Courses

This course covers select topics on violence in modern Southeast Asia. The focus is on large scale violence such as war and genocide but also includes cases of communal or political violence. The media and texts selected draw from a variety of disciplines and sources with the aim of providing students with a variety of perspectives and understandings of select cases of Southeast Asian violence and its aftermaths. In addition to covering regional cases such as the Cambodian genocide and Vietnam War, the course also focuses on special topics for comparison such as gender and perpetrators of violence. Students will compare the causes, types of violence and aftermaths including the effects on collective memory and recovery.  The seminar ends with a survey of current state of violence or the potential for violence in the future and examines the outcomes of local means of recovery, transitional justice mechanisms, and peacebuilding efforts.