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 166-106 Colonial/Postcolonial S.E.Asian Politics

Credit Points

12.5

HECS Band

1

Coordinator

Jacqueline Siapno

Prerequisites

Usually 25 points of first year politics or first year Asian studies, see Prerequisites.

Semester

1 (view timetable)

Contact

30 contact hours per semester. Two 1-hour lectures per week for 10 weeks and a 1-hour tutorial per week for 10 weeks. The lecture and tutorial program are staggered and cover the 12 week of semester

Subject Description

This subject is structured to foster an approach to the study of Southeast Asian politics that is comparative, historically grounded, ethnographic, literary and analytical. It introduces students to a non-linear employment of Southeast Asian history by destabilising dominant originary narratives and problematises some of the tropes and discursive languages used in the study of Southeast Asian politics. Students will encounter 17th century ideas of the concept of 'nation', traditional kingdoms, critical comparative studies of European colonialism (Dutch, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese), anti-colonial millenarian movements, saints and rebels, collectivisation programs, piracy and modern borders and boundaries, factory workers, refugees and diasporic communities. Students who complete this subject should have an understanding of the diversity and resilience of traditional ideas of power, the nation-state, religion, the family and gender systems in Southeast Asia. Students should be able to engage in historically specific and non-generalising, yet comparative frames of reference for understanding 'politics' (and the way it is engaged, resisted, ignored, transformed and/or transcended) in Southeast Asia. Special focus is on the following countries: the Philippines, East Timor, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Assessment

A 2000 word essay, a 2-hour examination, and tutorial exercises.

Prescribed Texts
  • B Anderson, Spectres of Comparison: Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World.
  • P Carey & G Carter Bentley, East Timor at the Crossroads: The Forging of a Nation.
  • R Hefner & P Horvatich (eds), Islam in an Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim.
  • J Rigg, Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development. Routledge, 1997.
  • D Steinberg et al (ed), In Search of Southeast Asia.
Search : Index : Faculty of Arts : Political science
Prev 166-105 Gender and Politics in Southeast Asia
Next 166-509 Political Science Thesis
 
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