At the Crossroads: Southeast
Asia since 1900
Seminar | MA 1st Trimester | Module PuG
Vergleich politischer und gesellschaftlicher
Systeme | 12703 | Tuesday, 09:45 – 11:15
Prof. Dr. Marc Frey |marc.frey@unibw.de|
 3133 | room 33-3272 |open office on
Wednesday morning
Southeast Asia is a region of extraordinary
diversity and heterogeneity. It is home to
the largest Islamic country in the world, Indonesia, and to various religions ranging from syncretic
beliefs to Buddhism and Hinduism (Bali). Equally diverse is the range of political systems. Next to
democracies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines) and political systems dominated by one party
(Singapore), there are Communist dictatorships (Vietnam, Laos), an authoritarian state (Cambodia), a
constitutional monarchy and a sultanate (Thailand and Brunei), and a democratizing military
dictatorship (Burma). The diversity of ethnic groups is enormous, as are the differences between
poor and rich countries and between poor and rich individuals. Southeast Asia looks back upon a
fascinating history. This course introduces major themes such as colonialism and decolonization;
nation building; the search for viable political systems; the role of the military in state and society;
foreign relations and regional integration; ethnicity, majorities and minorities; and gender relations.
Recommended reading: Norman G. Owen, ed., The emergence of modern Southeast Asia. A new
History, Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press, 2005.
Requirements
Active participation; student presentation; term paper (4000 words).
Grading
Term paper: 50%; active participation: 30%; Student presentation (group presentation): 20%
Schedule
09.01.15
1
Introduction
14.01.15
2
Encounters: Live worlds from the 1920s to the 1990s
Nguyen An Ninh, “France in Indochina” (1925), in: Truong Buu Lam, Colonialism Experienced.
Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism 1900-1931 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
2000), 190-207; “A Market Women”, in: Walter L. Williams et al, Javanese Lives. Women and
Men in Modern Indonesian Society (New Brunswick: Rudgers University Press, 1991), 13-18;
Bertil Lintner, Land of Jade. A Journey through Insurgent Burma (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1990),
137-143; Roxana Waterson, ed., Southeast Asian Lives. Personal Narratives and Historical
Experience (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2007), 221-228, 238-242.
20.01.15
3
Socio-Economic Developments, 1900-1930s (33/1313)
M.C. Ricklefs et al, A New History of Southeast Asia (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010), 238-262; P. Pospos, Me and Toba, in: Tineke Hellwig & Eric Tagliacozzo, eds.,
The Indonesia Reader. History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 286290.
27.01.15
4
Dynamics of Change: Towards Independence (35-2107)
1
Norman G. Owen, ed., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (Honolulu: The University of
Hawai’I Press, 2005), 252-267; Paul H. Kratoska, “Southeast Asia from the Japanese
Occupation to Independence”, in: Norman G. Owen, Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian
History (London: Routledge, 2014), 65-74.
Presentation: The Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia
David Blazczyk, Florian Erb, David Israel
03.02.15
5
Wars and Conflicts since 1945 (33-1313)
Stein Tonnesson, “War and Peace between Nations since 1945”, in: Norman G. Owen,
Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian History (London: Routledge, 2014), 96-107; John
Roosa, “Separatism, Civil War, and Genocide. Conflicts within Nations”, in: ibid., 108-118.
10.02.15
6
State/Nation Building: Political and Economic Dimensions (150-1116)
M.C. Ricklefs et al, A New History of Southeast Asia (Houndsmill, Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010), 363-400.
Presentation: The Officer as Businessman: The Military and the Economy
Timm Jander, Lorenz Oswald, Nico Schöneberg, Jay Walterbach
17.02.15
7
Economic Development and Its Implications (33-1313)
Norman G. Owen, ed., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (Honolulu: The University of
Hawai’I Press, 2005), 379-413.
Presentation: The Southeast Asian Megacity
Presentation Group I: Singapore: Dieter Schneider, Jonas Haller, Torben Schmalz
Presentation Group II: Megacity II (TBA): Meike Bauersfeld, Lars Dietrich, Jasmin Menz
20.02.15
8
24.02.15
03.03.15
FRIDAY MORNING Substitute Meeting: Excursion to the Museum Fünf
Kontinente, Exhibit “Myanmar: Pagodas, Longyis and Nat Spirits”
No Class
9
Ethnicity (33-1313)
Sunil Amrith, “Ethnicity in Post-Colonial Southeast Asia”, in: Norman G. Owen, Routledge
Handbook of Southeast Asian History (London: Routledge, 2014), 278-288.
10.03.15
17.03.15
10
Current Issues in Southeast Asia (150-1116)
Presentations
The ASEAN: Alexander Dikmann, Maximilian Herbst, Andre Seidel
China’s Policy towards Southeast Asia: Miriam Schächtele, Franzi Tietze
No Class
Objectives and Learning Outcomes of the Course




He/she will have a solid foundation in the terms and concepts particular to the study of the
History of South East Asia in the modern period and be able to relate those to a corpus of
historical writing in English on the region
He/she will be familiar with some types of sources and methodological approaches
demanded of those sources as they relate to the history of the region at an introductory
level
He/she will be able to discuss comparatively the historical developments of different parts of
South East Asia from around 1900 on
He/she will have acquired the skills needed to formulate a historical argument, to assemble
the material necessary to support it, and to organize it in a coherent and persuasive way
appropriate to the level of study
2


He/she will have demonstrated the ability to develop a small collaborative presentation on
an historical subject relating to the region and to present findings in written and oral form.
