ASIA 1103 - Asia and the World

Asia & the World provides all students but especially those doing International Studies and Asian Studies, with a basic introduction to the notion of Asia, its proud history of imperial powers, its importance to Europe and the West in many diverse ways from the food we eat to the ways we think and how our societies are structured as well as Western interactions with modern Asian nations such as China, Japan, Korea and India. 

As a result, Asia & the World details important aspects of Asia's profound influence on our world and helps explain not only how we have come to do such “Asian” things drink tea but also why tea and other things have often gone on to become markers of completely different peoples and groups. We explore matters like the rise of martial arts and whether Asian countries have growing soft power as their economies come to dominate our planet. It is fun but it is also serious because we use these examples to illustrate important principles and to highlight the need to reflect on even the common and mundane and how we arrived there. The key idea behind A&W is that in many cases an Asian idea or technology has played some role in many aspects of life we take for granted as being “Australian” or Western.”

At the same time, Asia and the World uses the topics we cover to promote the best/worst parts of being at university: thinking, arguing and writing arguments.  However, we stress the nature and reasons for academic conventions and help prepare you to tackle critical thinking, essay writing and referencing so that you can tackle any other social science, humanities or arts course with confidence.