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- Core-courses for
the Center for Southeast Asian Studies
- Courses are listed alphabetically
by department
Ag. and Applied Econ/Econ
473: Economic Growth and Development in Southeast Asia
- In this course students study contemporary
issues in the economic growth and development of Southeast Asia. The
countries of the region have much in common in terms of history, geography
and their role in the world economy. The original member states of
ASEAN Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore
are among the worlds most rapidly-growing economies.
However, the region also contains some notable growth and development
failures, and as a result Southeast Asias modern history has
been marked by tremendous divergence in the levels of living of its
peoples. In this course students review the theory and empirics of
growth, development, trade and distribution in contemporary Southeast
Asian market economies. The goal is to address several different facets
of the question: How can development of Southeast Asian economies
be sustained into the future? We use case study and comparative approaches.
As instructor, my aim is to promote an economic way of thinking about
development issues in Southeast Asia. A typical topic thus combines
relevant economic theory with examination of Southeast Asian data
and debates.
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- Ag. and Applied Econ 731/Econ
877: Macroeconomics of Agricultural Development
- In this course "macroeconomics"
is used to refer to the study of economic phenomena occurring at a
scale greater than that of the firm: the industry, sector, or economy
as a whole. The goal is to understand agricultural development as
part of the overall process of economic growth and development. This
will be accomplished by taking the agricultural sector as a unit of
analysis and examining its general equilibrium linkages with other
sectors of a developing country. The course is divided into three
parts. In part I we review classical and neoclassical models of economic
growth, structural change, and the distribution of income, with particular
focus on these processes as they occur in small, open economies. In
part 2 we examine the implications of relaxing some of the neo-classical
assumptions, in particular those of CRTS and market clearing through
price flexibility. In part 3 we address sectoral policy dimensions,
with coverage of agricultural policy, trade and industrialization
policy, exchange rate regimes and macroeconomic management.
-
- Anthropology 330: Topics
in Ethnology: Peoples and Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia
- This course surveys the peoples and cultures
of mainland Southeast Asia, specifically of the countries now called
Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This course is
taught from a perspective that it is not possible to understand Southeast
Asian cultures by narrowly focussing on modern-day single village
studies. Rather one must appreciate the role of economics, politics
and history in hsaping the croader contexts into which village life
is integrated. Due to hte dearth of English-language anthropological
scholarship elsewhere in the region, Thailand receives particular
attention.
-
- Anthropology 350: Political
Anthropology
- This course has two main purposes. On
the one hand it seeks to familiarize students with major works in
the historical development of anthrpological theorizing about the
subject of politics. Simultaneously this course explores new
directions for future anthropological study.
-
- Anthropology 430: Language
and Culture
- This course is an introduction to the interactions
and interdependencies between language and socio-cultural dimensions
of communities. the course begins with discussions of the nature
of language, contrasting the narrower structural view with broader
definitions that include contextual, historical, and textual information.
These two views of the nature of language will provide th basis
for discussions of the nature of topics such as linguistic structure
and culture, linguistic structure and meanign, metaphor, performance,
language and gender, conversational styles of language, speech acts,
verbal arts, and language as action.
-
- Asian American Studies 240:
Refugees of the 'Cold' War: Southeast Asians in America
- Since 1975 close to a million Southeast Asian
refugees have migrated ot the United States from the three countries
of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, adding four new major ethnic groups
to American society: Hmong, Khmer, Lao, and Vietnamese, among them
being ethnic Chinese and "Amerasians." This course
is intended to provide a better understanding of conditions that led
thousands of people to flee their homes in Southeast Asia and eventually
take refuge and start new lives in the United States. The course
will be divided into three parts: 1) Conflict in Indochina: Origins
and Impact; 2) Continuing Conflict and Disorderly Departures:
Refugees and Migrants; and 3) Making New Lives in America.
-
- Dance 001: Introduction
to Javanese Performance
- This course provides an introduction to classical
Javanese dance in its musical context. Students will learn to
dance sequence in one of the three main dance styles--rough male style,
refined male style and female style. By the course's end, students
will have a foundation in basic dance technique and an understanding
of how the dance relates to the musical accompaniment (gamelan music).
