Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Arts
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Convenor: Dr V Mackie
The Faculty of Arts offers an interdepartmental program in Asian Studies housed in the Department of History. The program draws on the resources of the Faculties of Arts and Economics.
The normal prerequisite for entry to a major in Asian Studies is the completion of 50 points at first-year level (or equivalent). Students are also strongly advised to undertake some elementary study of an Asian language.
Entry into the Asian Studies major is available from second year. Students planning to enter the Asian Studies major may wish to study an Asian language at first year level, Languages available include Chinese, Indonesian, Korean*, Japanese, Thai*, and Vietnamese. * (*Subjects offered by other Institutions to Melbourne University students. )
Other first year subjects recommended for students interested in undertaking a major in Asian Studies include:
A major in Asian studies requires the completion of at least five subjects at second and third-year level, totalling 83.3 points, which must include 131-288/388 Inventing Asian Traditions. The remaining subjects may be chosen from those listed below. Students are also strongly advised to undertake some elementary study of an Asian language.
(*Not all subjects are available every year. Check with Departments for availability and timetabling details. Departmental prerequisites may apply in some cases. )
Department of English
Department of Fine Arts
Department of Geography
Department of History
Department of HPS and Anthropology
Department of Philosophy
Department of Political Science
Department of Language Studies
Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Department of Economic History
The prerequisite for entry to Asian Studies combined honours is a major in Asian Studies at an overall average grade of H2A or better and admission to honours in another area of study within the Faculty. Prospective honours students should normally undertake at least some elementary study of an Asian language. Prospective combined honours students should submit an outline of their proposed course of study and a thesis proposition form to the convenor of Asian Studies during second semester of the academic year preceding commencement of honours.
Combined honours in Asian Studies requires the completion of two single-semester Asian Studies seminars selected from subjects listed below, or alternative subjects arranged with the Coordinator. Students should enrol in the Honours Thesis subject in the Department where supervision will be provided.
Thesis:
Fourth Year Subjects:
(for full details consult departmental entries)
106-241/341 POSTCOLONIAL WRITING
This subject offers a study of recent fiction, theory and film by postcolonial writers living in both the postcolonial and metropolitan worlds. It aims to introduce students to a range of literary practices touching on issues such as nationalism, transnationalism, multiculturalism, biculturalism, diasporan experience, ethnicity, race and gender.
111-218/318 STUDIES IN ASIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
This subject surveys traditional architecture, sculpture, painting and popular art forms of India, China and Japan.
121-204/304 DEVELOPMENT AND THE THIRD WORLD
Subjects covered include: perceptions of inequality; access to health care; the relationship between development and environment; land reform; population and migration; urbanisation; tourism; aid; debt servicing.
121-217/317 AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC RIM
This subject examines growth and restructuring of production, trade and finance in the Pacific Rim and their implications for gender and ethnic groups within Australia.
121-336 ASIAN DEVELOPMENT
A consideration of changes in the value, distribution and organisation of production in selected Asian countries and in the world; social processes of economic, institutional, political organisation and the labour processes of these countries; development theories.
131-207/307 THE BODY: HISTORY SEX AND GENDER
An analysis of the body in collective societies east and west; the body as the site of freedom and liberation; the body as the site of constructions of 'public' and 'private'; the body and modern consumerism.
131-220/320 GENDER AND SOCIETY
This subject examines a number of central theoretical issues in the study of gender relationship past and present with a main focus in the Australian and Asian-Pacific region.
131-222/322 INDONESIAN NATIONALISM: ETHNICITY AND RELIGIOUS CHANGE IN THE 20TH CENTURY
An analysis of the development of nationalism as the dominant ideology of the Indonesian state, in the light of theories of nationalism.
131-223/323 MILITARY AND STATE IN 20TH CENTURY INDONESIA
This subject considers the increasingly important role of the military in Indonesia since the proclamation of independence, in the light of theories about the role of the military in politics.
131-246/346 JAPAN IN TRANSITION 1850-1990
A survey of the political institutions and social movements of Modern Japan from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the surrender and occupation of 1945 to 1952, and how this shaped post-war Japan.
131-270/370 A LONG PERSPECTIVE ON THE VIETNAM WAR
A study of the revolutionary transformation of the Nguyen Empire under French colonial rule and the consequences of internal and external attempts to thwart the forces of national and social revolution.
131-271/371 THE THAI IN MODERN TIMES
Change and persistence in the Thai policy, society, economy and culture from the destruction of Ayutthays in 1767 to the Thammasat University massacre in 1967.
131-275/375 CHINA FROM THE MANCHUS TO MAO
The nature of and changes to Chinese society during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics covered will include: Confucianism, Communism and their alternatives; European colonialism and its effects; gender and class relations; city and countryside; rickshaws, revolutions and racism. Insight into the Chinese experience will be sought through literature and film.
131-282/382 ISLAM, MODERNITY AND THE MIDDLE EAST SINCE 1798
An historical survey of the major events, movements and relationships that have participated in the making of the modern Islamic and Arab Middle East, since the onset of European colonisation.
131-237/337 MIDDLE EASTERN WOMEN
This subject covers the history of Middle Eastern Women in the context of religion (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) and social change. It treats gender inequalities, patriarchy, property rights and responses to social change.
