Southeast Asia: A Changing Region

"Southeast Asia: A Changing Region" aims to expose students to the fascinating intricacies of a part of the world they live in. The main objective of the module is to explore how communities and individuals in Southeast Asia can and do produce diverse identities through their interconnected historical, cultural and political experiences. In this module, Southeast Asia is seen as a region that is shaped by various flows. These flows include the transmission of ideas (e.g. political patterns from the West, gendered and sexual identities from world religions, religious beliefs from India and beyond), the movement of people (e.g. migrants, missionaries, tourists, terrorists) and the circulation of things (e.g. objects, winds, ocean currents). Southeast Asia is thus understood as a region that is both changing (due the flows that engulf it) yet with a unique indigenous identity of its own. Balinese Hinduism however, is not the Hinduism one finds in India, traditional Southeast Asian understandings of warfare are not similar to those of Europe, and gendered identities in the region are often fluid and many. In this module, Southeast Asia is discussed as a part of the world that is interconnected with other parts of the world both in the past and present. This interconnectedness and the transformations it forges, has led to regional and cultural uniqueness. Students are encouraged to think critically of how Southeast Asia and the people who call it home engage with each other and the movements that structure their lives . Although mapping Southeast Asia as a region comprising 10 independent countries, the class will largely focus on Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.