asia at the expense of the West. The purpose was to identify texts, themes, and comparative concepts that would provide avenues of entry for Asian material into core courses in literature, history, and the social sciences.

The guides are entitled: Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective, Asia in Western and World History, and Asia: Case Studies in the Social Sciences. Each volume contains approximately forty essays by leading specialists that suggest a range of possibilities for introducing material on Asia. The essays are arranged to provide the widest choice of approaches to meet the reader's pedagogical needs. While the guides are discrete publications, they form a series that facilitates interdisciplinary teaching: An instructor who chooses, for example, to draw upon Rajagopal Parthasaraty’s essay on "Samskara: The Passing of the Brahman Tradition," in this volume on literary master- works, will also find much of interest in Ainslie Embree’s review of South Asian history (in Asia in Western and World History), in Lawrence Babb’s overview of religion in India and in Owen Lynch's discussion of the caste system (both of which are in Asia: Case Studies in the Social Sciences).

The Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum has involved over one hundred scholars from seventy-five public and private under- graduate institutions throughout the United States. It has been chaired at Columbia University by a panel composed of Wm. Theodore de Bary, Ainslie T. Embree, and Carol Gluck.

The National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Panasonic Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education have sponsored the project. We are deeply indebted to these sponsors for their continuing support.

We welcome any and all contributions to this ongoing curricular dialogue.

**Contents and Sample Pages**