They will have gained an appreciation of the intricacy of the
classical dance form and its musical structure.
-
- Dance 001: Javanese Performance
II
- This course provides an introduction to Javanese
dance theater performance in a Javanese epic tradition with its branch
folkstories through the discipline of Central Javanese (Yogyanese
court) dance-theater. Dance styles depicting different key characters
in the epic are introduced--for example, the pricess, the prince,
the king, the demon king, ogres and clowns. Studnets work toward
performance of an exceprt of a Javanese epic folk story as a final
class performance project. Students are introduced to basic
Javanese dance technique, and learn about how stories abecome dance
and how dance becomes theater. Students will also build upon
their knowledge of Javanese gamelan music with additional music sessions,
which focus on basic forms of dance accompaniment for the dance drama.
Assigned readings on the epic stories and the performance tradition
augment performance instruction.
-
- Geography 358: China
and Southeast Asia
- Description forthcoming
-
- Geography 558:
Social Geography of Asian Cities in Comparative Perspective
- Description forthcoming
-
- History 244: Introduction to
Southeast Asia
- Southeast Asia is a region that today consists
of ten independent nations: Brunei, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
and Vietnam, each with its own history, cultures, and political and
socio-economic conditions. Nevertheless, it is a region -- between
China and India -- that possesses many cultural and historical similarities
and continuities that make it unique. This course is intended
to provide a general introduction to Southeast Asia's past and prsent.
The course is organized chronologically around three broad periods:
1) traditional states and societies; 2) colonial transformations
and indigenous responses; and 3) independence and new nation states.
Within these contexts, the course will explore several topics and
themes, amongh them the origins of indigenous states, religious conversion
and practice, social roganization and gender relations, modern social
and economic transformations, responses to colonial domination, the
develpment of "imagined communities," nationalist and revolutinoary
movements, post-colonial societies and political systems, the impact
of "cold war" international relations, and U.S. involvement
in the region. Given the size and diversity of the region, the
coures will concentrate on four Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam,
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines -- those countries that are
the primary research areas of Wisconsin's Southeast Asian program
and for which significant library resources exist on campus.
- History 319: The Vietnam
Wars
- Even 25 years after the last US helicopter
took off from the roof of the US Embassy in downtown Saigon, the Vietnam
War remains a wound in our collective memory. The bitter partisan
passions that divided the nation
- during the war seemed to have widened in the
years since the last American troops left South Vietnam. Indeed, there
are scholars who argue that defeat in Vietnam has had a lasting impact
of American culture and left its imprint upon postwar US foreign policy.
Even in the euphoria that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union,
the ghost of Vietnam remains an unwanted guest at the national banquet.
Moreover, as the longest war in American history, the Vietnam conflict
commands our attention on its own terms. Over the space of 15
- years, four American presidents failed to
devise a strategy to protect our Saigon allies and check the rise
of enemy combat operations. At war's peak in 1968-69, over 500,000
American troops and nearly half of American airpower were engaged
in some of the most bloody and brutal combat in the history of warfare.
- Over the span of a fifteen-week semester,
this course will survey the origins of the Vietnam conflict in a dying
French colonial rule, probe the origins of American commitment to
the Saigon regime under President
- Eisenhower, and then march through the years
of American military escalation. Students will be expected to attend
all lectures, keep pace with the readings, complete three pieces of
written work--a take-home
- mid-term exam, a 5,000 word research paper,
and blue-book final examination. Apart from these formal requirements,
students are expected to attend weekly discussion sections which have
their own reading schedule. Reflecting the controversy surrounding
the subject, there is no single text for the study of the Vietnam
Wars. Instead, the syllabus covers each topic with journal articles
and book extracts, divided into
- "Required" and "Background"
readings. To follow the lectures and their unfamiliar material, students
should read selections from the "required" materials before
the relevant lecture.
-
- History 438: Buddhism
and Society in Southeast Asian History
- This course is not for a study of the Theravada's
tenets in depth. Rather, the purpose is to learn about historical
influence of Theravada Buddhism in those countries and its contemporary
dynamism. The main subjects of the courses are: 1) Early Theravada
Buddhism and its introduction to Southeast Asia; 2) Ideas and
the monastic order; 3) Traditional Buddhist polity; 4)
Transition in the 19th century; 5) Buddhism and modern nations.
