Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to the Cold War

4 credits · Undergraduate

This course is a broad introductory survey of the history of Southeast Asia, covering prehistory, the classical era, the early modern era, the colonial era and the postcolonial era. The central focus will be on political developments but it will also explore change over time with regard to economy, society and culture. To capture Southeast Asia’s profound diversity, it will address both regional phenomena (i.e. a regional economy, engagements with China and the Chinese, European colonialism, World War II, Japanese occupation, decolonization and the Cold War) and local political narratives. For the modern era, it covers the political narratives of the region’s five biggest countries: Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, Siam, and Vietnam.