Topics in History (492-0-20)
Topic
China and Southeast Asia
Instructors
Melissa A Macauley
847/491-3418
Harris Hall - Room 344
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Why are China and Southeast Asia conventionally understood to exist on separate continents? Geographically, meteorologically, culturally, and economically they have shared common historical experiences. Their interrelations have proven to have been mutually transformative over time. Travelers, scholars, seafarers, nationalists, political organizers, and religious leaders who resided along the shores of Asia's "Water Frontier" perceived that they lived in an interconnected world that was not bound by national borders. There is a large literature on the "Global South," but little attention has been paid to the "Asian South" as a category of historical analysis. In this seminar, we will begin to conceptualize the Asian South as a "middle ground" of expanding colonial frontiers (including the Chinese and Japanese frontiers) and emerging nation-states as well as a maritime economy that was integral to the emergence of the modern world. We will mostly focus on the English-language scholarship that has been published in recent years on the Sino-Southeast Asian experience, but students will be afforded the time and opportunity to write a term paper on any subject that advances their personal intellectual agendas.
Registration Requirements
Graduate students only.
Learning Objectives
To improve critical reading and writing abilities; to become conversant with the scholarship on the subject; to think about history across trans-regional space.
Evaluation Method
Participation in discussion; short book review using the JAS guidelines; term paper.
Class Materials (Required)
Materials will be available on Canvas.