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.

Students who satisfy the requirements of this course will have the knowledge and skills to:

-         Execute a multidisciplinary research project in a field environment;

-         Communicate appropriately in a wide-range of situations encountered along the Thailand-Burma border;

-         Analyse contemporary political and economic change in a frontier zone;

-         Locate the Thailand-Burma borderlands within academic, journalistic and policy literatures;

-         Explain the social and cultural dynamics of Thailand and Burma in transnational perspective;

-         Reflect critically on field research as a key component of academic output.

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 winter session (June-July 2011).

N/A

N/A

Thai 1B or equivalent OR

Security and Strategic Studies A and B OR

Individual and Society in Asia OR

Burma/Myanmar: A Country in Crisis

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.

The course will complement the following existing courses: Thai 1A and 1B, Thai 2A and 2B, Thai 3A; Burmese 1A; Security and Strategic Studies A and B; Individual and Society in Asia A and B; Burma/Myanmar: A Country in Crisis.