Dr Kirsten Schulze M14 Sardinia House

This course is available on the MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (LSE and Peking University), MSc in International and World History (LSE & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course looks at  Indonesia, Malaysia,Thailand, the Philippines and Burma/Myanmar from the colonial period to the present day. It  focuses on  Islam, state and conflict, starting with a  broader discussion of the Islamisation of Southeast Asia and the entry of the European colonial powers. This is followed by a closer analysis of the relationship between Islam and the colonial state with seminars on the Dutch East Indies, 'British' Malaya, and the 'Spanish' Philippines. The course then looks at the rise of nationalism and the interplay of  Islam and  nationalism in the Muslim-majority states of Indonesia and Malaysia as well as the Muslim-minority states of Thailand, the Philippines, and Burma/Myanmar. In the second term this course studies the dynamics of Islam, the state, and local society in the Darul Islam rebellions (Indonesia), the southern Thailand conflict, the Aceh conflict (Indonesia), the Mindanao conflict (the Philippines), the Poso conflict (Indonesia), and the Rohingya conflict (Myanmar). It also looks at Islam and social conflict in Malaysia as well as the rise of regional and international jihadism with Jemaah Islamiyya and the Southeast Asian affiliates of ISIS. 

20 hours of seminars in the MT. 20 hours of seminars in the LT.

One formative essay (3,500 words) in Michaelmas Term.

Anthony Reid, Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and political identity in Southeast Asia

Michael Laffan, Islamic Nationhood and Colonial Indonesia: the umma below the winds

Hussin Mutalib, Islam in Southeast Asia

Joseph Liow, Religion and nationalism in Southeast Asia

Edward Aspinall, Islam and nation: Separatist rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia

John Sidel, Riots, Pogroms, Jihad: Religious Violence in Indonesia

Azeem Ibrahim, The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar's Hidden Genocide

Francisco Lara, Insurgents, clans, and political legitimacy and resurgent conflict in Muslim Mindanao, Philippines

Duncan McCargo, Thailand's southern conflict

Essay (35%, 3500 words) in the LT.
Essay (35%, 3500 words) in the ST.
Presentation (15%) in the MT and LT.
Class participation (15%) in the MT and LT.