Theory Building
Through this course, students will engage with some of the more prominent theoretical perspectives on the rise of nationalism, ethnonational dynamics, ethnic differentiation, and conflict.
Cultural Diversity
Using the courses' theoretical base, students will engage with ethnographic material on mainland Southeast Asia in order to understand the history of the region in all of its cultural and political diversity.
Critical Thinking Skills
Students will hone critical thinking skills through seminar discussions where we critique different theoretical perspectives, apply them to and test them with a variety of Southeast Asian ethnographic materials, and develop theoretical lines of coherence from these different social theorists.
Cultural Diversity
Through the assignments of this course, students will also learn to see and therefore critique nationalist consciousness and the politics of statecraft, and apply this crtiique to the ethnographies and historical accounts that we read in the seminar.
