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This seminar takes you to an voyage to Southeast Asia, one of the most diverse region in the world! Often overshadowed by its rapidly growing Chinese neighbor, Southeast Asia is a gem of unparalleled diversity, offering a tapestry of traditions, languages, and histories that weave together to create a truly unique and vibrant region. With a population of over 580 million, one in ten people in the world today is a Southeast Asian. Comprising eleven countries, the region includes established democracies (e.g. the Philippines); transitional and sometimes politically unstable states (Cambodia and Thailand); two of the world's five remaining communist regimes (Laos and Vietnam); and even a sovereign sultanate (Brunei). It also includes states with majority populations of three major religious cultures - Islam, Buddhism and Christianity - and the world's largest Muslim state (Indonesia). While the region is unique in its social and political diversity, its states face challenges common to other parts of the world, including secessionist conflicts, the rise of China and shifting power dynamics, and pressures to improve human rights and environmental standards. This seminar is designed to give students a better understanding of Southeast Asia, the region's challenges and its prospects.
The seminar will begin with a brief geographical introduction to Southeast Asia, followed by an overview of the region's history, including pre-colonial times, the legacies of colonialism and struggles for independence. This historical introduction will set the scene for the following sessions. These sessions will cover the emergence of ASEAN and Southeast Asian regionalism, the impact of great power competition between China and the United States, and specific contemporary challenges and concerns such as ethnic conflict and secessionism, terrorism and organised crime, economic and state development, environmental issues, and feminism and gender. The seminar aims to identify contemporary regional issues and commonalities among the states of the region, while recognising the regional differences and uniqueness of each state. |
