Outline

Overview

This Unit of Study introduces Southeast Asia. It emphasises the importance of geographical, political, economic, social and cultural context to our understanding of complex real-world problems. Having gained insight into these aspects of contemporary Southeast Asia, students learn to apply an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of challenges faced by the region such as economic and social inequality, environmental management, food security and urbanisation.

Details

Academic unit
Unit code	ASNS2665
Unit name	Understanding Southeast Asia
Session, year ?	Semester 1, 2020
Attendance mode	Online
Location	Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Credit points	6

Enrolment rules

Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	12 Junior credit points
Corequisites ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff and contact details

Coordinator	Adrian Vickers, adrian.vickers@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Siobhan Louise Campbell , siobhan.campbell@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Essay research essay	30%	-	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Briefing paper report-form paper	25%	Week 07	1000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Annotated Bibliography Detailed commentary on sources	20%	Week 10	500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Weekly quiz and reflection On-line quiz and reflective commentary	25%	Weekly	2000 words total
Outcomes assessed:

Weekly quiz and Reflection: These quizzes test for knowledge and understanding of the materials covered in the weekly module, including the video lecture, radio interviews and readings. Please note there is a 2 hour time limit on the quiz. Reflections should be around 200 words in length.
Briefing paper: Students will work on and submit a briefing paper designed for use by a senior Australian bureaucrat who will be meeting with senior foreign government officials to discuss the progress of one of a number of specified development assistance projects in a Southeast Asian country.
Annotated bibliography: Students will be required to submit for marking an annotated bibliography on three readings related to one of the essay questions.
Essay: Students will submit an academic essay that focuses on one of the case study topics as it relates to a Southeast Asian country or countries.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an exceptional standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Distinction	75 - 84	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a very high standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Credit	65 - 74	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at a good standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Pass	50 - 64	Awarded when you demonstrate the learning outcomes for the unit at an acceptable standard, as defined by grade descriptors or exemplars outlined by your faculty or school.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Special consideration

If you experience short-term circumstances beyond your control, such as illness, injury or misadventure or if you have essential commitments which impact your preparation or performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic honesty, academic dishonesty, and the resources available to all students.

The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic dishonesty or plagiarism seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of dishonesty, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	Geography	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Culture and religion	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	History	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Political science	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Political economy	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Guided country study	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Urbanisation	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Food security	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	Labour migration	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Disability policy	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Environmental management	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	Review week	Lecture and tutorial (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: This is a fully on-line unit, so there are no face-to-face classes, but the coordinator and tutor will arrange consultation sessions for those who need them.
Lecture recording: Lecture material is available on-line.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Detailed Schedule of Readings

Week 1: Introduction

Acharya, Amitav. 2012. “Imagining Southeast Asia.” In The Making of Southeast Asia: International Relations of a Region, 51–104. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Week 2: Geography

van Schendel, Willem. 2002. “Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance: Jumping Scale in Southeast Asia.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space no. 20 (6):647–668.

Week 3: Culture and Religion

Sunardi, C. (2009). Pushing at the boundaries of the body: Cultural politics and cross-gender dance in East Java, Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, 165(4): 459-492.

Week 4: History

Winichakul, Thongchai. 2003. "Writing at the Interstices: Southeast Asian Historians and Postnational Histories in Southeast Asia." In New terrains in Southeast Asian history, edited by Abu Talib Ahmad and Liok Ee Tan, pp. 329. Athens: Ohio University Press. 3

Week 5: Political Science

Arugay, A., Sinpeng, A.(2018. Varieties of Authoritarianism and the Limits of Democratization in Southeast Asia. In Alice D. Ba, Mark Beeson (Eds.), Contemporary Southeast Asia: The Politics of Change, Contestation, and Adaptation, (pp. 91-110). London: Palgrave.

Week 6: Political Economy

Juanita Elias and Lena Rethel. 2016. “Introduction.” The Everyday Political Economy of Southeast Asia. Edited by Juanita Elias and Lena Rethel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.268– https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/everyday-political-economy-of-southeast-asia/southeast-asia-and-everyday-political-economy/6BB4BF1058AB891760ED0533035FC3FB

Week 8: Urbanism

Ballegooijen, Jan Van, and Roberto Rocco. 2013. “The Ideologies of Informality: Informal Urbanisation in the Architectural and Planning Discourses.” Third World Quarterly no. 34 (10):1794–1810.

Goh, Daniel P. S., and Tim Bunnell. 2013. “Recentering Southeast Asian Cities.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research no. 37 (3):825–833.

Week 9: Food Security

Neilson, J. and Wright, J. 2017. “The state and the food security discourses of Indonesia: feeding the Bangsa”, Geographical Research 55(3): 131-143.

Davidson, J. 2018. “Then and Now: Campaigns to Achieve Rice Self-Sufficiency in Indonesia”. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 174(2/3): 188-215.

Week 10: Labour Migration

Djafar, Fariastuti, and Mohd Khairul Hisyam Hassan. 2013. “Does Trade with Labour Sending Countries Reduce Demand for Migrant Workers: A Lesson from Malaysia.” Asian Economic and Financial Review no. 3 (10):1325–1336.

Ford, Michele. 2012. “Contested Borders, Contested Boundaries: The Politics of Labour Migration in Southeast Asia.” In Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics, edited by Richard Robison, 305–314. London: Routledge.

Week 11: Disability

Boellstorff, Tom. 2019. “Om Toleran Om: Four Indonesian Reflections on Digital Heterosexism.” Media, Culture & Society, (November). doi:10.1177/0163443719884066.

Dede Oetomo/Inside Indonesia https://www.insideindonesia.org/reformasi-s-broken-promises

Week 12: Environmental Management

McCarthy, J. F., & Cramb, R. A. 2009. “Policy narratives, landholder engagement, and oil palm expansion on the Malaysian and Indonesian frontiers”. Geographical Journal, 175(2), 112-123.

Neilson, J. 2017.”Indonesia: a political-economic history of environment and resources.” Routledge Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia, ed. P. Hirsch, pp. 374-389. Routledge.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University’s graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. demonstrate familiarity with key aspects of the Southeast Asian region, including its cultures, history and geography, and its political and economic systems
LO2. demonstrate the ability to drawn on insights provided by a range of disciplines when analysing complex real-world problems in a Southeast Asian context
LO3. present evidenced-based arguments in academic and policy genres.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Closing the loop

This unit has been revised on the basis of student feedback and peer evaluation, in particular lectures and readings have been up-dated.

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The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Details

Enrolment rules

Teaching staff and contact details

Assessment

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Special consideration

Academic integrity

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Closing the loop

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

ASNS2665: Understanding Southeast Asia

Overview

Details

Enrolment rules

Teaching staff and contact details

Assessment

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Special consideration

Academic integrity

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Closing the loop

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect