- CMENAS–CSEAS Teacher Training Workshop
- East Asia National Resource Center
- GPASS
- LACS Teacher Training Workshop
- LACS–CMENAS Teacher Training Workshop
- MENA-SEA Teacher Program
- Midwest Institute for International / Intercultural Education (MIIIE)
- U-M/UPR Outreach Collaboration
- World History & Literature Initiative (WHaLI)
- Resources for Educators
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- Middle East and North Africa
- Southeast Asia
- Latin America & the Caribbean
- South Asia
The Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Michigan is dedicated to promoting a broader and deeper understanding of the SEA region—its histories, cultures, languages, and peoples.
CSEAS offers resources to educators through teacher workshops, websites, curricula and lesson plans. These sources can be useful in providing methods to teach about the SEA region. A variety of materials and links on SEA are also available to students and the general public.
Lesson Plans
Lesson plans relating to SEA subjects including brief descriptions, components, such as learning objectives, time benchmarks, accompanying worksheets, teacher reflections, etc are available to educators. If you have anything to add to these resources, or see something missing, please let us know by emailing us at cseas@umich.edu.
Grade 5-12 Lesson Plans and Teacher Reflections
Addressing Islamophobia and Bias
- The Power of a Story by Gabrielle Popp, Beacon Day Treatment
- Sacred Sites, Evolving Spaces by Amy Perkins, Lakeshore High School
Arts, Literature and Culture
- Teaching about Shadow Puppetry and Southeast Asian History by Kiersten Gawronski, Saline High School
- Oral Histories and Tradition Bearing by Colleen Kalisieski, All Saints Catholic School
- The Power of a Story by Gabrielle Popp, Beacon Day Treatment
- What does it mean to be more than one thing in a world where people want you to be only one thing? Book study of Patron Saints of Nothing, by Kymberli Wregglesworth, Onaway Secondary School
- Hyphenated Identities: The experience of being more than one by Karen Leland-Libby, Interlochen Arts Academy
- "Improving Society" or Not: Exploring Duterte and the War on Drugs in The Patron Saints of Nothing Literature by Amy Frontier, Pioneer High School
- Artistic Expressions from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia by Deanna Jones, El Camino Jr. High School
Comparative Government
- What role does gender play in the politics and policies of the AP6? by Barbara Gazda, Hartland High School
Conflict, War and Intervention
- War Crimes in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan
- Stateless Why would a government use its power to limit citizenship? by Alison Sullivan, Traverse City East Middle School
- The Philippines Unit A Case Study in Imperialism by David Hale, Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency
- Manifest Destiny 2.0?: The Philippine-American War by Abigail Kuhn, Charlotte Middle School
Gender
- Kartini Women in Java by Bryan Williams, Pritzker College Prep
- Gender Roles in the Philippines and the U.S. by Christine Sloan, Lakeshore High School
- Gender in Culture in Southeast Asia and the U.S. by Megan Cummins, Midland High School
Global Islam
- Islam across the Globe
- Sacred Sites, Evolving Spaces by Amy Perkins, Lakeshore High School
- Belief systems: personal, local, and global focus on Kerala, India by Susan Bertoni, North Farmington High School
- Islam in Indonesia by Sharolyn Stauffer, Star Valley High School
History and Geography
- A World of Interdependence, Exploration of World History, 1500 to the Present by Greg Dykhouse, Black River Public School
- Teaching about Shadow Puppetry and Southeast Asian History by Kiersten Gawronski, Saline High School
- Sacred Sites, Evolving Spaces by Amy Perkins, Lakeshore High School
- Analyzing Political Cartoons Related to the US Colonization of the Philippines by Susan Syme, Troy Athens High School
- The Scent of History: How the Spice Trade Connected the World by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- Collective Learning: How may it help us address messy situations? Burma/Myanmar and the Rohingya in the 20th and 21st Centuries by Gregory Dykhouse, Black River Public School
- The Impacts of Aquaculture in Southeast Asia by Anthony Zanin, Hutto High School
- The Armenian and Cambodian Genocides by Elisabeth Wood, University of Detroit Jesuit High School
- The Cambodian Genocide by Jenny Oster, Houghton Lake Community Schools
- The Cambodian Genocide by Sam Ness, Copper Canyon High School
- Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- The Scent of History: How the Spice Trade Connected the World by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
Movement, Migration and Diaspora
- Stateless Why would a government use its power to limit citizenship? by Alison Sullivan, Traverse City East Middle School
- Privileges of Citizenship - Myanmar by Ross Newman, Monroe High School
- Destination Michigan: A Mini-Unit on Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Michigan by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- Islam Across the Globe by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- Climate Migration by the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
Nationalism, Identity, and Globalization
- Political Tensions and Identity in a Globalized World by Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism across Borders by Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
Religion
- Belief systems: personal, local, and global focus on Kerala, India by Susan Bertoni, North Farmington High School
- Something about Mary: Examining Religious Syncretism Through Global Representations of Mary by Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research at U-M
- Religious Tensions in Thailand by Robin Roberts, Frankenmuth High School
Post-secondary Lesson Plans
Arts, Literature and Culture
- Cultural Influences on Communication by Ekaterina Goodroad, Madison Area Technical College
- Monks in the Modern World by Kurt Dershem, South Central College
Conflict, War and Intervention
- Exploring the Indonesian Mass Killings via Documentary by Helen Ditouras, Schoolcraft College
Movement, Migration and Diasporas
- Hydrogeography as an Instructional Template for World Regional Geography by Jeff Fesperman, Illinois Valley Community College
Society and Governance
- Culture, Corruption, and Cooperation--decriminalization of the global sex trade or not: The case of Cambodia and Thailand by Youmin Lee, Oakland Community College
Research and Archival Resources
Bentley Historical Library | American-Philippine Research Guide
American Philippine Relations Research Guide
Over the past one hundred years or more, a large number of University of Michigan faculty and alumni and other citizens of the state of Michigan have played a decisive role in shaping relations between the United States and the Philippines. The Bentley Historical Library has collected the papers of many of these men and women. The Bentley Historical Library offers a research grant twice a year to support writing on the holdings in their collections. Over the years, important works of scholarship on the U.S.-Philippines colonial experience have been supported by this grant.
