Learning Objectives: After participation in class and completion of assignments for this week you will be able to:
Outline the prehistorical human cultural distributions in SE Asia and major events that have shaped the modern social-linguistic landscape prior to development of agriculture.
Name the different language families present in SE Asia and describe their relationship to modern states and minority communities.
Provide examples of wild plants and animals that provided the basis for life in SE Asia before development of agriculture.
Be able to define the terms "shifting cultivation," "aboriginal," and "resource allocation."
Assignments:
Students will prepare tables of important wild plants and animals that are used within SE Asia including common names (English, Thai/Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese) and scientific names (Latin). This may include plants or animals that were important for Pleistocene people.
Students will prepare a map illustrating the distribution of languages in SE Asia and emphasizing the different language families.
Definitions of the terms "shifting cultivation," "aboriginal," and "resource allocation" should be provided with clear citations for each.
For the next class you will need to find and read an article on evolution of agriculture in SE Asia. This should basically be a paper about humans before the development of agriculture. This will be briefly presented in class.