LITERATURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA 2

“Southeast Asian Literature II” is an advanced course designed for second year undergraduate students and is part of the “Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa (LICSAAM)” program.

Students have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the evolutional course of Southeast Asian literature that has been developed from oral tradition, written tradition that includes classical literature, and printed-book tradition. Each of which is featured by common motifs and characteristics that have been widespread shared among Southeast Asian countries. By analyzing the features that are commonly found, students can trace back to referential sources that likely influened Southeast Asian literature, originating either from other continents or within the Southeast Asian regions.

Students are able to scholarly apply methodological approaches to discuss and analyze Southeast Asian literature, as well as to interpret the selected texts in diverse perspectives of cross-cultural issues, religious issues, cultural transmissions, socio-political issues, international relations, and anthropological issues.

Students have clear understanding of national identity of different Southeast Asian countries echoed in the literary works, internal and external factors that generally shaped the literature and discourses, and decisions of authors to compose the works as a tool to communicate, to symbolize, or even to react with something.

Students have appreciation in Southeast Asian literature that has been inherited through generations and continued in contemporary media: comic books, films, stages, dramas, and commercial ads.

Attending or completing the course “Southeast Asian Literature I” is strongly recommended.

The content will be divided into four chronologically-order sessions: oral tradition, written tradition, classical literature, and printed books. Students will be weekly assigned reading materials beforehand.

Oral tradition (2 weeks)
Folktales were orally transmitted before the written tradition. In various folktales numerous motifs appear to have been shared and adapted among the Southeast Asian countries, revealing cross-cultural connections, common origins of the folktales, and their indigenous communities. The folktales have been recorded in written forms and developed into contemporary media.

Written tradition (3 weeks)
Manuscripts and written artefacts emerged after scripts had been introduced and applied to transmit texts for various uses. Southeast Asian manuscripts cultures include the Dhamma script cultural Domain (DSCD), Indo-Malay manuscripts, Vietnamese manuscripts, Burmese manuscripts, Siamese manuscripts, and Khmer manuscripts. Categorized in both religious and non-religious textual genres, texts in the manuscipts have been copied, read out in public, and reproduced in contemporary periods by innovative machines and entertainment media. Production agents of the manuscripts will be introduced to the students.

Classical literature (4 weeks)
Well-known Southeast Asian classical literary works that share common origins or were developed from regional influences will be introduced: Ramayana, Panji. Similarities and differences in plots, characters, scenes, and other features among various versions found in different Southeast Asian countries will be compared and discussed.

Printed books (4 weeks)
Books praised by the S.E.A Write Award will be in focus. Both short-listed and long-listed books of the S.E.A Write Award will be selected to discuss in class. Students will learn social and cultural issues implied in the books and observe discourses that shed light on certain agendas.

Besides, Southeast Asian oral and written literature has been inherited through generations and eventually transmitted by contemporary media. Comic books, films, commercial ads, and TV series appear at some point to present the stories to new generations. Modern techniques and new interpretations toward the stories are applied to meet the familiarity and preference of the present-day audience, resulting in marketing strategies involved.

Week 1 will be for the class orientation.
Week 15 will be for the exam preview.

Stith Thompson. 1946. The Folktale. New York: The Dryden Press. (see Part Four)

Aarne, Thompson, and Thompson Stith. 1928. Types of the Folk-Tale a Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.

Lokaswara Nusantara. 2024. Oral Tradition in Insular Southeast Asia, edited by Aone van Engelenhoven. Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

Grabowsky, Volker. 2008. “Tai Manuscripts in the Dhamma Script Domain: Surveying, Preservation and Documentation (Part 1)”. In Manuscript Cultures. Edited by Michael Friedrich and Jörg Quenzer. Hamburg: SFB 950 ‘Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa’, 1, Pp. 16–23.

Hundius, Harald. 2009. “Tai Manuscripts in the Dhamma Script Domain: Surveying, Preservation and Documentation (Part 2)”. In Manuscript Cultures. Edited by Michael Friedrich and Jörg Quenzer. Hamburg: SFB 950 ‘Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa’, 2, pp. 22–26.

Grabowsky, Volker. 2010. “Tai Manuscripts in the Dhamma Script Domain: Surveying, Preservation and Documentation (Part 3)”. In Manuscript Cultures. Edited by Michael Friedrich and Jörg Quenzer. Hamburg: SFB 950 ‘Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa’, 3, Pp. 25–33.

