Advanced Studies In Southeast Asian Art Histories

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in researching the histories of Southeast Asia's modern and contemporary arts, including among students and scholars, artists and curators, within and beyond the region. What special skills are required for advanced studies in Southeast Asian art histories? What methodologies are most appropriate, and what theoretical and conceptual challenges must we grapple with when researching in this field? Addressing these and related questions, this course is designed for students with a solid background in Art History, and with some knowledge of and/or background in studying the art histories of Southeast Asia. The course centres on close, critical reading of advanced scholarly literature, in reading group-style seminar discussions. These discussions will be grounded in students' own research projects, thus equipping students with the skills to apply close, critical readings of advanced scholarly literature to their own work outside the course. Students will discuss canonical works in Southeast Asian art histories, as well as more recent and cutting-edge scholarship. The course is open to MA, PhD and selected high-performing final-year undergraduate students who are completing their FYPs on a related Art History topic. The course builds on and extends from issues raised in HR3006 20th Century Southeast Asian Art and HR3009 19th Century Southeast Asian Art, however while these courses are strongly recommended for undergraduate students, they are not compulsory prerequisites, especially for postgraduate students whose prior studies have been completed elsewhere.