MA South East Asian Studies

Students take 180 credits, 60 of which are a dissertation and a 120 from taught modules. A maximum of 60 credits can be taken from one discipline and a minimum of three disciplines must be covered. All students on this programme are required to take a South East Asian language as one their modules. For students opting to take two language acquisition modules, only one of these can be at an introductory level.

Some disciplines such as politics, economics or social anthropology require an appropriate qualification (such as part of a first degree) if any of their modules are to be taken as the major subject.

Students must take 30 credits from the following list of SEA languages. A maximum of 30 credits only at beginners level.

• Burmese Language 1 (PG)
• Burmese Language 2 (PG)
• Burmese Language and Texts (PG)
• Indonesian Language 1 (PG)
• Indonesian Language 2 (PG)
• Indonesian Language 3 (PG)
• Indonesian Language 4 (PG)
• Khmer (Cambodian) Language 1 (PG)
• Thai Language 1 (PG)
• Thai Language 2 (PG)
• Thai Language 3 (PG)
• Vietnamese Language 1 (PG)
• Vietnamese Language 2 (PG)
• Vietnamese Language and Texts (PG)
• Chinese 1 (PG)
• Chinese 2 (PG)
• Chinese 3 (PG)
• Chinese 4 (PG)
• Sanskrit Language 1 (PG)
• Sanskrit Language 2 (PG)

• Culture and Society of South East Asia

• The Figure of the Buddha: Theory, Practice and the Making of Buddhist Art History
• Issues in Contemporary Southeast Asian Art
• (En)gendering Southeast Asia: Aesthetics and Politics of Sexual Difference
• Monuments and sculpture of Angkor
• Buddhist and Hindu Art of the Maritime Silk Route
• Illustrated Manuscript Cultures of Southeast Asia
• Southeast Asia's Art Histories

• Genders and Sexualities in South East Asian Film
• (Post) Colonialism and Otherness in South East Asia on Screen
• Post-crisis Thai Cinema (1997-2007)
• Vietnam on Screen (PG)
• Indonesia on Screen(PG)

• The economic development of South East Asia

Requires module convenor approval

• Economic development of the Asia Pacific region
• Economic development of the Asia Pacific region 2

• Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia 1 - Making States and Building Nations
• Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia 2 - Non-National Perspectives
• Asian Wars: World War II and the End of Empire (1942-1960)

• Energy Policy in the Asia-Pacific

• Law and Society in Southeast Asia
• Islamic Law (MA/LLM)

• Jawi and the Malay Manuscript Tradition (Masters)
• Directed Readings in a South East Asian Language

• The Urban/Rural Divide in South East Asian Literature
• War, Revolution and Independence in South East Asia Literatures in Translation (Masters)
• English Literatures of South East Asia
• Under Western Eyes: European Writings on South East Asia (PG)

• Aspects of Music and Religion in South East Asia
• Popular and Fusion Music in South East Asia (PG)

• Government and politics of modern South East Asia

If you are a current student you can find structure information on Moodle or through your Department.

• MA South East Asian Studies- Programme Specifications 2012/13 (pdf; 29kb)
• South East Asia Pages from the SOAS 2017 Prospectus (pdf; 562kb)
• MA South East Asian Studies - Programme Specifications 2017/18 (pdf; 338kb)

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules