East Asian Studies Resources

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures and how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The four volumes in our cultural sociology reference encyclopedia take a step forward in this endeavor by presenting concise information on those regions likely to be most "foreign" to U.S. students: the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The intent is to convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. It is hoped entries within these volumes will aid readers in efforts to understand the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions.

This essential student textbook consists of seventeen sections, all written by leading scholars in their different fields. They cover all the religious traditions of Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, and East Asia. The major traditions that are described and discussed are (from the Southwest) Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam, and (from the East) Taoism, Confucianism and Shinto. In addition, the tradition of Bon in Tibet, the shamanistic religions of Inner Asia, and general Chinese, Korean and Japanese religion are also given full coverage. The emphasis throughout is on clear description and analysis, rather than evaluation. Ten maps are provided to add to the usefulness of this book, which has its origin in the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade of the University of Chicago.

Since the concept of the Silk Road as an avenue of inter-civilizational exchange emerged more than 130 years ago, scholars from both Eastern and Western societies have conducted persistent research to advance the field. Still, however, not nearly enough research has been conducted, and scholars present conflicting theories. This book, written and compiled by Jeong Su-il, a prominent Silk Road expert of South Korea, aims to rectify the common misconception of the Silk Road being a simple trade route and shed light on the aspect of an interconnected global circuit of inter-civilizational exchange. The more than 2,000 entries in this encyclopedia explore all the exchanges that occurred between civilizations as a direct result of the Silk Road, showing artifacts and written records to track the paths of such exchange along the Silk Road and its neighboring regions.