South & SE Asian Studies

The course examines ASEAN economic and political development both historically and today, as well as emerging trends in political and economic development. It explores ASEAN economic and political development since its creation; relationships between political, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of ASEAN, and examines causes and effects of ASEAN political and economic trends. ASSESSMENT: attendance (20%), midterm (25%), final exam (30%), final paper and presentation (25%).

This course traces the history of Southeast Asia from the 9th century to the present through the lens of community formation, cultural interaction, and socio-economic integration. The course examines how social groups, polities, and assemblages developed in different parts of Southeast Asia over time, including the nation-states of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Myanmar. While clear patterns of interaction, exchange, and community formation characterize the region's history from earliest times to the present, significant variations in how Southeast Asians viewed themselves and their environments also occurred across time and space.

This course explores Thai society and culture through anthropological, sociological, historical, and cultural studies approaches. Emphasizing analytical and critical methods, the course reviews case studies from research completed by a variety of Thai and international academics. It covers the role of social institutions as bases of order in the society, as well as the factors that led to social change and transformation of Thai society and culture. Topics include Thai royalty and nobility, the King and Kingdom of Thailand, Thai political history and economy, Thai social structure, Thai identity and notions of “Thainess”, Thai popular culture, tourism in Thailand, and the Thai social values, attitudes, and patterns of living. Assessment: attendance (10%), midterm exam (30%), final exam (30%), final paper and presentation (30%).

This course introduces the ethnic groups and ethnic relations of Thailand. It focuses on the settlement history, cultural contents, forms of social relations, and acculturation among ethnic groups, such as the hill tribes in Thailand. It also covers the culture of Thai ethnic groups in the context of geographical, ecological, historical, and political settings; and problems of cultural changes and ethnic identity crisis.

This introductory course to conservation and the environment focuses on human/animal relations and wild environments to look at how peoples' ideas about big beasts and forests inform socio-cultural worldviews especially in relation to identity, social justice and the redistribution of natural resources in South Asia. The topic is looked at through ethnographies, films, novels and paintings pertaining to the lives of those living in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka who depend on or live close to animals – especially big ones – and wild environments in different geophysical locales such as mountains, deserts, rivers, plains, forests, and the sea.

This course explores the role of personal, societal, and historical contexts in the use and development of languages in the Indonesian archipelago, focussing on specific Indonesian societies (e.g. Batak, Javanese, Maluku) and the Indonesian nation as a whole. Students examine issues of language in society including language planning, literacy, politeness, multi-lingualism, interpersonal interaction, traditional and modern communication systems, differences in style according to genre (e.g. written and spoken language), function (e.g. conversational, ritual, or political language), and social identity (e.g. class, ethnic, gender, or sexual identification). Students learn about the close relationship that social context, interpersonal interaction, and culture have with language form and usage.