Department of History of Art Archives | SEA Archives
The Department of History of Art houses two significant collections:
The Southeast Asian Art Foundation Archive (SAAF Archive) contains approximately 100,000 photographs and slides, and features 18 collections of visual materials by photographers and leading scholars of Southeast Asian art. Collections may be viewed through the U-M Digital Library here.
The Southeast Asia Archive contains photographs of monuments, sculpture and murals of Thailand and Java.
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, housed on the University of Michigan's North Campus, contains core collections on the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos during especially the Nixon and Ford administrations; the flight of refugees from Indochina after April 1975 and the admittance of many to the United States; the accounting of U.S. armed forces MIAs and POWs; and the issue of amnesty/clemency for draft resisters and military absence offenders.
UMMA | Collection of Southeast Asian
The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) collection of Southeast Asian art is focused on Buddhist and Hindu sculpture from Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
UMMAA | SEA digital collection & exhibits
One of the nation's largest collections of Southeast Asian archaeology and ethnology. Extensive collections and several online exhibits on the Philippines, Thailand, Sumatra, and New Guinea.
Batak Exhibit
In the early 20th century, U-M Professor Harley Harris Bartlett (1886-1960) traveled to Sumatra, Indonesia to conduct botanical research and collect specimens for the U-M Herbarium and Smithsonian Institution. 155 of the approximate 2,000 Batak manuscripts are in the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology collections and are described in an online exhibit.
The Dean C. Worcester Photographic Collection
From 1890 to 1913, Dean Conant Worcester took thousands of photographs of people and places throughout the Philippines. The majority was taken while Worcester served as the controversial Secretary of Interior in the U.S. colonial government from 1901-1913. Simultaneously disturbing and beautiful, these photographs portray the perspectives and emphases of a leading proponent of the colonial mission. This exhibition features a subset of the nearly 5,000 glass negatives and lantern slides in the Museum of Anthropology’s Worcester Collection. Thanks to Carla Sinopoli, professor and director of the Museum of Anthropology, Julia Falkovitch-Khain, web designer, and the Museum of Anthropology, owner of the Worcester collection. The exhibit was developed with funds from the Center for Southeast Asian Studies..
The Philippine Photographs Digital Archive
The Digital photographs archive consists of over 2,100 images taken from the following Special Collections Library photograph collections. In general, the images depict Filipinos, buildings, dwellings, and monuments in and around Manila, Filipino political and military leaders, members of American commissions and military units based in the Philippines, and numerous landscape scenes, particularly on Mindanao and in Lanoa Province.
Gamelan Education Project
Teaching with Gamelan
Created by Vera Flaig and Jesse Johnston.
The art and music of the Javanese gamelan can be used to teach arts and music, language arts and drama, social studies, science, and movement at all grade levels. The lesson plans provided through CSEAS are geared toward grades K-5. The goal of these lesson plans and corresponding materials is to support teachers in incorporating Southeast Asian arts and music into their classes. These lessons provide a diverse perspective to students by providing an opportunity to explore the music, drama, and culture of Central Java.
Field trips to visit the gamelan can be arranged through the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. Please email cseas@umich.edu for details and availability.
Lesson plans and materials available to download
- History of Central Javanese Gamelan: A short overview of Javanese court history that shaped Javanese gamelan music. (pdf)
- Human Gamelan: Explores the concepts of frequency (speed of a vibration commonly known as pitch) and duration (length of vibration) through movement and sound.
- Lesson Plan (pdf)
- Notation for “Bubaran Kembang Pacar” (pdf)
- Sound recording of Kembang Pacar (audio)
- Glass Gamelan: Constructing a Gamelan – a prerequisite/co-requisite to “Learning to Play Ricik Ricik” (pdf)
- Learning to Play “Ricik Ricik” – a piece that only has two musical phrases, and each of these repeats. This piece can be played in either the slendro or pelog tuning systems.
- Wayang (shadow puppet play): a theatrical performance with puppets or human dancers. When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theatre, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as “wayang.”
- Script of “Lyrical Tension: The Mahabharata” (pdf)
- Gamelan Outreach Music Slides: These slides introduce the basic concepts, instruments, and structures that characterize Javanese gamelan music. These accompany the three introductory lessons that use the song “Ricik Ricik” as well as the Glass Gamelan lesson. (pdf)
- Gamelan Outreach Puppetry Slides: These slides introduce the social and musical concepts behind Javanese shadow puppetry. This accompanies the Wayang Lessons. (pdf)