CH3298: Chinese in Southeast Asia (in English)
Semester: AY2017/18 Semester 2
Lecturer: A/P Kwee Hui Kian
* 3hr seminar, no tutorial.
Pro Kwee covered migration and history of overseas chinese in Southeast Asia, since the pre-colonial period to today’s context. Countries that she covered this sem include Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. Lessons were conducted in a semi-discussion semi-lecture format, where the students will lead the discussion for the first hour or so, about the readings we’ve read the previous week, then Prof Kwee would add on and summarise the content in the second part of class. Workload each week is kind of heavy – we have to read 2 (occasionally 3) readings each week to participate in the discussion, but many readings are not thaaaaat interesting to read.
Grading Scheme:
1. Class participation and discussion
2. Mid-term essay
3. Research paper
4. Final test
Class participation and discussion
Since our discussions are based on the readings, we have to read AND understand them so that we can have a fruitful discussion. In the first few lessons, we were unsure of what to discuss, but as time passes we kinda got it (?) (i hope). We can raise questions we have from the readings, or any interesting things noted, but try not to make it superficial, or to say it just for the sake of participating. The atmosphere is like a half-casual chit-chat, and Prof Kwee makes the lessons really interesting, so there is no need to be stressed about the discussion bit.
Mid-term essay and research paper:
For mid-term essay (1000 words), Prof gave us an article to read through, summarise the arguments, and evaluate them. It should be fine as long as you take time to understand the article and write coherently. For the final essay (3000 words), we were supposed to choose our own topic to research on. You can approach Prof for consultation, but please do it early so that she would have time to talk to you face-to-face. Do start on the research early so that there’s enough time to consolidate materials and develop a strong research question. I started mine quite late due to bad time management (as usual) so my submitted version wasnt very well developed – both question and arguments.
Final test
This is like a 1hr-of-hell-speed-writing thingy that we might have experienced in our secondary/JC/pre-tertiary history exams. To revise for the test, one must be very familiar with all the case studies and examples so that he/she can just pluck the examples without wasting time to flip back and forth through the notes. It would be really recommended to make notes for the readings + lectures each week so that before the final test you can just flip through the notes and know where the examples are at. For this sem, we were tested on a comparative case-study question that goes something like this:
Between the ethnic chinese in Indonesia and Philippines, which group do you think integrated into the local society better and why? What do you think are some future challenges for them? (sth liddat i’ll update the exact question when i found my paper)
As we can see, the question isn’t veryyy difficult, just that we really need to be familiar with the examples so that we can focus on formulating the arguments in that short 1hr.
SOOO the difficulty of this module is not the content, but the requirement for consistent workload. Prof Kwee is very knowledgeable and her lessons are a pleasure to listen to. The topics covered are quite in-depth and diverse, as we get to see the migration and changes to the overseas SEA Chinese over a wide time scope (pre-colonial till today) from multiple perspectives (economic, anthropological, geographical etc). Through the process of understanding and discussing the readings, we better train our critical thinking skills and the ability to comprehend data logically. The research process for the paper is always a self-gratifying touch as we combine what we learnt throughout the module to apply on our own research. Yet this module demands abit of discipline to start things early and to make weekly notes consistently. The readings, unlike some other modules, are not just supplementary materials that we could just glance through and forget about it – we have to read it, understand the arguments, sort it through based on themes and formulate them into coherent words for the discussion.
So for those who are interested in SEA history and doesn’t mind a bit of readings, then do give this mod a try! 😀