The list of memoirs in the two documents below, one for East Asia and the other for Southeast Asia, not only provide a sample bibliography of memoirs, but in this course-related format suggests how memoirs can be grouped for curricular purposes of classroom presentations. Dr. Margaret Bodemer has compiled these lists for her memoir project in undergraduate, upper-division courses in Modern East Asia and Modern Southeast Asia History at Cal Poly.
Note: The list only includes works that have been translated into English. For the most part, with a few exceptions, the list also only includes works that are written by a person from one of the countries of Southeast Asia (Viet Nam, Cambodia, Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Singapore, East Timor, The Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei) or East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan) and Okinawa) in an effort to “de-Orientalize” the teaching of Asian Studies.
Please contact Dr. Bodemer at mbodemer@calpoly.edu for the assignment or for further information, and especially if you have any suggestions of memoirs to add!
