THE PROGRAM:
The Program
All students in the program are expected to meet the requirements of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, including a bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution, a superior undergraduate record, and the reading knowledge of at least one appropriate foreign language, such as for example Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, or Turkish. An AM degree in hand is advantageous. (See GSAS Admissions for more information.)
The requirements for the degree are:
Academic Residence
The residencey requirement is typically a minimum of two years. In most cases, however, fulfillment of all requirements for the degree will involve at least one additional year of course work. The committee members will arrange particular programs for each student.
Financial Residence
See GSAS Guide to Admission and Financial Aid (which accompanies paper applications) or The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook.
Introductory Courses
All first-year students in this program should take an introductory course in at least one of the following fields given by members of the committee.
Language Examinations
Upon enrolling in graduate school the candidate should offer proof of competence in at least one foreign “tool” language (this will be done by way of examination in the first term of study), and sometime during the first two years of residence, he or she should also demonstrate competence by way of examination in a second “tool” language, selected from among those especially pertinent to the student’s topic of specialization. “Tool” languages, such as French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, etc., are to be distinguished from “source” languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, Persian, Tibetan, Turkic, and Sanskrit; in particular cases, where one of the latter is not a “source” language it may be considered a “tool” language. Students are expected to be competent in the language(s) of their primary focus, and will be required to take written examinations in their “source” language or languages, both with and without the aid of a dictionary.
General Exam
Normally at the end of the second year of residence or in the third year of residence, the candidate will write a general examination in three fields approved in advance by the committee. One of these fields should cover the history or culture of a major society outside of Inner Asia (e.g., Western Europe, Russia, Islamic Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, or the Americas). The other two will be focused on:
- Pre-Islamic History of Inner Asia
- Medieval and Early Modern History of Inner Asia
- Modern History of Inner Asia
- Philology and Religion of Pre-Islamic Inner Asia
- Philology and Religion of Medieval and Early Modern Inner Asia
- Altaic or Tungusic Linguistics
- Archaeology and Art of Inner Asia
- Ethnology and Anthropology of Inner Asia
There will be a 3-hour written examination in each of the three specified fields, plus one 3-hour oral examination in Inner Asian studies, broadly defined. In some cases, students may with the approval of the committee choose to take an additional fourth general examination field.
Prospectus
Within one academic year of completing the general examination, students will be required to present a written prospectus of their dissertation, of at least 5-10 pages in length, for approval by the committee.
Dissertation
The doctoral dissertation must demonstrate the candidate’s ability to use primary source material and to produce a piece of original research. After the acceptance of the dissertation, the candidate must defend his or her thesis in a special oral examination. The final manuscript must conform to the requirements described in The Form of the Ph.D. Dissertation .
Further information regarding courses and programs of study, as well as fellowships, may be obtained by contacting (in the fall preceding that in which the candidate wishes to register) the Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, CGIS S105, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, iaas@fas.harvard.edu, and/or the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Admissions Office, Byerly Hall, 2nd floor, 8 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. We encourage online submission of the application. See www.gsas.harvard.edu for further information.
THE PEOPLE:
EVENTS:
The Joseph Fletcher Memorial Lecture
The Richard N. Frye Fund Lecture