Southeast Asia Global Village – Introduction

The Southeast Asia Global villagethe Southeast Asia culture region consists of eleven countries, including lands in Asia South of the Tropic of Capricorn, and excluding the Pacific Islands and India - some out of date maps may still show Asia (alone) as a culture region, designating it as "Oriental," which included India and some Pacific Islands as well, also expressed as a culture regiona culture region, or culture area (or Global Village)  is an area where common cultural components, traits, or characteristics have developed over time, and are shared among various societies, due to a variety of causal factors such as immigration, war, colonialism, forced acculturation, technology and travel advances, etc. was previously relegated to the larger (overall) Asian region, but today is designated as lands in Asia South of the Tropic of Capricorn, excluding the Pacific Islands and India.  The courses on this site are not comprehensive or complete in either cultureculture is not genetically inherited, it is shared, learned, and dynamic- never static or history, but meant to motivate students to study further.

Study here will allow students to discover the importance of Asia, specifically Southeast Asia, in the context of current globalizationall nations and peoples are interconnected in today's world due to massive flow of goods and services, importation of labor, immigration, technology, finance capital, outsourcing of businesses, and diseases, etc.; globalization promotes rapid culture change and adaptations, which increasingly blurs the lines of cultural components processes.  It is also important for students to gain appreciation for Asian history and the many different models of culture that are embedded within one of the most interesting and diversely populated regions.

Learning Objectives

After completing the assignments for the Southeast Asia Global Villagea place in the world where your ancestor may have lived,  the world is divided into cultural areas, each area designated as a global village, see the Global Villages Map., week four, students should be able to:

1) Define the region of the  and be able to locate it on the Global Villageson this site Global Villages are representatives of the 11 dominant culture regions, as designated by cultural geography maps Map

2) Define  and name at least three ethnic groupsan ethnic group is a group of people that share multiple cultural attributes such as language, religion, traditions and celebrations, specific wearing apparel, rituals, history, genealogy and/or geography; an ethnic group may share some, many, or all of these cultural traits that reside in the Southeast Asia Global Village

3) Identify the beginnings of the first  in the Southeast Asia Global Village

4) Discuss migrations, which have contributed to the diversitythe state of being diverse or different, variety and/or diversity is more than exhibiting "different" outward appearances; diversity is often much more about cultural differences of the Southeast Asia Global Village

 Study Plan for Southeast Asia Global Village – Lesson 4

Step 1.

Go to the Global Villages Map and locate the culture region of the Southeast Asia Global Village.  Keep in mind the landscapes it covers as you complete the rest of the assignments for this lesson.

Step 2.

Go to the Southeast Asia Lecture to build a foundation for the rest of this lesson.

Step 3.

Read and study the Southeast Asia Article, by Barbara Watson Andaya, on the Southeast Asia culture areas.  This is a lengthy article, but she gives more detail on the history, geography, and livelihood, as well as information about the arrival of Islam in the region, which is pertinent for understanding the bigger picture.  She also points out some changes over time, which helps to gain more insight into the culture regions of the Southeast Asia Global Village of today.

There is a website link, following the article, to the Asia Societya group of people who are all interdependent and interconnected by their cultural connections; they live in patterned ways and their behaviors in various circumstances are well established; for instance in the Western world most people adhere to lines (cue) at bus stops, or movie theaters, or when checking out at a grocery store; patterned and regular ways of doing things are expected and accepted, which has much more information about the different countries of the region, should you desire to study and research further.

Step 4.

Watch the following videos:  The first one is a typical market place in Viet Nam.  As you watch, notice the many cultural elements: dress, products offered, technologythe system by which a society provides its members with things needed or desired, along with knowledge for the use and maintenance of the system More, foodany nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth, containers that foods are displayed in, the location of the market, and the structures around the market.

The second film is about a water conservation project of the Mekong River – said to be the Mother River of Southeast Asia. You will see why, when you become familiar with the countries of this Global Village, which the river flows through.  Though this video is about a project, it shows the many ways villagers make a living, the kinds of dwellings they live in, traditional gendergender is culturally constructed; the word may have various meanings in various cultures; generally it is the state of being male or female (biologically), but is more often used with reference to social and cultural differences, which may or may not be biological gender is used in various languages such as Spanish, where nouns are preceded with an article such as la (feminine) or lo (masculine) - many languages have "gendered" speech, including Latin, Greek, Russian, and German, but grammatical gender is very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex roles, and even a village elder contributes his thoughts to the project.  Boat travel is a way of life there and you will see that relocating the villagers has been a huge project by itself, in addition to the river project.

Step 5.

After watching the videos, go to the DISCUSSION FORUM and discuss with your classmates whether you think the Mekong River Project is a worthwhile project, even though  the project had to relocate villagers to different housing, education, and livelihoods.  Do you think such a project, even though it has the support from the local people, a good thing or not so good?  After all it is changing peoples lives, and their culture, and they must give up traditions and the old ways of doing things.  Some scholars who research such ethnic groups, as the ones you watched being relocated, believe cultures should be preserved intact and the modern world should not interrupt their culture.

Step 6.

Go to the Ethnic Groups of the World to discover at least three ethnic groups that reside in the Southeast Asia culture region.  Study the page on Ethnic Groups Defined, then do an internet search to find their cultural roots.  Take notes for the next assignment.

Step 7.

Review the Learning Objectives above to make sure you understand and grasp the concepts before going on to Step 8.

Step 8.

Take the Southeast Asia Global Village QUIZ

Step 9.  Optional

Go to the Southeast Asia Project – Fun Assignment

Congratulations!  Now you are more informed about the Southeast Asia Global Village and how it fits into the puzzle of culture regions around the world.