Joint economics and East Asian Studies concentrators comprise more than one-quarter of the department.

Many of the humanities concentrators say they are troubled by how the joint economic concentrators approach East Asian Studies.

"If people who are interested in the economic aspect of East Asia don't care about the culture, it's best they find another department," Alben says.

Some students say there is a basic philosophical difference between students interested in the humanities and those studying economics.

"Economists approach things from the idea of rational held interest; man maximizes his preferences," Shin says. "Within a economic conception of the world, there's no such thing as patriotism."

"You can't impose that on history," he says. "People in the West didn't always think that way."

But many professors say they welcome joint concentrations, especially with economics.

"Economics mixes well with the social sciences tract," Leo Lee says.

Moreover, professors say they believe EAS offers a strong background for anyone interested in business.

"My feeling is that anyone who wants to go into Japanese business needs a background in the philosophy, literature and history of Japan," says Michael J. Puett, assistant professor of early Chinese history.

The appeal for economic students is equally straight-forward, students say. China and Japan are seen, in the words of one concentrator, as "emerging markets."

Ethnic Studies

EAS is unique, faculty members say, because it involves the comprehensive study of a single area.

"You get the whole picture: philosophy, history, political science," Puett says. "You really put it all together."

But the department may also be notable for what it does not include: ethnic studies.

"Harvard's EAS program is a traditional program," says James Lee. "[It is] more concerned with the study of foreign culture as opposed to a study of foreign cultures in our country."

"I don't think that they should combine the [EAS] department with ethnic studies, because Harvard's EAS Department has so strong a reputation," he says.

Instead, he says, the University should create a new department entirely.

The faculty members in EAS seem to agree.

"If it's in English, then it's American," Owen says. "We are a [department that studies] a culture in its language.