This course examines gender and sexual identities in historical and contemporary Southeast Asia. Many recent scholars and Southeast Asians have positively viewed the region as an exemplary locus of fluid or ambiguous gender identities. At the same time, sex in Southeast Asia has long served as a site of colonial and nationalist anxiety, exploitation, and regulation, and in more recent times has been made a tourist attraction. Drawing from a wide range of material including primary source documents, ethnography, literature, and film, we will historicize these gender identities and sexual imaginaries of Southeast Asia, paying particular attention to the transformations wrought by colonial perceptions and instruments of rule, the political economy of imperial wars, the globalization of human rights discourses, and the so-called “return” of religion.

Intended Audience:

Undergraduates

Class Format:

Two 90-minute meetings weekly