The focus is on Thailand and Burma, the major parts of the region's
history and religious development.
- History 457:
Southeast Asia to 1800
- Enriched by the Chinese and Indic civilizations,
Southeast Asia is a place of striking diversity where the major world's
religions meet (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Confucianism).
Yet it is the subtle commonality of local culturs that make the region
distinctive. The cultural traditions have shaped the history
of the region and are very much alive today despite colonization and
Westernization. This course will explore major themes and topics
in the history of the whole region rather than of major events in
individual countries in details. No prior knowledge is required.
Nor is the ability to memorize the dates and unfamiliar names. The
enthusiasm to learn other cultures and to study unfamiliar materials,
plus imagination, is hoped for.
- History 458: Southeast Asia:
1800 to Present
- Through lectures and readings, the course
surveys the modern social and political history of Southeast Asaia,
a region remarkable for its religious and cultureal diversity.
To treat two centuries in the history of ten nations within the space
of just 27 lectures requires compression and selection. Instead
of discussing the history of individual nations, the course analyzes
broad themes which encompass major changes in the region within a
given historical epoch. to animate these generalities, lectures
will illustrate regional themes with detailed discussions of events
in individual countries.
-
- History 500: Inventing
the Orient: The East in our Knowledge
- Since Edward Said, Orientalism (1978), the
critical studies of how Western scholarship knows and represents other
cultures have become a major issue. The book rexplores how the
Oriental (Muslim in the Middle East in this case), are represented
as the opposite to Western civilization. They are "the
Other" of the West. This (mis) represenation is not simply
the result of ignorance or inadequate knowledge, but it is a result
of the cross-cultural and power relations between the West and the
rest. Is "Orientalism" synonymous with colonialism?
Is it also true to every other cross cultural encounters? Are
there other forms of Orientalism and in other time? Are the
Orients typified? How? Is Orientalism undifferentiated by gender,
race or class? Are there reactions or resistance from the Other?
Finally, does the representation of "the Other" belong exclusively
to Western culture? How do other cultures represent their "Others"?
- History 500: Nationhood and
Nationalism
- This course puts together a large amount of
literature on nationalism which has been an important scholarly subject
of the 1980s and 1990s. The first part is a major theoretical
one which has fundamentally shaped the studies of the past two decades.
The second part details some important contributions to those
stheories as well as discussions on particular areas of the world.
As we shall see, nationalism is part of our modern history as much
as history provides how we can discuss and understand nationalism.
The aim of the course is for students to become familiar with the
major literature on the subject, thereby the state of theories, ideas,
arguments and remaining questions on nationalism and history.
-
- History 755:
Remembering Traumatic Past: Thailand in the 1970s
- The 1973-76 period was the most critical time
in the recent history of Thailand. In many ways, it has shaped
the entire political and social milieu up to the present time.
The turbulent period was marked by the popular uprising against the
military dictatorship in October 1973, followed the most radical years
of political conflicts and polarization which led to several forms
of violence, and ended with an indescribably brutal massacre in October
1976. The traumatic past is part of every society. Not
only is it tragic, but it is unsettled, ambivalent, and so disruptive
to individuals and the society. The reasons for the ambivalent
narratives can be both political and cultural. The purposes
of the course are: 1) To explore this traumatic past in Thailand,
especially the massacre in 1976; what happened and why, in historical
contexts. 2) To understand how it is traumatic, and how it has
been remembered or forgotten, politicall and culturally. 3)
Since the issue has never been raised before, the course itself is
a pioneering inquiry. Therefore we will explore a few other
cases of traumatic past in search of some perspectives for 2).
