ASIA-210 Modern South and Southeast Asia (3)

Examines how we frame and understand modern South and Southeast Asia, including the critical events, contexts, beliefs, philosophies, institutions, and leaders which have led to the making of modern South and Southeast Asia, their unique characteristics that set the two regions apart from other regions of Asia, as well as the ways the two regions are central to the understanding of broader Asia and the world today. The course studies modern South and Southeast Asia from the nineteenth century to the present, a period of paramount importance as it provides the foundation to a comprehensive understanding of South and Southeast Asian societies. The introduction of Western ideas, institutions, modes of governance, and technologies produced profound changes in the local socio-cultural traditions, political ideas and practices, and methods of economic engagements. These changes were a result of both direct imposition of foreign ideas as well as local adaptation, often in the form of counter-narratives and resistance to the colonial imposition. However, these local adaptations and nationalistic assertions were not uniform across the regions and manifested themselves in varied ways, producing different forms of socio-political worldviews, methods of governance, ethno-communal engagements, and economic debates in different national settings. AU Core Habits of Mind: Socio-Historical Inquiry. Usually Offered: fall and spring.

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