MA Pacific Asian Studies
Duration: One year (full-time) Two or three years (part-time)
Overview
Minimum Entry Requirements: Minimum upper second class honours (or equivalent)
Start of programme: September intake only
The region known as "Pacific Asia" can be defined in various ways, but the "core" countries are China, Japan, Korea and the ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines). Together, they make up one of the most diverse and important regions in the world.SOAS has more expertise in this part of the world than any other institution in Western Europe; indeed there are very few places anywhere in the world that can boast the same range of expertise.
This degree is a way of bringing together the large number of courses on Pacific Asia currently on offer in SOAS Masters programmes for Chinese Studies, Japanese Studies, South East Asian Studies, and Korean Studies.
The courses chosen must cover three of the four regions of China and Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia.
Structure
Students take three taught courses, one of which is considered a major, and complete a 10,000-word dissertation related to the major.
As a Regional Studies programme students will be expected to select their course from more than one discipline The two minor courses can be taken from the same discipline (but different to that of the major) or two different ones. The courses chosen must cover three of the four regions of China and Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia.
Anthropology
- Chinese Culture and Society (15PANC089)
- Japanese Culture and Society (15PANC086)
- South East Asian Culture and Society (15PANC088)
- Society and Culture in Taiwan (half unit term 2) (15PCHM003) (Minor only)
- Chinese Cinema and Media (half-unit term 1) (15PANH037)
Art and Archaeology
- Ancient Chinese Civilisation (15PARC026)
- Archaeology of the Japanese archipelago (half unit) (15PARH005) (Not available 2009-10)
- Art and religious experience in pre modern Japan (half unit) (15PARH009) (not available 2009-10)
- Asia and Africa on Display: Objects, Exhibits and Transculturation (half unit term 2) (15PARH043)
- Ceramics in Chinese Culture: 10th to 18th Centuries (half unit term 2) (15PARH046)
- Chinese art history: critical writings (15PARC029) (Not available 2009-10)
- Painting and Literature in China (15PARC042)
- South East Asian Art and Archaeology (15PARC003)
- Directed Readings in Art and Archaeology (half-unit) (15PARH037)
- Japanese calligraphy: history and reading practice (half unit) (15PARH010) (Not available 2009-10)
- Popular practice in the Edo period arts (half unit term 2) (15PARH008)
- Shogunal Iconography in the Edo period(half unit term 1) (15 PARH007)
- Topics in Korean Material Culture (15PARC035)
Cinema
- Genders and Sexualities in South East Asian Film (half unit term 2) (15PSEH011)
- Modern Chinese Film and Theatre ((half-unit term 1) (15PCHH001)
- Modern Film From Taiwan and the Chinese Diaspora (half-unit term 2) (15PCHH002)
- Japanese Transnational Cinema: From Kurosawa to Asia Extreme and Studio Ghibli (half-unit term 1) (15PMSH017)
- Japanese Post War Film Genres and the Avant-garde (half-unit term 2) (15PMSH001)
- Post-crisis Thai Cinema 1997-2007 (half unit) (Not available 2009-10)
- Postcolonialism and Otherness in South East Asia on Screen (half-unit) (15PSEH010) (Not available 2009-10)
Economics
- Economic development of Modern Taiwan (half unit term 2) (Minor only) (15PECH002)
- Economic Dynamics of the Asia-Pacific Region (Major only) (15PECC334)
- Economic Problems and Policies in Modern China (Minor only) (15PECC035)
- The Economic Development of South East Asia (15PECC004)
History
- Japanese Modernity 1 (half-unit term 1) (15PHIH013)
- Japanese Modernity 2 (half-unit term 2) (15PHIH014)
- Sex and Gender in the 20th Century: Contemporary Japan in Context (half-unit term 1) (15PHIH010)
