Airlines in Asia and the Pacific: Histories, Technologies, Cultures, and Geographies

While aviation continues to inspire our imaginations, the traveling public is often eluded by the geo-political, technical, and cultural complexities of this massive industry in the Asia-Pacific region (and beyond). This course consists of three major sections: human-machine relationships, aviation labour, and finally aviation consumers/passengers. Drawing upon engineering history and human-machine relationships, using critical theories from social geography and anthropology, this course considers how aviation developed in relation to other forms of transportation and surveillance, as well as how “human factors” discourses are used to assess aviation disasters. Next, it will examine aviation labour, with approaches from gender studies, to consider the highly sexualised, sometimes Orientalised icon of the flight attendant. Even though they are marketed as paragons of femininity, how do Thai Airways flight attendants use Buddhist philosophy to cope with the stresses of their job? Finally, the consumers of aviation: passengers and cargo. How has the container revolution changed our tastes in foods? How have the demographics of the flying public changed? How have marketing strategies and loyalty programs sought to segment elites? How has the COVID pandemic affected supply chains as well as aviation labour and consumerism? Through this course, students explore the histories, laws, economies and cultures as they come together in the machines, labour, and consumers that form the aviation industry today.