Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

This module is intended to introduce students to key themes in modern Southeast Asian history while also giving them direct access to primary sources. Requiring no language ability, the use of images, provides first hand use of primary materials. Through the course, students will be able to work with such sources, learning how to ‘read’ images, and how to write about them in a professional manner. This will provide them with an important basis from which to work on more complex historical problems during the third year.

This module allows students to take a novel look at the modern history of Southeast Asia through the propaganda that different powers employed during the twentieth century. Exploiting a range of sources, the module will require students to engage with a range of historiographical approaches. Many of the sources will be image based, such as photographs, posters, magazines or adverts, but students will also be asked to perform textual analysis on sources such as poems, speeches and articles as well as film. In engaging with this material, students will gain close insight into the narratives that shaped Southeast Asian society and how these were both constructed and exploited by national leaders and foreign powers. This direct engagement with the source material will also provide insight into the thinking of propagandists, supporting a broader understanding of propaganda as a craft.