- Knowledge and Power in Late Imperial and Modern China (15PHIC063)
- Society and Politics in Late Colonial South East Asia (15PHIC037) (Not available 2009-10)
- Society, Culture and Drugs in China 1700-1990 (15PHIC014) (Not available 2009-10)
- The State and the Art: Photography and Nation Building in Burma (half-unit term 2) (15PHIH015)
- Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia- Making States and Building Nations (I) (half-unit) (15PHIH011)
- Histories of Ethnicity and Conflict in South East Asia- Non-national Perspectives (II) (half-unit) (15PHIH012)
- State and Culture in Mainland South East Asia in the Sixteenth to Ninteenth Centuries (half-unit term 1) (15PHIH016)
- The Rise and Fall of the Southeast Asian Empires, Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries (15PHIC017) (Not available 2009-10)
- World War II, Cold War, and the 'War on Terror': The United States and south East Asia, from 1942 to the present. (15PHIC059) (Not available 2009-10)
Language: [one language option as a Minor only]:
- Special Course in Chinese I(155900828)
- Special Course in Chinese II (15 590 0829)
- Special Course in Chinese III (15 590 1097)
- Special Course in Chinese IV (15 590 1144)
- Special Course in Chinese: Mandarin for Cantonese Speakers (15 590 1233)
- Special Course in Chinese: Reading Classical and Literary Chinese (15 590 1234)
- Elementary Spoken Hokkien (155901249)
- Elementary Korean(15 590 0842)
- Intermediate Korean(15 590 0843)
- Korean Advanced (Masters) (15PEAC018)
- Basic Japanese I (155900874)
- Basic Japanese II (Masters) (15 590 0875)
- Intermediate Japanese 1 (155901345)
- Intermediate Japanese 2 (155901346)
- Advanced Japanese (Masters) (15PEAC003)
- Burmese Language 1(15 590 0910)
- Burmese Language 2 (15 590 0997)
- Indonesian Language 1 (155900448)
- Indonesian Language 2(15 590 1022)
- Indonesian Language 3(15 590 1023)
- Indonesian Language 4 (15 590 1024)
- Vietnamese Language 1 (15 590 0704)
- Vietnamese Language 2 (15 590 0705)
- Thai Language 1 (PG)
- Thai Language 2 (PG)
Law
- Modern Chinese Law and Human Rights (15PLAC139)
- Foundations of Chinese Law (15PLAC110)
- Chinese Commercial Law (15PLAC106)
- Islamic Law (15PLAC121)
- Migration, Gender and the Law in South East Asia and Beyond (half-unit term 2)
Literature (Appropriate language skills required):
- Jawi and the Malay Manuscript Tradition (half-unit term 2) (15PSEH006) MINOR ONLY
Literature (no language requirement):
- Pre-modern Historical Texts Of Java, Bali And The Malay World In English Translation (half unit term 2) (15PSEH007) MINOR ONLY
- The Urban/ Rural divide in South East Asian Literature in Translation (half unit) (Not available 2009-10)
- War, Revolution, Independence in South East Asian Fiction (half-unit term 1) (15PSEH009)
Music
- Pop and Politics in East Asia (Masters) (half-unit term 1) (15PMUH014)
- Musical Traditions of East Asia (Masters) (half-unit term 2) (15PMUH016)
- Aspects of Music and Religion in South East Asia (half-unit)
Politics
- State and Society in the Chinese Political Process (15PPOC012)
- China and International Politics (15PPOC018)
- International Politics of East Asia (15PPOC251)
- Government and Politics of Modern South East Asia (15PPOC247)
- Government and politics of Taiwan (half unit term 1) (Minor only)
Programme Specification
Teaching & Learning
Teaching & Learning
Lectures and Seminars
For most courses there is one 2-hour class each week. This may be an informal lecture followed by a discussion or student presentation. At Masters level there is particular emphasis on seminar work where students may be expected to make full-scale presentations for units they take.
Dissertation
The 10,000-word dissertation on an approved topic linked with one of the taught courses.
Learning Resources
SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.
