Asian Centuries
UndergraduateMUR-AST1022025
Course information for 2025 intake
Enrol today with instant approval and no entry requirements
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 20 July 2025
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Start dates
- 28 July 2025
- Price from
- $2,125
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Asian Centuries
About this subject
On successful completion of the subject, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate an introductory level of knowledge about the geography, history and cultures of the Asian region, with particular focus on Indonesia, China and Japan.
- Demonstrate a general knowledge of the literature pertaining to the history and cultures of East and Southeast Asia.
- Understand the main principles of the religions and philosophies of the Asian region and analyse some of the ways state organisation, religions and ideologies are connected.
- Demonstrate understanding of the great diversity that exists among Asian countries, and of their complex historical and cultural points of encounter with the West.
- Demonstrate some of the ways cultures interact, both geographically and across time, and are thus constantly reinvented.
- Produce well researched, analytical, well written and well referenced work related to the unit’s content.
- Topic 1 Locating “Asia”
- Topic 2: States and Non-States in Premodern Southeast Asia
- Topic 3: Histories of Empire
- Topic 4: Fashion and Modernity in Colonial Southeast Asia
- Topic 5: Agama – Religion, Identity and Politics in Indonesia
- Topic 6: Adat – Tradition, Custom and Indigeneity in Indonesia
- Topic 7: Ethnicity in Borneo – Dayaks, Malays, and Others
- Topic 8: Ethnicity, Race and Nation in East Asia
- Topic 9: Tradition and Modernity in Meiji Japan
- Topic 10: Confucianism in China: Tradition and Revival
- Topic 11: Language and Identity in Taiwan and Singapore
- Topic 12: Unit Review and Essay Planning
This subject is an introduction to the complex and multiple cultures of the Asian region, focusing on 'traditional' patterns and on the way these are constantly reinvented in new historical and political contexts. It examines cultural histories of Asia into the 21st century, exploring major turning points and highlighting such aspects as ethnicity, religion, language, art, gender, economics, and politics.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
- Workbook (40%)
- Annotated bibliography (20%)
- Essay (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
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