300668 Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging in East and Southeast Asia (MA: Soziologie und Anthropologie der globalen Welt) (S) (WiSe 2026/2027)

Course Description:

How is “difference” made meaningful in society? What does “race” mean beyond Western contexts? And how are belonging and exclusion defined and justified?
This seminar examines how categories of race, ethnicity, and belonging are historically constructed and socially produced across East and Southeast Asia. Moving beyond Euro-American frameworks, it explores how processes of classification, racialization, and nationalism take shape through state policies, colonial legacies, migration, and everyday social interactions in diverse regional and national contexts.
Drawing on ethnographic case studies, the course engages with themes such as Chinese diasporas, minority-majority relations, cross-border dynamics, mixed-race identities and intimacies, and forms of multiculturalism in contexts such as Malaysia and Singapore. It also considers questions of privilege, mobility, and racialized hierarchies in transnational and expatriate settings.
Rather than assuming fixed or universal meanings of race, the seminar investigates how forms of difference are produced, lived, and contested in specific contexts, and how they relate to broader questions of power, identity, inequality, and national belonging. It further invites students to reflect critically on how concepts of race and difference travel across contexts and how these perspectives speak to contemporary debates about inclusion and exclusion in Europe.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the course, students will:

• Understand and explain the main concepts and issues related to race, ethnicity, and belonging in East and Southeast Asia from an anthropological and historical perspective;
• Develop a critical perspective of Western-centric theories and understandings of race;
• Apply these concepts across contexts and use them to reflect upon their personal experiences and to discuss contemporary news and debates;
• Make comparisons between different regional and national contexts;
• Improve their reading, writing, and research skills by critically engaging class materials and locating additional relevant sources of information;
• Strengthen the ability to work with peers and teams and to debate sensitive topics in a respectful and reflexive manner.

Requirements for participation, required level

No prior knowledge is required. Students from all different backgrounds are welcome.
The seminar is discussion-based and encourages students to actively engage with the material, bringing their own questions and perspectives to class.
The potential sensitivity of the topics discussed requires thoughtful and respectful dialogue.

Bibliography

General Introductory Readings:

• Weiner, Michael. 2021. Routledge Handbook of Race and Ethnicity in Asia. 1st ed. Routledge.
• Tong, Chee Kiong. 2010. Identity and Ethnic Relations in Southeast Asia: Racializing Chineseness. Springer.
• Lan, Shanshan, and Miloš Debnár. 2025. Migration, Transnational Flows, and the Contested Meanings of Race in Asia. Springer.