Topic: Sites of Asian Interaction

This module examines sites of interaction as one of the ways in which transnational histories of Asia or inter-Asian connections are currently explored.

Organisation of the Material

The module is a third year module that focuses on methodologies for engaging with transnational themes across Asia. The weekly lectures and seminars are organised along different types of sites, namely locations, specific spaces, built structures, conferences, texts (or cultural artifacts), social groups, and digital platforms. In each instance, we ask a set of questions that help organise our thoughts on a broad canvas of some complexity and great scale:

- how does the site shape interactions?
- is it part of a network?
- how might it be an archive of mobility?

The module consists of lectures, readings, seminar activities as well as some fieldwork at a site of interaction.

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

- Demonstrate knowledge of the character of a number of sites of Asian interaction
- Demonstrate knowledge of what a particular site of interaction tells us about the mobility of people and ideas
- Understand the significance of the diversity of influences in the constitution of Asian cultures and societies
- Evaluate critically and substantively both assertions of diversity and homogeneity in discussions of Asian identity

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the semester, students should demonstrate the following in relation to sites of Asian interaction:

a) Knowledge and Understanding
- Demonstrate empirical knowledge of a variety of Asian cultures and societies
- Understand the process of the constitution of Asian cultures and societies

b) Intellectual skills:
- Ability to draw salient themes from somewhat complex data and narratives
- Ability to identify cultural flows in dynamic terms

c) Professional/Practical skills:
- Ability to write an essay with a balance of description and analysis

d) Transferable & Key skills:
- Ability to recognise the significance of primary sources and a variety of sites of interaction to not only academic but professional endeavours
- Ability to examine primary sources and sites of interaction critically and make justifiable interpretations of them
- Ability to provide sound analytical description and arguments by locating them in their context and time

v) IT skills:

- Ability to sift through information on the Internet effectively by using technology in combination with the critical skills learned in the course

At the conclusion of this module, you will be given an opportunity to evaluate the module and the teaching. Please take the opportunity to share your views candidly.

Essay Question

Pick a specific Asian space, location, built structure, conference, text (or cultural artifact), social group, and digital platform and describe how it acts as a site of interaction. Pay attention to observations about the empirical qualities of the site that you may determine by field visits as well as research in libraries and Internet resources. Do not forget, however, to conform to the minimum set of references indicated above.

You should begin drafting your ideas for the research essay around the middle of the semester and consult me about the topic as it develops. Keep in mind the deadline to submit the research essay outline.

Article reference-

1. Connecting People: A Central Asian Su? network in turn-of-the-century Istanbul

2. THE INDIAN OCEAN IN A MALAY TEXT The Hikayat Mareskalek in transregional perspective∗

Popular Sites of Prayer, Transoceanic
Migration, and Cultural Diversity:
Exploring the signi?cance of keramat in
Southeast Asia∗

Number of Words : 3000 Words/ 12 Pages