Students will explore issues relating to international relations, transnational security and regional trade. They will also explore the experiences of various ethnic minority groups in considerable detail. This course will engage students in an interactive approach to learning the Thai and Burmese languages alongside a structured introduction to the cultures, societies and politics of mainland Southeast Asia's frontiers.

On the ground in northern Thailand students' developing linguistic and analytical skills will be tested and refined during four-weeks of structured field exercises, language training and academic seminars.  Taking account of the broad complexities of these Southeast Asian borderlands, this course puts the challenges of greater regional integration in comparative and transnational perspective.

Placements will be subject to availability and security assessment. Students are advised that due to circumstances beyond the University’s control (for example: the onset of specific international security concerns, or international health crises) it may not be possible for this program to run or it may be terminated at short notice or without notice. STUDENTS ENTER THIS PROGRAM AT THEIR OWN RISK.

Assessment will be based on four components:

1.  In-country attendance and participation in academic activities (10 per cent)

2.  Thai language communication skills. Assessment will be based on student’s efforts to communicate with local people in the Thai language throughout the duration of the course. Assessment will be conducted by the Thai language convenor. (25 per cent)

3.  Burmese and other ethnic language skills. Assessment will be based on students’ efforts to communicate throughout the duration of the course. Assessment will be conducted by appropriately qualified language staff. (25 per cent)

4.  Research paper based on field experiences in Southeast Asia. (40 per cent)

This intensive course is the equivalent of a two-semester ANU course conducted over 4 weeks in the summer session (January - February 2009).

Thai 1B or equivalent OR

Security and Strategic Studies A and B OR

Individual and Society in Asia OR

Chachavalapongpun, Parvin, A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations, Lanham, University Press of America, 2005.

Fink, Christina, Living Silence: Burma Under Military Rule, Bangkok, White Lotus, 2001.

Lang, Hazel, Fear and Sanctury: Burmese Refugees in Thailand, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2002.

Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, History of Thailand, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

South, Ashley, Mon Nationalism and Civil War in Burma, London, Routledge Curzon, 2003.