South & SE Asian Studies

This course examines various historical networks that flow across the Malay world from the 11th to the 21st centuries. It introduces students to the evolution, characteristics, and impact of commercial, diasporic, political, religious, educational, and media networks on the lives of Malays and other communities in the region. The three themes that recur throughout the course are: how networks are formed and sustained; how they interact with one another; how insights from different disciplines can aid in a more holistic study of these networks.

This course provides an overview of the historical development of India and South Asia. It addresses questions of Indian and South Asian historiography, covers the main continuities and changes in Indian and South Asian history, and identifies important personae and events. The course develops the general ability to understand key processes and events and their local/national and global relevance for the region today.

This course examines the politics of Southeast Asia. Topics covered include: colonialism, nationalism, democracy, authoritarianism, war, economic development, social development, overseas Chinese, ethnicity, religion, populism, and international relations, as they apply to Southeast Asian politics.

This course introduces students to the intricacies of the end-of-life journey, fostering empathy, cultural sensitivity, and practical knowledge to navigate this inevitable part of the human experience with wisdom and compassion. Students explore the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects surrounding death and dying and gain a deeper understanding of the diverse beliefs, rituals and attitudes that have emerged across different civilizations and time periods in Southeast Asia. This comprehensive exploration encourages critical thinking and fosters an appreciation of the significance of death in shaping human societies and its profound impact on shaping the human psyche and world cultures.

The course addresses the modern and contemporary history of Palestine and the Arab world with a focus on thought, literature and the arts. The purpose is that they not only understand the political and historical dynamics from an internal perspective, but that the students get closer to the feelings of the protagonists of the history studied from what they themselves are thinking and expressing from their sensations and imagination (art).

This course examines contemporary Korean popular culture, and more specifically the 21st century South Korean cultural phenomenon called Hallyu (Korean wave) – its promises and limitations as well as its popularity and backlash against it. By taking an interdisciplinary approach to the topic, we will study food, film, television, music, fashion and sports and ask how they participate in the transnational production, distribution and circulation of culture, identity, modernity, tradition, ideology and politics both regionally and globally. One of the major questions this course will explore is the curious ways in which these popular media continuously re-stage and re-define Korea’s historical past in order to comment on its present. 

This course examines Japanese cultural history and social background of modern Japan.

This is an independent research course with research arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific research topics vary each term and are described on a special project form for each student. A substantial paper is required. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides information, in the fields of Indology, history, religious studies, and anthropology, indispensable for critically analyzing South Asian intellectual history in colonial and post-colonial times. The course provides in-depth analysis to the following themes: Discourse on religion and religious conflicts in colonial and postcolonial India; the debate on historiography in post-colonial India; the criticism of "secularism" in postcolonial India; representations of social marginality in contemporary South Asia. The course also provides high-level knowledge of intellectual transformations and history of thought in modern and contemporary South Asia, specifically during the colonial and post-colonial period. The course covers in depth the issue of religious and social reforms and the main theoretical positions emerged in the current debate on the historiographical and anthropological representation of the development of South Asian society. 

This course examines how changes in early 20th century American domestic politics shaped the way American colonialism was imposed and practiced in the Philippines. The objective is to explore this topic from a comparative perspective (comparing the American and British empires) and looking at colonial state formation from the lens of the Gilded and Progressive Eras. The course also focuses on two powerful institutions – the police and the law. Finally, the course looks out the relationship between the Americans and Filipino elites and the larger society in terms of the former’s quest to gain the support of Filipinos.