South & SE Asian Studies

The course is designed to equip students with experience, knowledge, and skills for succeeding in globally interdependent and culturally diverse workplaces. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to question, reflect upon, and respond thoughtfully to the issues they observe and encounter in the internship setting and local host environment. Students will have the opportunity to cultivate professional and personal development skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Assignments focus on building a portfolio that highlights those competencies and their application to workplace skills. Students complete 45 hours of in-person and asynchronous online learning activities and 225-300 hours at the internship placement.

This course introduces South Asian Islamic society, culture and religious thought, especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, the three South Asian countries with a Muslim majority and where Islam forms an important cultural element. The focus of this course is the period from c. 1750-1950, during which important developments took place in South Asian Islam. The course outlines the role of Islam in pre-colonial society as well as the movements for religious and political reform of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Questions of language and literature are also addressed.

This course looks at the relationship between the built environment and spiritual space with special focus on Southeast Asia. It looks at a range of spiritual practices and the forms they take including temples, mosques, shrines, and symbols. It addresses how religion shapes and connects cities in different ways as well as how globalization transforms and is transformed by spiritual space. The course examines debates surrounding these questions through cases within and beyond Southeast Asia. Topics range from ghost films to heritage sites. It provides a strong understanding of the religious and spiritual practices, global processes and political events shaping Southeast Asia. It also develops visual analysis skills necessary to read and write about spiritual space in a variety of forms. Course discussions and assignments unpack the aesthetic traditions, politics, and morals surrounding specific cases in order to complicate what it means to be global, regional or local. The content goes beyond Southeast Asia and cuts across disciplines, drawing from Art and Architectural History, Anthropology, Urban Planning, and Geography.

This course examines Thailand through the perspective of its military experience from past to present. It introduces students to various aspects of Thailand within the realm of conflict from its military history to its strategic culture. As such, the course adopts a multidisciplinary approach, encouraging students to look at Thailand from a range of disciplines whether it is history, politics, or international relations. Though it may be helpful, no prior knowledge or experience will be assumed. Students are expected to develop the ability to manage and analyze potentially complex and challenging issues through the use of evidence and theories, and be able to communicate them in both oral and literary manner.