South & SE Asian Studies

This course is designed for students wishing to clarify and advance their career goals through a 16-week internship in Thailand. It provides a structured learning environment to help students make the most of their internship experience. While there are no regularly scheduled class meetings, internships are conducted under the close academic supervision of the Social Policy & Development department at Thammasat University. An assigned internship coordinator provides oversight and guidance for the duration of the internship. The course requires a minimum of 128 total work hours. To facilitate the completion of the internship and maximize skill acquisition, students are required to work at least one full day per week at their internships. Graded Pass/No pass only.

This course provides the opportunity for students to discuss, present, and lead seminars on advanced topics in Thai Studies introduced by the lecturer.

This course examines Japanese culture and thought from the Buddhist perspectives, making constant references to both common and different features in the ways of thinking between Chinese and Japanese peoples, and also to how Japanese Buddhism and culture including Zen Buddhism, tea ceremony, Japanese cuisine, and other cultural activities became a global phenomenon after the 19th century. T

This course explores the Southeast Asia region in all its diversity historical, cultural, economic, aesthetic, political, religious, gendered, environmental, and more. The course focuses on human experiences in Southeast Asia and how Southeast Asians engage with global processes. Lectures cover topics that move between the region’s murky past to the cyber spaces of a seemingly borderless future. It provides both an insightful introduction to the region and a foundation for future studies.

This course provides an overview of the modern and contemporary history of Southeast Asian nation-states. The first part of the course focuses on the development of Southeast Asian studies from precolonial history to the arrival of European, American and later Japanese colonial powers in the region; the path to independence, and the impact of the Cold War. The second part of the course delves into the origins and dynamics of maritime trade in the South China Sea, including the current conflict between Vietnam and China. 

This course examines issues concerning South Asians in Singapore through a study of the historical and socio-economic development of these communities, and issues pertaining to their identity. Topics include the migration and establishment of South Asian communities in Singapore during the colonial period, from the early 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, and the new movement of ‘professional’ migrants from the sub-continent in the late 20th century; the interplay of state policies in Singapore, local conditions, and linkages with South Asia and their impact on the social, economic and political development of these communities in Singapore; aspects of the everyday life of South Asians in Singapore including language, religion, and popular culture; and how South Asians in Singapore are portrayed and how they perceive and present themselves.

This course focuses on the functions of the biophysical environment of the city state of Singapore. The topics include geology, soils, river systems, water supply, natural reserves, green areas, land reclamation and coastal environments. The environmental problems that arise from the development of a large tropical city within a limited area, and the possible solutions for such problems are examined. The course emphasizes current events in Singapore and discusses what Singapore's environment may look like in the future.

This course examines how the story of the Buddha has come for some to be a story of authenticity, individualism and wisdom-seeking. Yet it has not always been so. It explores how Buddhism in Thailand has followed a gamut of historical changes, from promoting monarchy through monumental architecture to modernization and meditation to, at times, being a handmaiden of military rule. It has often in Thailand been accompanied by narratives of ghosts and dark magic, as well as of tiger-defying monks and romantic tales of bodhisattvas. By stressing how Buddhism has changed in Thailand over time and place, this course looks critically rather than romantically or conservatively at what Buddhism has been in Thailand over the centuries, of how it has tied itself to and reflected the desires, fears and political wills of its followers.