Time Schedule:
Judith A.N. Henchy
INFX 598
Seattle Campus
Introduces innovation and specialized topics relating to the study of information in any context.
Class description
This course will serve a dual purpose of introducing graduate students to information sources in and about the region, and teach them to evaluate those sources within various theoretical articulations: scholastic, cultural and political. It will offer an analysis of the pedagogical implications of the life cycle of information, and critique these assumptions from various theoretical and cultural viewpoints.
The class will look at different kinds of local knowledge, and the development of knowledge production in and about the region, including the influences of Western philosophy and pedagogy on shaping knowledge under colonialism. We will look at contemporary information sources, censorship and its implications for scholarship. We will examine theories influencing the ways in which information resources from regions such as Southeast Asia are archived and described – those dominant systems influencing the classification of textual knowledge in the Euro-American scholarly world. Tracing Heidegger’s notion of “conquest of the world as picture” we will question the idea of exhibitionary order, and the role of colonial (and postcolonial) discourses in positing Southeast Asian information resources as exotic objects on display.
The course will look at questions of orality, the privileging of textuality in the fixing of knowledge, and the problems of translation in the interpretation of texts across thought worlds. We will examine the impact of the introduction of non-textual imagery on information production and consumption, in the form of newsprint advertising and photographic representation. We will also consider the implications of this “post-textual” world, including the “virtual” environment of electronic information media.
The readings will focus on examples from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, but students will be encouraged to look throughout Southeast Asia for case studies which are illustrative of the cultural and political change influencing information production, representation and consumption.
Student learning goals
Learning Objectives
1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of Southeast Asian sites of knowledge: as history, oral tradition, archives or popular culture. 2. Demonstrate an understanding of some of the key theoretical challenges in the discourse of historical archives and contemporary media productions. 3. Demonstrate an ability to apply theory and the techniques of various methodologies, particularly ethnographic and historiographical, to questions of history, political discourse, oral tradition, and archives. 4. Demonstrate skill in applying these theoretical insights to a chosen area of research interest.
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
SISSE 520/420: Southeast Asian Knowledge and the Politics of Information Provisional Course Syllabus:
Instructor: Judith Henchy Class: Wed 3.30-5.20 pm Office Hours: Wed. 11 am - 1 pm, Rm 131 Suzzallo Library
This course will serve a dual purpose of introducing graduate students to information sources in and about the region, and teach them to evaluate those sources within various theoretical articulations: scholastic, cultural and political. It will offer an analysis of the pedagogical implications of the life cycle of information, and critique these assumptions from various theoretical and cultural viewpoints.
The class will look at different kinds of local knowledge, and the development of knowledge production in and about the region, including the influences of Western philosophy and pedagogy on shaping knowledge under colonialism. We will look at contemporary information sources, censorship and its implications for scholarship. We will examine theories influencing the ways in which information resources from regions such as Southeast Asia are archived and described – those dominant systems influencing the classification of textual knowledge in the Euro-American scholarly world. Tracing Heidegger’s notion of “conquest of the world as picture” we will question the idea of exhibitionary order, and the role of colonial (and postcolonial) discourses in positing Southeast Asian information resources as exotic objects on display.
The course will look at questions of orality, the privileging of textuality in the fixing of knowledge, and the problems of translation in the interpretation of texts across thought worlds. We will examine the impact of the introduction of non-textual imagery on information production and consumption, in the form of newsprint advertising and photographic representation. We will also consider the implications of this “post-textual” world, including the “virtual” environment of electronic information media.
The readings will focus on examples from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, but students will be encouraged to look throughout Southeast Asia for case studies which are illustrative of the cultural and political change influencing information production, representation and consumption.
Learning Objectives
1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of Southeast Asian sites of knowledge: as history, oral tradition, archives or popular culture. 2. Demonstrate an understanding of some of the key theoretical challenges in the discourse of historical archives and contemporary media productions. 3. Demonstrate an ability to apply theory and the techniques of various methodologies, particularly ethnographic and historiographical, to questions of history, political discourse, oral tradition, and archives. 4. Demonstrate skill in applying these theoretical insights to a chosen area of research interest.
Grading
Students will be graded on participation in class discussion (30%); short paper assignments (1 -2 pages) discussing readings (30%) and a 20- 25 page (SISSE 520) or 15-20 page (SISSE 420) research paper (40%).
