Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian studies combines aspects of sociology, history, cultural anthropology and many other disciplines to study political, cultural and economic phenomena in Asian traditional and contemporary societies. Asian studies form a field of post-graduate study in many universities. It is a branch of area studies, and many Western universities combine Asian and African studies in a single faculty or institute, like SOAS in London. It is often combined with Islamic studies in a similar way. The history of the discipline in the West is covered under Oriental studies. Branches South Asian studies (Indology) Bengal studies Dravidian studies Tamilology Pakistan studies Sindhology Southeast Asian studies Filipinology (Philippine studies) Thai studies Vietnamese studies Myanmar studies Indonesian studies East Asian studies Sinology (Chinese studies) Taiwan studies Japanese studies Ainu studies Okinawan studies Ryukyuan studies Jurchen studies Khitan studies Korean studies Manchurology Mongolian studies Tangutology Tibetology (Tibetan studies) Uyghur studies Middle Eastern studies Jewish studies Iranian studies Central Asian studies Turkology Semitic studies Assyriology Hebraic studies Jewish studies (often overlapping with Middle Eastern studies) Islamic studies (often overlapping with Middle Eastern and Central Asian studies) See also Asian American studies East Asian Studies Black and Asian Studies Association Cultural studies Egyptology European studies International Journal of Asian Studies Journal of Asian Studies Bachelor of Asian Studies External links International Institute for Asian Studies Graduate Programs in Asian ANU College of Asia & the Pacific Contemporary Asian Studies- University of Amsterdam Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies - Lund University Area studies