136-271/371 STRUCTURE OF MYTH AND RITUAL PROCESSES: DIVINITY AND SOCIETY
This subject focuses on the anthropological study of religion with emphasis on the comparative study of myth and ceremonial systems.
136-272/372 ETHNIC NATIONALISM AND THE MODERN WORLD
This subject provides anthropological analysis of cultural boundaries, ethnic groups and nationalism.
136-277/377 POWER, IDEOLOGY AND INEQUALITY
The comparative ethnology of cosmologies, social ideologies and social practices in hierarchically ordered societies.
136-281/381 CULTURE CHANGE AND PROTEST MOVEMENTS
Problems of culture change and responses to the influence of Western societies on the non-Western world, including cultural protest.
136-285/385 ANTHROPOLOGY OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS
An ethnological study of suffering, illness and healing rituals in South-East Asian cultures.
161-247/347 ASIAN TRADITIONS IN PHILOSOPHY
A study of key philosophical themes in Asian (especially Indian) thought, based on concepts of nature and transcendence, the self and consciousness, human action and the moral order; followed by a comparative appraisal of doctrines of knowledge and pragmatism in ethics.
161-248/348 THE PHILOSOPHY OF BUDDHISM
This subject covers the Buddhist account of suffering as deriving from the illusion of permanence and the self.
166-215/315 CHINESE POLITICS AND SOCIETY
An inter- disciplinary introduction to contemporary Chinese politics, history and social life. The subject examines the various 'isms' which have come to influence the Chinese Communist Party. It examines themes which run from Mao to modernisation, and history which runs from Mao to now.
166-217/317 MODERN MIDDLE EAST POLITICS
Contemporary events in the region are discussed with an eye to developing analytical and methodological skills as well as developing critical and sensitive approaches to cultural differences. Particular attention will be paid to Arab nationalism, modern political Zionism, the rise of religious fundamentalism and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process.
166-238/338 APPROACHES TO IDEOLOGY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
By applying theoretical perspectives drawn from political science literature and related disciplines in the social sciences, students will be encouraged to develop a conceptual and critical understanding of the philosophical and ideological basis of political processes in the Middle East.
166-242/342 AN/OTHER CHINA
This subject centres upon certain empirical questions which emerge through discussion of human rights and democracy in China. It follows in the tradition of the first year subject the Politics of Other Cultures, in that it deconstructs dominant ways of approaching area studies while using Chinese sources and issues to critically reflect upon and comment on Western social and political theory.
175-219/319 ARAB SOCIETY AND CIVILISATION
An introduction to the history of Arab civilisation, and modern Arab society with particular emphasis on issues of identity, social structures and institutions and the dynamics of Arab culture.
175-221/321 ISLAM: DEVELOPMENT, BELIEFS AND INSTITUTIONS
A general introduction to the early development of Islam, and the belief system, religious practices, history and civilisation, as well as the social, economic, political and legal institutions of Islam.
175-243/343 INDONESIAN CIVILISATION: PAST AND PRESENT
A multidisciplinary introduction to the geography and peoples of the Indonesian archipelago designed for students of Indonesian language. The subject will draw on history, anthropology, geography, linguistics and Indonesian literature in translation.
175-229/329 SOUTH-EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES
A study of the major languages and language families of South-East Asia. Specific and common features of their phonology, morphology, syntax, genetic reconstructions.
326-205/305 THE JAPANESE BUSINESS SYSTEM
This subject aims at understanding Japanese business behaviour since the Meiji era by explaining the logic of Japanese business organisations and practices: the labour relations system; the relationship between government and business; the role of the zaibatsu, sogo shosha and keiretsu; the Japanese approach to structural change; education and economic performance; the commercial behaviour of Japanese entrepreneurs.
326-226/326 BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Economic and commercial practices in South-East Asia, structured around Australian experience in Asia in the recent past, but with emphasis on an understanding of business practices and the economic environment. The main focus will be upon Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, but comparisons with other South-East Asian countries will be included.
326-232/332 CHINESE BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
The subject surveys the contours of the post-1978 economy, the nature of the new household economy, the re-emergence of markets and private enterprise, and the state-dominated urban industrial sector. The roots of the present business and economic system are explored.
131-410 ASIA IN AUSTRALIAN EYES
This unit aims to stimulate reflection upon the ways in which 'Asia' and 'Asians' have been constructed historically in Australian society and their meaning for Australian identity.
131-447 GENDER AND SOCIAL CHANGE: ASIAN PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES
This subject focuses on the relationship between gender and social change in selected regions of Asia and the Pacific, drawing on the theoretical perspectives and insights of a number of social science and humanities disciplines, especially history and anthropology.
166-425 ORIENTALISM: DISCOURSE AND METHOD
The work of Edward Said has been central to recent critiques of conventional area studies and to the emergence of many post- colonial voices. The subject examines his post- structuralist credentials, revealing a somewhat more conventional figure. More worrying, however, is the fact that it reveals serious weaknesses in the notion of Orientalism itself. This subject attempts to resurrect a notion of Orientalism which takes Foucault seriously.
Asian Studies : Next:Astronomy | Prev:Asian Architecture | Search | Help
Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Arts
Status: Official 1996 Date created: Oct 10 1995 Last modified: Oct 10 1995 Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au
Maintained by: Faculty of Arts
Copyright © University of Melbourne 1995,1996.