Required Readings
Scholarly Monographs Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects. Ed. Laurie Sears. UW Press, 2007. Cummings, William. Making blood white : historical transformations in early modern Makassar. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, c2002. Mrazek, Rudolf. Engineers of Happy Land : Technology and Nationalism in a Colony. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2002. Loos, Tamara. Subject Siam : family, law, and colonial modernity in Thailand. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006. Norindr, Panivong. Phantasmatic Indochina: French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film and Literature. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. Lopez, Donald S, ed. Curators of the Buddha : the study of Buddhism under colonialism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. (Ch 1,2 and 5)
Fiction Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. Footsteps. Translated and introduced by Max Lane. Penguin, c1991. Vu, Trong Phung. Dumb luck : a novel. Peter Zinoman, editor; translated by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman, with an introduction by Peter Zinoman. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2002. Nguyen Huy Thiep; Zinoman, Peter, tr. "Fired gold," Vietnam Forum 14 (1994) 17-35.
Articles (Available on E-Reserve)
Fanon, Franz. Black skin white masks. Paladin, 1970. Excerpts. Becker, A.L., ed. Writing on the Tongue. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, no 33. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1989.(Selection: pp 281-320). Ong, Walter J. Orality and literacy : the technologizing of the word . London ; New York : Routledge, 1991 (Ch 1, 4, 5: pp 5-15; 78-138). Shamsul. “Knowledge Creation, the Social Science and Scholarship on Southeast Asia.” In Colloquium on Academic Library Information Resources for Southeast Asian Scholarship: Proceedings. Kuala Lampur: University of Malaya Library, 1997. Jennifer Lindsay: “The Keepers.” Paper submitted for the Southeast Asian Consortium on Preservation and Access, Chiang Mai, Feb 2000. [www.seacap.chiangmai.ac.th/book/book7.pdf] Benjamin, Walter: “The Task of the Translator.” In Illuminations, edited and with an Introduction by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken, 1969. pp 69-83. ------. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. Rafael, Vincente L. Contracting colonialism : translation and Christian conversion in Tagalog society under early Spanish rule. Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1988. (Introduction) Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Tr. By Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. (Selection) Barthes, Roland “The Death of the Author,” Aspen, no 5-6. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/threeEssays.html#barthes Heidegger, Martin. “The Age of the World Picture.” In The question concerning technology and other essays. Translated and with an introduction by William Lovitt. New York : Harper & Row, 1977: 115-138. Nunes, Mark. “Jean Baudrillard in cyberspace: Internet, virtuality, and postmodernity, Style, Summer 1995 v29 n2 p314-28. Rafael, Vicente L. “The cell phone and the crowd: messianic politics in the contemporary Philippines,” Public Culture 15, no.3 (Fall 2003) 399-425. Rodan, Garry. “Embracing Electronic Media but Suppressing Civil Society: Authoritarian Consolidation in Singapore.” The Pacific Review 16, no. 4 (2003): 503-524 Warner, Michael. “Publics and Counterpublics (abbreviated version).” The Quarterly Journal of Speech, v. 88 no4 (Nov. 2002) p. 413-25
Class Schedule
Week One: What is knowledge, how is its organization cultural. What do we know about SEA and its knowledge? Introduction.
Reading introduction: Toer, Pramoedya Ananta. Footsteps. Translated and introduced by Max Lane. Penguin, 1991.
Introduction to class, discussion of student and class objectives. SEA and its own knowledge; SEA in the U.S. academy. “Traditional” knowledge and its sources: fables and tales, orality. Colonialisms and their technologies. Critical theory and cultural studies: what do they teach us? Orientalism and its critics. Theories of power and their subversions: from Marx, to Freud to Foucault.
Week Two: What is knowledge, how is its organization cultural. What do we know about SEA and its knowledge? Discussion
Discussion leaders will submit topics for discussion, preferably by 5 pm Tuesdays.
Readings for Week 2:
Pramoedya novel: Footsteps. First half. Jennifer Lindsay: “The Keepers.” Paper submitted for the Southeast Asian Consortium on Preservation and Access, Chiang Mai, Feb 2000. [www.seacap.chiangmai.ac.th/book/book7.pdf] Henchy, Judith. “Disciplining Knowledge: Representing Resources for Southeast Asian Studies in the Libraries of the U.S. Academy.” Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects. Ed. Laurie Sears. UW Press, 2007. Sears, Laurie J. “Postcolonial Identities, Feminist Criticism and Southeast Asian Studies.” Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects. Ed. Laurie Sears. UW Press, 2007.
