Culture, History and Society of East Asia

This course will discuss about and reflect on alternative spaces in East and Southeast Asia. In which forms do alternative spaces exist in this region? How are they shaped by and do they influence societies they are produced in?

In 2025-26, the course will be taught by Pierre Prouteau

Alternative spaces are understood here as sites of political resistance. Political movements, militancy can be studied. “Other” spaces are also more literally what Foucault called “heterotopia” as a “juxtaposition on real space of spaces that would normally be incompatible” (Le corps utopique, les heterotopies, Lignes, Paris, 2019, pp.21-36). He cites: gardens, retirement house, prisons, holiday villages etc. It encompasses also the “antiworld” of Brunet (and Ferras & Théry [dir.],Les mots de la géographie. Dictionnaire critique, Montpellier, Reclus/Paris, Documentation française, 1993) as marginal, informal, hidden spaces: tax havens, military bases, prisons, or deep rural areas, all of which exist in Asia with their specificities. Finally, some spaces are alternatives because they are virtual and only exist in imagination: videogames, literature, or song’s lyrics. Utopia will be discussed here, along other religious and political ideals.

Programme à venir

This course is given in English. It will include lectures by researchers with various expertise geographically and disciplinary-wise. The Introduction, mid-term review, and concluding sessions are given by the professor. All classes are given and must be attended on-site.

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

The references will appear on the UV, as other pedagogical materials.

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

Pierre.prouteau@ulb.be 

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Examen écrit

Examen écrit

• Question ouverte à développement long

The assessment will consist of a dissertation or a text commentary during a sitting exam, whose date will be communicated later. The production will have to be problematized, using semester’s interventions, theories discussed, and examples given and analyzed. Presence and participation to the classes are also taken into account in the evaluation. The class is given in English, but English or French can be evaluated for written productions.

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• français
• anglais