Australia, New Zealand, and the adjacent islands of the Pacific have become one of the key new frontiers of Chinese migration. The Chinese now represent the largest Asian minority in these countries, of roughly Southeast Asian dimensions. In the age of globalisation, dual or multiple identity, which Chinese migrants have long been accustomed to negotiating, have taken on fresh significance. With the study of nationalism increasingly concerned with diasporas and multiculturalism, the course will focus on the Chinese in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Taught normally by a visiting specialist scholar funded by the Jennifer Cushman Memorial Fund, the course will cover both theoretical issues of diasporic identities, and the particular experience of the Chinese in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

Tutorial (20%), Essay (40%), and Exam (40%). Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but may expect more rigorous assessment and additional assignment work, tailored to the graduate students’ interests. Graduate students may expect a final assignment rather than an exam.

Permission of coordinator

Pan, L., Children of the Yellow Emperor, Mandarin Paperback, 1990
Ong, A, and Nonini, D., (eds), The Cultural Politics of Modern Chinese Transnationalism, Routledge, 1997