CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

This is one of the elective courses within the South-East Asia curricula of the Corso di Laurea on "Lingue, Culture e Società dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea".
The course will introduce the main socio-cultural processes and institutions of contemporary Southeast Asia from a sociological and an anthropological perspective. It will provide the students with the tools to understand and critically analyse social, political, and cultural change in this culturally, ethnically, and politically diversified region of Asia from the end of the Twentieth Century to the present.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● To acquire foundational knowledge of the main socio-cultural processes and institutions of contemporary Southeast Asia
● To know and to understand the basic anthropological and sociological theories and empirical research on the current developments of Southeast Asian societies in comparative and historical perspective

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● To draw relationships and make comparison among different socio-cultural values, world views and institutions across South-East Asian societies
● To be able to analyse and critically examine the recommended written and audio-visual sources concerning the sociology, anthropology, and politics of contemporary Southeast Asia
● To be able to frame the socio-cultural and political developments of contemporary Southeast Asia within a sociological, anthropological, and historical perspective
● To apply the specific knowledge of the Southeast Asian region to better understand contemporary Asian societies in general

Good knowledge of written and spoken English

Southeast Asia as a field of study
Introduction to Southeast Asia’s geography, peoples, languages, and cultures
Political systems of Southeast Asia in history
The State in Southeast Asia today
The contemporary transformation of the Thai State: the military coups, the red and yellow-shirt movements and the monarchic transition
Ethnicity and ethnic identities in mainland Southeast Asia
Ethnicity and political violence: The Rohingya case in Myanmar
Kinship and family in mainland Southeast Asia in comparative perspective
Gender identities and sexuality
Theravada Buddhism and spirit cults between tradition and modernity: beliefs, rituals, actors and institutions
Borders, borderlands and borderlanders
Urbanization and urban change
Globalization and localization in urban Southeast Asia
Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia: the socio-cultural and economic dimension

All reading material for the course will be added during the course week by week and made available on the MOODLE platform

Recommended general introductory books on Southeast Asia :
1. Neher, Clark D. Southeast Asia (2004). Crossroads of the World. Northern Illinois University Press.
2. SarDesai, D.R. (1989) Southeast Asia. Past and Present. London: Macmillan

Course assessment will consist of two components:
1. Tutorial participation (10%): the course will include 6 tutorials. These are class discussions based on pre-circulated texts on a given topic based on pre-formulated questions. Students will be asked to actively participate in the discussion. Those who will not attend the tutorials will be examined on the content of the tutorial readings during the oral examination.
2. Oral examination (90%): the exam will consist of three to four questions on the main topics addressed during the course to be answered orally.

The teaching will articulate in two different modes, consisting of:
1. Frontal lectures (1 hour/ 1 hour and a half), during which students will be guided through the analysis of the course themes.
2. Tutorials (30 minutes), for which students are required to read pre-circulated articles and/or book chapters to be discussed in class.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development