He/she will have acquired skills of collaborative learning through group presentations and
group work
Handbooks
Osborne, Milton (2004). Southeast Asia: An Introductory History. St. Leonards, NSW, Australia, Allen &
Unwin.
Owen, Norman G. (2014). Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian History. London: Routledge.
Owen, Norman G., ed. (2005). The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia. Honolulu: The University of Hawai’i
Press.
Ptak, Roderich, ed. (1999). Bernhard, ed., Südostasien-Handbuch. Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Politik,
Wirtschaft, Kultur. München: Beck.
Ricklefs, M.C. (2010). A New History of Southeast Asia. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tarling, Nicholas, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of Southeast Asia. Vol. 2: The nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Primary Sources
Hellwig, Tineke and Tagliacozzo, Eric, eds. (2009). The Indonesia Reader. History, Culture, Politics. Durham:
Duke University Press.
Truong Buu Lam (2000), Colonialism Experienced. Vietnamese Writings on Colonialism 1900-1931. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Waterson, Roxana (2007). Southeast Asian Lives: Personal Narratives and Historical Experience. Singapore:
Singapore University Press
Williams, Walter L. (1991). Javanese Lives: Women and Men in Modern Indonesian Society . New Brunswick
and London: Rutgers University Press.
Country Histories
Andaya, Barbara Watson & Andaya, Leonard Y. (2001). A History of Malaysia. 2nd ed. Houndsmill,
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Chandler, David P. (2007). A History of Cambodia. 4th ed. Boulder: Westview Press.
Charney, Michael W. (2009). A History of Modern Burma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stuart-Fox, Martin (2008). A History of Laos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, K.W. (2013). A History of the Vietnamese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wyatt, David K. (2003). Thailand. A Short History. 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Further Readings
Barr, Michael D. & Skrbis, Zlatko (2008). Constructing Singapore. Elitism, Ethnicity and the Nation-Building
Project. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Bhagowati, Surajit Kumar (2014). Women in Southeast Asia: Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Singapore, Timor, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunel 1. publ. - New Delhi : New Century Publ.,
2014.
Boomgaard, Peter (2007). Southeast Asia. An Environmental History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Boomgaard, Pieter, ed. (2004), Smallholders and stockbreeders. History of foodcrop and livestock farming in
Southeast Asia, Leiden: KITLV Press.
Brocheux, Pierre & Hémery, Daniel (2009). Indochina. An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Brömmelhörster, Jörn & Paes, Wolf-Christian, eds. (2003). The Military as an Economic Actor. Soldiers in
Business. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Callahan, Mary P. (2004). Making Enemies. War and State Building in Burma. Singapore: National University
of Singapore Press.
Chandler, David P. (2012). The Tragedy of Cambodian History. Politics, War and Revolution since 1945. Rev.
ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Day, Tony (2002). Fluid Iron. State Formation in Southeast Asia. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Goscha, Christopher (2012). Going Indochinese. Contesting Concepts of Space and Place in French Indochina.
Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Hack, Karl, ed. (2006), Colonial armies in Southeast Asia. London: Routledge.
Hoffstaedter, Gerhard (2011). Modern Muslim Identities. Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia.
Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Ivarsson, Soren (2008). Creating Laos. The Making of a Lao Space between Indochina and Siam, 1860-1945.
Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Jones, Lee (2012). ASEAN, sovereignty and intervention in Southeast Asia, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kano, Hiroyoshi (2008). Indonesian Exports, Peasant Agriculture and the World Economy 1850-2000.
Economic Structures in a Southeast Asian State. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.
Kiernan, Ben (2004). The Cambodian Genocide, 1975-1979. A Century of Genocide Critical Essays and
Eyewitness Accounts . Samuel Totten et al, Ed. New York, Routledge : 338-373.
Kuhn, Philip A. (2008). Chinese Among Others. Emigration in Modern Times. Singapore: National University of
Singapore Press.
Lee, Khoon Choy, Golden dragon and purple phoenix: the Chinese and their multi-ethnic descendants in
Southeast Asia, New Jersey [u.a.] : World Scientific, 2013.
Lintner, Bertil (1990). Land of Jade. A Journey through Insurgent Burma. Bangkok: White Lotus.
McCargo, Duncan (2012). Mapping National Anxieties. Thailand’s Southern Conflict. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
McCoy, Alfred W. ed. (1980). Southeast Asia under Japanese Occupation. New Haven: Yale University Press.
McKeown, Adam M. (2008). Melancholy Order. Asian Migration and the Globalization of Borders. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Mizuno, Kosuke & Phongpaichit, Pasuk, eds. (2009). Populism in Asia. Singapore: National University of
Singapore Press.
Ricklefs, M.C. (2012). Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java, c.1930 to the Present. A political, social, cultural
and religious History. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.
Silver, Christopher (2008), Planning the Megacity. Jakarta in the 20th Century, London: Routledge.
Skidmore, Monique (2003). Darker than Midnight: Fear, Vulnerability, and Terror Making in Urban Burma
(Myanmar). American Ethnologist . 30(1): 5-21
Solahudin (2013). The Roots of Terrorism in Indonesia. From Darul Islam to Jema’ah Islamiyah. Singapore:
National University of Singapore Press.
Taylor, Philip (2007). Poor Policies, Wealthy Peasants: Alternative Trajectories of Rural Development in
Vietnam. Journal of Vietnamese Studies . 2(2): 3-56.
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