-
- History 755: Seminar:
The Islands of Southeast Asia: A Comparative History of Indonesia
and the Philippines
- Designed for graduate students with some background
in the region's history and politics, the course will cover selected
topics in the comparative history of these two nations from the 17th
to the late 20th centuries. As island nations that experienced
a parallel history of protracted colonial occupation, Indonesia and
the Philippines are an ideal site for explorations into the limits
of comparative history. Focusing on themes of continuity and
change, the seminar will study some of the major points of historical
change in these two archipelagic nations over the past five centrueis,
concentrating on three overlapping issues: 1) the impact of external
forces for change, common wo the Southeast Asian region, upon each
nation; 2) the internal dynamics of development within these
two countries; and 3) a comparison of these processes in Indonesia
and the Philippines. In adopting this approach, we are aware
that we are imposing, post facto, the Procrustrean paradigm of the
nation-state and its imagined uniformities upon a disparate, historically
undifferentiated archipelago that stretches from the Straits of Malacca
to the Luzon Strait.
-
- History 755: Photography
& Philippine Environmental History
- This interdisciplinary seminar is a part of
a larger, ongoing project that will link academics and environmentalists
from two countries in a cooperative effort to collect, archive, and
analayze historic photography for both environmental and historical
applications. The seminar will train Philippine and American
graduate students in field work, oral history, and the use of historical
photographs for btoh general historical research and the stufy of
environmental change. This instruction will move outside the
conventional classroom to establish a join, trans-national seminar
on the internet and in the field that will provide students on btoh
sides of the Pacific with research experiences beyond the bounds of
current graduate education.
-
- Lit in Trans 379: Modern
Indonesian Literature in Translation
- This course introduces the student to the
social, historical, and literary contexts of the development of Indonesian
literature and tools for approaching these distant texts. The course
begins with a number of early modern texts of the late colonial period
(1890-1940), exploring the Western/modern influences on Malay literature
of Dutch-medium and Malay-medium school graduates. Reprsentative pre-independence,
post-independence, and contemporary prose works are examined in conjunction
with readings of literary critics and historians to gain an understanding
of the development of Indonesian literary aesthetics as well as cultural
themes and values.
- Music 361(Lab 1): Beginning
Javanese Gamelan. (1 cr.)
An introduction to the repertory and performance techniques of Central
Javanese gamelan music. Students learn to play four or five of the
simpler Javanese gamelan pieces (gendhing) as an ensemble, meeting
for two one-hour sessions per week. Most class time is devoted to
performance, with a few sessions devoted to viewing videos of Javanese
theatrical and dance traditions accompanied by gamelan music.
-
- Music 361(Lab 2): Advanced
Javanese Gamelan. (1 cr.)
A performance ensemble class that offers one or more concerts annually
on campus and occasionally performs off-campus. Students learn a wide
variety of Javanese gamelan repertory, including accompaniment for
Javanese dance dramas and other forms of Javanese theater and dance.
The class meets for two 90-minute sessions a week, and is supplemented
by private instruction on the more difficult instruments.
Music 103: Introduction to Music Cultures of
the World (2 cr.)
A first survey of music from selected cultural areas around the world
(particular choices vary from semester to semester). A lecture course
open to all students, with no prerequisite courses or musical training.
Recent
offerings have included a substantial unit on music in Indonesia (as
well as other countries of Asia, Oceania, Africa, and North America).
Assignments include textbook readings and listening. Grading based
on several exams.
Music 402: Music Cultures of the World: East
and Southeast Asia (3 cr)
A survey of music throughout Pacific Asia for students with some formal
musical background. The course begins with in-depth coverage of music
from Indonesia: various traditional musics, followed by consideration
of current and recent popular music. Most other countries of Southeast
Asia are covered as well, but not as comprehensively (Philippines,
Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia). The last third
of the course is devoted to music in East Asia (China, Korea, and
Japan). Grading is based on three exams and a research paper.
Music 515: Proseminar in Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
A seminar introducing the field of ethnomusicology, its history, methods,
and current theoretical concerns. Students read and discuss important
ethnomusicological studies, write several book reviews, prepare a
transcription of a musical excerpt, and write a major paper based
on local field research or review of important theoretical literature.
Students may choose to focus on a Southeast Asian topic for the major
project, and
several weeks of reading and discussion are devoted to issues pertaining
to music and musical scholarship in Southeast Asia. Grading is based
on the three written projects, an oral presentation of the final paper,
and
participation in weekly discussions.
