NEH South East Asia 2005

Institute Content

Southeast Asia by virtue of its location has been subject to a diversity of religious, political, and artistic ideas from all the major Middle Eastern, Asian and Western societies. Yet it has continued to maintain a distinctive Southeast Asian identity through a process of selective accommodation, and it has emerged from each new encounter with revitalized cultural values restated in a more "up to date" idiom (see Wolters). Southeast Asian societies have been, and continue to be, among the most dynamic and highly differentiated in the world, with economic development, mushrooming civil societies, and cultural transformation now taking place at rates with few, if any, parallels around the globe.

These characteristics of the region place particular demands on the undergraduate educator aiming to infuse Southeast Asian studies into their coursework. Developing a pedagogically useful understanding of Southeast Asia's diversity is a challenge that will be addressed throughout the five weeks of the Institute. In the opening sessions of each week, Drs. Barbara and Leonard Andaya, the Lead Academics, will preview the historical events and themes to be explored during the week. Each Friday session they will begin by summarizing some of the major points made during the week, which will then be followed by a discussion with the participation of some of the week's presenters. Participants will have the opportunity to seek clarification, debate the ideas presented that week, and to discuss how some of the points made could be incorporated into their curriculum projects. This will insure that at the end of the five weeks, participants have a framework for teaching about Southeast Asia that integrates history with social and cultural traditions, and addresses how the past and new global forces affect modern Southeast Asia.