Asia in Transregional Perspective

Code	School	Level	Credits	Semesters
PHIR4025	Politics and International Relations	4	20	Spring Malaysia

Code: PHIR4025
School: Politics and International Relations
Level: 4
Credits: 20
Semesters: Spring Malaysia

Summary

The mobility of people and the flow of goods and ideas across Asia so familiar to many today have significant historical precedents that have been diminished by heavily nation-and region-centred, and present-minded, understandings. This module acknowledges the relevance of regional rubrics such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, East Asia and so forth, and the many nation-states they subsume. The module explores, however, the historical connections that existed across regional and national boundaries and their presentday implications. The transregional in this instance is not a methodology but a perspective that offers the scales required to grapple with inter-Asian themes such as migration and diaspora, the circulation of texts, food, and cultural artifacts, and networks of family, politics and trade. The module asks what the imaginaries are that have shaped Asia. By considering different scales, from the transregional to the local, it offers grounded understandings of mobile, expansive and complex histories. Students will read key works that chart transregional imaginaries and thereby frame an understanding of Asia in the context of the world.

Target Students

PHIR and FASS students Available to JYA/Erasmus students.

Classes

One 2-hour seminar each week for 12 weeks
One 1-hour lecture each week for 12 weeks

Assessment

75% Coursework 2: 4000 words - Essay.
25% Coursework 1: 1,000 words - Literature review (to be presented in class)

Educational Aims

By the end of the module, students will be able to:Demonstrate an understanding of transregional perspectivesDemonstrate knowledge of political, cultural and geographical imaginaries that have shaped AsiaDemonstrate an understanding of the place of inter-Asian connections in world historyDemonstrate the ability to locate the significance respectively of the contemporary international order and the inter-Asian pastDemonstrate knowledge of the presentday implications of inter-Asian histories

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 the mobility of people and the circulation of goods and ideas and understand the significance of these phenomena

Understand the constitution of Asian cultures, societies and polities in global context

b) Intellectual Skills

Ability to draw salient themes from complex data and narratives

c) Professional/Practical skills

Ability to write an essay with a balance of description and analysis

d) Transferable & Key skills

Ability to make an argument that is multi-sited in character and analytically sound

Ability to recognise underlying connections between seemingly disparate questions and themes

e)IT skills

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

Conveners

Conveners unspecified.

View in Curriculum Catalogue

Last updated 09/01/2025.