Music 915: Seminar in Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
An advanced seminar in ethnomusicology. Topic varies from year to
year. Several seminars have addressed Southeast Asian topics:
"The Wayang World and its Music" (1991) and "Issues
in the Music of Southeast Asia" (1997). Assignments have included
transcriptions of musical excerpts, analyses of Javanese musical accompaniment
of drama, readings on the history and aesthetics of various musical
traditions, critical evaluations of media representations (commercial
recordings and television broadcasts), employing
the UW-Madison's extensive collection of cassette recordings and videos
from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
- Poli Sci 312: Politics
of the World Economy
- This course is intended to help students understand:
(1) the recent history and present nature of the world economy; (2)
the differing ways that economists, political scientists, and journalists
tend to view the global economy; (3) key controversies about the economic
and political implications of the existence and operation of the world
economy; and (4) relevant choices for public policy, including their
possible consequences.
-
- Poli Sci 339: Southeast
Asian International Relations
- This course spans three activities and two
goals. The activities are awareness, analysis, and assessment.
The first goal is to help students improve their awareness of ten
countries in a region of the crescent of a rim in the world.
The countries are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The regions
is Southeas Asia, the crescent is East Asia; and the rim is Asia Pacific.
The second goal is to help students exercise and thus improve their
capacity to analyze and assess the ways in which these countries relate
to each other and with other countries in the revised context of the
post-Cold War world.
-
- Poli Sci 695: Politics of the
Pacific Rim: Security, Prosperity, Democracy
- This course will help students explore the
international politics of the Pacific Rim by focusing on efforts to
organize regional cooperation among the diverse countries there.
Such efforts include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF). Implications for US foreign policy will
be drawn. For example, what policies should the US pursue in ARF on
behalf of regional security, or in APEC to promote regional prosperity?
Should Americans pursue multilaterally the democratization of East
Asia as well?
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- Poli Sci 639: Southeast
Asian Politics
- This course will focus on three major countries:
Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Our study of these
three countries will, in turn, focus on three major themes.
First, we will examine major features of the historical process of
state formation in each of the three countries, as well as modern
pattersn of state-society relations. This examination will begin,
necessarily, with a focus on the enormous contrasts in how these three
countries experienced European expansion: Thailand was never formerlly
colonized, while Indonesia and the Philippines were brought under
very different types of colonial rulership. Second, we will
examine the politics of economic development, with particular attention
to how varying patterns of state-society relations have influenced--and
been influenced by--the course of economic development in each of
the three countries. Third, we will analyze recurring tensions
between authoritarian and democratic forms of government throughout
the postwar era.
- Poli Sci 967: Seminar - Asian
Pacific Regionalism
- This course offers a comparative examination
of the process of state formation and the character of state-society
relations in Southeast Asia. The first portion of the course will
consist of a broad survey of a range fo theoretical literatures on
European state formation, colonial state formation, modern states'
perceptions and strategies, state-society relations in the Third World,
and territorial dimensions of the state. After a brief look
at precolonial state formation in Southeast Asia, the course will
proceed to a much more careful examination of colonial-era state formation
in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. In the third portion
of the course, we will examine he character of states and state-society
relations in postcolonial Indonesia, post-1932 Thailand, and the postcolonial
Philippines. The final week of readings examines strategies
of decentralization currently being considered or implemented in each
of these three polities. The goal throughout will be to draw
upon and contribute to theoretical understandings of how states are
constructed and how they relate--across time and space--with various
social forces.
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- Poli Sci 967: Southeast Asian
Political Economy: Comparative Colonialism
- This course offers a comparative examination
of the pre-colonial and colonial legacies bequeathed to the modern
states and modern political economies of Southeast Asia, focussing
in particular on the intersection between the process of state formation
(the development of on-going administrative structures, legal systems,
methods of extracting revenue, and systems of coercion) and the transformation
of economic structures. While major attention will be devoted
to Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, we will also seek to
bring in insights from other settings in Southeast Asia--and from
elsewhere in the Third World.
-
- Poli Sci 967: Seminar:
Southeast Asian Politics
- Description forthcoming
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