https://my.sa.ucsb.edu/catalog/Current/UndergraduateEducation/WorldCulturesCourses.aspx

Here is this list of UCSB classes that fulfill their world cultures requirement. On it are over 60 classes on East Asian cultures - 27 on China, 24 on Japan, 9 on Korea, and 2 on Taiwan. There are also 7 classes on India which is in South Asia,a although it is the only country in South Asia to be represented.

It is disappointing that compared to dozens of ultra specific classes reflecting deep interest in East Asian culture, such as Anthropology of Korea, Chinese Cinema, East Asian traditions with 2 separate classes on modern and pre modern, a 3 class series on Chinese poetry, classes on Chinese painting, Japanese art, and Japan specifically under the Tokugawa shoguns. Just to name a few out of the over 60 East Asian classes. There is not ONE single class on Southeast Asian culture on this world cultures list. Compared to East Asia which has specific countries extensively represented in a wide variety of fields, reflecting a complex appreciation for their individual identities, it is noninclusive to have no classes on Southeast Asia, not even a general one, that counts on the requirement.

Southeast Asia has a population of over 655 million people and includes a diverse variety of languages and dialects. It includes 11 countries: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

It is hard to judge how many students at UCSB are Southeast Asian because the data groups all Asians together, however with over 18% of UCSB's population being Asian, I think we can do better to be more inclusive. As someone of Filipino descent, I feel left out. I would love to learn more about my culture in college but I am disappointed that I am unable to get degree credit for it the way that people from pretty much every single other part of the world can.

How is UCSB going to force its students to take a "world cultures" requirement and then leave out all of Southeast Asia?

There is a lot to be taught and studied about Thai religion and architecture, Filipino history and language development, Vietnamese art and the Vietnam War, etc. Southeast Asia is a large, rich, and diverse cultural region and deserves representation on the world cultures requirement list. 

This is a petition to encourage UCSB to create more Southeast Asian classes and to put existing classes on the world cultures requirement list (such as AS AM 100HH (Southeast Asian general), AS AM 100CC (Filipino Americans), AS AM 100EE (Vietnamese Americans), AS AM 136 (Asian American families both East and Southeast Asian))

Thank you!