Visual Culture and the Environment in Southeast Asia

4 credits · Undergraduate

The eleven nation-states that comprise the region of Southeast Asia are defined by their linguistic, cultural, economic, and sociopolitical diversity. One facet that plays a crucial role in binding this region is its environment. In order to explore both how the natural world has shaped the history of Southeast Asia and how the human relationship to the environment has changed over time, this course takes as its focus an examination of how “nature” or the environment in Southeast Asia has been and is being represented through various forms of visual culture. Each week we will focus our inquiry on a different theme including: the history of Hindu/Buddhist temple architecture and the arrival of Islam and its impact on visual representation.