Grabowsky, Volker. 2011. “Manuscript Culture of the Tai”. In Manuscript Cultures. Edited by Jörg Quenzer. Hamburg: SFB 950 ‘Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa’, 4, Pp. 145–156.

Kratz, E. Ulrich. 2011. “Manuscript Cultures in Island Southeast Asia”. In Manuscript Cultures. Edited by Jörg Quenzer. Hamburg: SFB 950 ‘Manuskriptkulturen in Asien, Afrika und Europa’, 4, Pp. 133–144.

Ray, Dhriti. 2024. “Transformation of the Ramayana in Southeast Asia.” In Retrospect: Peer-reviewed academic journal of archeology, history, and heritage tourism, edited by Anura Manatunga. Sri Lanka: E.M.I.P. Ekanayaka on behalf of the Sri Lanka Association for Antiquarian Studies, Pp. 12–24.

Bramantyo, Triyono and Apriyani, Apriyani. 2021. The Javanese Panji Story: Cosmic Tales and Its Transformations. UPM ICMUS2019, Pp. 1–17.

L'insegnante fornirà ulteriore materiale didattico in classe e tramite la piattaforma Moodle.

Assessment comprises three sections:

1. Essay and interview (12 points)
Discussing one free-of-choice topic in both an essay and an interview, scored with 6 points each.
- Essay: Maximum 1500 words submitted one week before the exam date
- Interview: 10-minute interview with the teacher on the exam date

2. Written exam (9 points)
To be done on the exam date.
- Multiple-choice exam: 5 points
- Open-ended questions: 4 points

3. Presentation or Summary discussion (9 points)
Two alternatives are practically designed for students who prefer one over the other. To earn the 9 points, students can choose either a presentation or a summary discussion, with 30 minutes each.
(3A) Presentation
- Giving an in-class 20-minute presentation on a specific topic, plus another 10-minute Q&A and discussion with the classmates and the teacher.
- Students can freely select a week slot for the presentation.
(3B) Summary discussion
- Giving a 20-minute monologue on one of the four parts (oral tradition, written tradition, classical literature, and printed books) to the teacher, plus another 10-minute Q&A and discussion with the teacher.
- The summary discussion will be done immediately after the interview.
- The summary discussion requires:
(1) theories and methodologies for the selected session,
(2) an overview of the SEA literary works in the selected session, and
(3) a case-study literature that applies proper theories and methodologies.

The score announcement
- Essay (6 points): A week after submission
- Interview (6 points): On the exam date
- Written exam (9 points): On the exam date
- Presentation/Summary discussion (9 points): Immediately after the participation

written and oral

The full 30 points are divided into:
12 points for essay and interview
9 points for written exam
9 points for presentation or summary discussion

28–30 points: Students master their selected topics presented through the essays, the interviews, and the presentations/summary discussions, and can apply theories and methods provided by the teacher to discuss the selected topics. The answers in the written exam are perfectly accurate or almost.

26–27 points: Students have moderate or good knowledge of the selected topics presented through the essays, the interviews, and the presentations/summary discussions, and can apply theories and methods provided by the teacher to discuss the selected topics. The answers in the written exam are mostly accurate.

24–25 points: The student does not always know thoroughly the selected topics presented through the essays, the interviews, and the presentations/summary discussions, but can apply theories and methods provided by the teacher to discuss the selected topics. The answers in the written exam are moderately accurate.

22–23 points: The student has a mostly superficial knowledge of the selected topics presented through the essays, the interviews, and the presentations/summary discussions, but can apply theories and methods provided by the teacher to discuss the selected topics. The answers in the written exam are almost lack of accuracy.

18–21 points: Students have a very superficial knowledge of the selected topics presented through the essays, the interviews, and the presentations/summary discussions, and fails to apply theories and methods provided by the teacher to discuss the selected topics. The answers in the written exam are lack of accuracy.

Lecture and discussions in class.

Examination methods

Written and oral exam:
- 70 minutes for students who go for the 3A plan.
- 100 minutes for students who go for the 3B plan.

The exam date
First part: Students spend maximum 60 minutes on taking the written exam.
Second part: Each student, queued by exam registration oders, spends another 10 minutes on the interview.
Only 3B-plan students: 30-minute summary discussion

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development