Week Thee: From Orality to Textuality: Meanings and technologies.
Assignment due : Write a 1 - 2 page synopsis of readings from weeks 1 - 3.
Readings for week 3:
Pramoedya novel: second half. Barthes, Roland “The Death of the Author,” Aspen, no 5-6. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/threeEssays.html#barthes Becker, A.L., ed. Writing on the Tongue. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, no 33. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1989.(Selection: pp 281-320). Ong, Walter J. Orality and literacy : the technologizing of the word . London ; New York : Routledge, 1991 (Ch 1, 4, 5: pp 5-15; 78-138). Nguyen Huy Thiep; Zinoman, Peter, tr. "Fired gold," Vietnam Forum 14 (1994) 17-35.
Weeks 4: Colonialism and technologies of language Begin to think about a final research project.
Readings for week 4: Mrazek, Rudolf. Engineers of Happy Land : Technology and Nationalism in a Colony. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2002. Benjamin, Walter: “The Task of the Translator.” In Illuminations, edited and with an Introduction by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken, 1969. pp 69-83.
Week Five: Writing and Southeast Asia
Readings for week 5:
Cummings, William. Making blood white : historical transformations in early modern Makassar. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, c2002. Shamsul. “Knowledge Creation, the Social Science and Scholarship on Southeast Asia.” In Colloquium on Academic Library Information Resources for Southeast Asian Scholarship: Proceedings. Kuala Lampur: University of Malaya Library, 1997. Ariel Heryanto “Can there be Southeast Asians in Southeast Asian Studies?” In Sears, ed. Knowing Southeast Asian Subjects: pp 75-108.
Weeks Five: State construction and the interpretation of knowledge
Assignment due : Write a 2 page synopsis of readings from weeks 4 – 5, exploring how they might be of relevance to your research interests.
Readings for week 5: Loos, Tamara. Subject Siam : family, law, and colonial modernity in Thailand. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006 Rafael, Vincente L. Contracting colonialism : translation and Christian conversion in Tagalog society under early Spanish rule. Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1988. (Introduction) ------. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” In Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt. New York: Schocken Books, 1969.
.Week seven: Technologies of Representation
Assignment due : Written 4 page synopsis of your research ideas and preparation for class presentation.
Readings for week 7:
Fanon excerpt. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York : Pantheon Books, 1978 (Introduction and selections) Mitchell, Timothy. “Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order.” In Nicholas Dirks, ed. Colonialism and Culture. Ann Arbor: U Mich, 1992. (pp 289-317) Vu, Trong Phung. Dumb luck : a novel. Peter Zinoman, editor; translated by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman, with an introduction by Peter Zinoman. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2002
Week Eight: Orientalisms and Knowledge on Display
Readings for week 8:
Heidegger, Martin. “The Age of the World Picture.” In The question concerning technology and other essays. Translated and with an introduction by William Lovitt. New York : Harper & Row, 1977: 115-138. Norindr, Panivong. Phantasmatic Indochina: French Colonial Ideology in Architecture, Film and Literature. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. (Selections)
Week Nine: Seeing as Conquering Readings for week 9: Lopez, Donald S, ed. Curators of the Buddha : the study of Buddhism under colonialism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. (Particularly Ch 1,2 and 5) Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Tr. By Richard Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981. (Selection)
Week 10:
Assignment : Be prepared to talk about your final project in class.
Readings for week 10:
Nunes, Mark. “Jean Baudrillard in cyberspace: Internet, virtuality, and postmodernity, Style, Summer 1995 v29 n2 p314-28. Rafael, Vicente L. “The cell phone and the crowd: messianic politics in the contemporary Philippines,” Public Culture 15, no.3 (Fall 2003) 399-425. Rodan, Garry. “Embracing Electronic Media but Suppressing Civil Society: Authoritarian Consolidation in Singapore.” The Pacific Review 16, no. 4 (2003): 503-524
Final Project: 20 – 25 (15-20 page for SISSE 420) page research outline paper, exploring how the readings can be useful to your research topic.
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Grading
Students will be graded on participation in class discussion (30%); short paper assignments (1 -2 pages) discussing readings (30%) and a 20- 25 page (SISSE 520) or 15-20 page (SISSE 420) research paper (40%).
