First Day of Class

Today's the first day of class (revision: it was yesterday since this post was put up well after midnight, Jan 18) and so far things are looking good. Bu (Indonesian term of endearment for older women) Ellen's Modern Indonesian Literature class has about eight students, which is not surprising at all. As expected, Pramoedya's work, especially Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) will be featured quite extensively for a big chunk of the semester. Works by Goenawan Mohammad and AA Navis will also be analyzed, in addition to the work of her much-beloved Putu Wijaya, the surrealistic yet versatile Balinese writer/playwright. We will also look at some of works of Indo (Eurasian) writers, especially G. Francis's much detestable Nyai Dasima. I remember reading Nyai Dasima for the first time and feeling so disturbed by its anti-Islamic, pro-Dutch (Western) themes, in addition to its use of crude market Malay (Melayu Pasar), not the kind of standardized Malay (Indonesian or Malaysian) or the beautiful and rich court Malay used in hikayat and syair that I'm so familiar with. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy this class immensely.

Hutchcroft's Politics of SE Asia class is a bit large to my liking--it has about 40 students, that includes 9 grad students--but the course readings seem highly fascinating with emphasis on three SE Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. One downside is that everybody has to take the final exam, and it counts for quite a bit too; 35% to be exact. For grad students, there's a 25-page paper and a 10-minute presentation of one's paper. I talked to Hutchcroft and asked if he wants to set up a weekly or bi-weekly graduate meeting especially when there are nine grad students in his class, and he said it definitely can be done if everybody can just agree on the meeting time. Anyway, I like Hutchcroft very much--he's such a smart, caring and soft-spoken guy--and it'll be a very enlightening class. It doesn't hurt that he's a leftist, which means less pressure for me, grades-wise, in writing on politically-sensitive and controversial issues.

I'll have my other class, a seminar actually, on Challenges of Democratization, to be facilitated by Ed Friedman. I've never met him nor have I ever taken a class with him, but through words of mouth, he seems like a really nice and fair-minded guy. An East Asia expert, he will no doubt use China as case studies for a lot of the covered topics in the discussions. I have a good feeling of this seminar. We shall find out tomorrow.

p/s: I'm almost finish with Bill Bryson's In The Sunburned Country--my last fun book to read before I get inundated with the more "serious" academic stuffs--and I'd like to add another "to-do" on my previous wishful thinking list. Yes, Ms. Rocket, I am reading one of your favorite authors. Bill Bryson just convinced me that taking a punishing journey across the Australian Outback in a four-wheel drive, or a beat-up Toyota stationwagon for that matter, is an exhilarating--and comically suicidal--thing to do. I might as well give it a shot.