South & SE Asian Studies

Using selected Singapore texts from a variety of different genres, this course explores the historical roots and contemporary relevance of literary production in Singapore. Beginning with colonial writing, the course moves through considerations of national and postcolonial literatures to contemporary concerns. Given Singapore's history, the notion of a "Singapore" text will be used creatively in order to reflect upon the growth of Singaporean identity and culture, and literary texts from other countries in the region may be used for comparative purposes.

This course introduces classical Southeast Asian dance and drama with a particular emphasis on masked dance traditions. Drawing on an analysis of scholarly texts, videos and hands-on sessions the course takes an exciting theatrical journey through Southeast Asia. The course teaches an appreciation of classical dance traditions in the region from a variety of angles, such as dramaturgical principles, music, aesthetics, ritual significance, nationalism, tourism and change. The course also teaches how to perform and create compositions in a Southeast Asian dance form. 

This course explores Thai literature since World War II, with an emphasis on close reading of selected texts in relation to their social, political, and cultural contexts.

This course introduces students to the geography of Thailand, its natural resources, its flora and fauna and the human response to it. It covers the physical, topographical, and administrative geography of the Thai nation-state and the importance of spatial analysis.

This course weaves together social themes and historical processes for introductory acquaintance with the people of South Asia through the lens of musical performance and its allied arts. While the focus is on the Indian Subcontinent, which largely falls into the nation-state of India, the course also thematically explores case studies from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. This course does not aim for coverage of all regions in South Asia, but rather introduces key concepts that can be applied to open up a window to understanding contemporary South Asian society and its diaspora.

Over the twentieth century, the most famous exports of South Asian music for global audiences have been the “classical” music and dance traditions of north and south India, Bollywood movie soundtracks, and ecstatic devotional singing such as qawwali and kirtan. This course engages students in appreciating these performances as sophisticated art forms; familiarizing them with a diverse range of folk and popular genres, but also delving into the historical and social processes that shape them into the way their exponents and audiences understand them today. 

The course examines how contemporary performers reenact theorization from ancient treatises; how colonialism, nationalism, and migration reconfigured people’s engagements with musical performing arts, and how social groupings such as caste, class, religion, gender, and sexuality shape the way people make and listen to music across different localities in South Asia.

 

This interdisciplinary course explores the diversity of the visual and performing arts in Southeast Asia, including ancient temple art, living traditional art (such as textiles, puppets, weapons, painting, theatre, and music), as well as modern and contemporary art. The focus is on understanding the arts as they are experienced in local contexts; and on change, cross-cultural inspirations, and global flows, in the past and today. In tutorials, students learn to play traditional music. On an overseas fieldtrip, students explore the arts in a particular area and interact with artists.

This includes an opportunity to intern with organizations across industries, including tech firms, non-profit and community-based social enterprises, retail brands, legal services, and more. 

This course introduces the art of Thai painting and drawing through an analysis of both scholarly texts and hands‐on sessions. The course provides visual journey through all the major periods of Thai classical art. Emphasis is also be placed on regional and folk styles of painting as well as with new forms of traditional art. The course focuses primarily on the Rama 3 style of Thai painting as developed in nineteenth century Bangkok and which has become the most common form of Thai classical art seen in the country today. Students enrolled in the class will be taught not only how to appreciate traditional Thai painting but also how to draw, create compositions, and critique art works.

This course provides an introduction to the history and establishment of ASEAN community. The overview of ASEAN countries in social, political, economic, cultural and ideological aspects.