Culture and Power in Modern South Asia, Fall 2002

Following the recent nuclear tests, and the region’s shift towards policies of economic liberalization, South Asia has been the subject of considerable attention all over the world. Treating these developments as its frame of reference, this course studies the interaction between social power, cultural change, and the political economy of modern South Asia. By adopting an analytical perspective that treats ethnicity, religion, caste, and class as both process and social formation, this course examines their relationship with the history of state power in the sub-continent. The study of changes in South Asian society is carried out within an elongated time horizon from the colonial period to the present. Such an analytical strategy helps us to emphasize how diverse identities and meanings have had historically contingent boundaries that have become the basis for changing power relations. Starting with a synopsis of how the history of South Asia has been represented, the course critically analyzes the diverse ways in which caste, religion, gender, language, and nation have become nodes of contestation at different moments in the past three centuries. Such an approach helps us to relate issues of nation-statehood, political economy, and aspects of culture.

Through a detailed assessment of monographs, novels, essays, and films, this course raises questions about issues of local, regional, and national identity, as these have shaped different parts of the sub-continent. By addressing the specifics of the history of South Asia, the course also hopes to bring questions of “doing history” into sharper focus, and explore what traditional forms of social and political theory have to offer as a guide to the future.

Requirements

This is a reading and writing intensive course, with a strong theoretical component. Every three weeks, you are required to submit an Assignment (4-6 pages long) that presents your unique, critical perspective on the themes being addressed in class and the readings. For these review essays, you are welcome to incorporate external readings and references. Please provide a bibliography when you do so.

Towards the end of the semester, please turn in a Research Proposal based on a topic of your choice (that you will also share with the rest of the class in an oral presentation). This proposal should outline the main questions that you intend to address in your final Research Paper (12-15 pages long)—which is due at in class, at our last meeting December 11. Independent research should inform this paper.

In order that you participate in class, you are all expected to make one formal class presentation based on the assigned reading for a particular week. This presentation should be 15-30 minutes long, and may be an expansion of one of your three review papers. Feel free to consult me about it. A sign-up sheet will be circulated in late-September for you to choose your presentation topic. Assigned material must be read by the scheduled date. You are expected to participate in discussions and debates, and should be prepared to comment on the readings. In order to receive an evaluation, you must complete all assignments and presentations. All assignments are due in class; I would be glad to look over earlier drafts of the review papers and research paper in the scheduled office hours. Also feel free to email me on any matters related to the course. Assignments should be typed double-spaced, with 1-1.25-inch margins, and the font size should be 12. If you choose to miss a class or submit a late paper, please inform me in advance.

During the semester, you should focus on engaged reading and writing, substantive revising, and analytical and critical thinking. You will receive substantial feedback on your papers during the semester from your peers and myself. The focus of my comments will be on your conceptual clarity, expression, and knowledge of the subject. At the end of the semester, please submit a portfolio that contains all your writings. This portfolio will document your progress as a writer, analyst, and historian. It will thus act as your contribution to our knowledge on South Asia, and critical theory in general!

Readings

The following books may be purchased at Atticus Books, in downtown Amherst.

India and South Asia: A Short History by David Ludden, One World Publications, 2002

Nationalist thought and the colonial world: a derivative discourse by Partha Chatterjee, Minneapolis: Minnesota, 1998

Democracy and authoritarianism in South Asia : a comparative and historical perspective by by Ayesha Jalal. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995

Indian tales of the Raj by Zareer Masani, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988

The cost of living by Arundhati Roy, New York: Modern Library, 1999.

Burmese Days by George Orwell

Sultana’s Dream, and Selections from the Secluded Ones by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain; afterword by Hanna Papanek, New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1988

Penguin Gandhi Reader ed. R. Mukherjee, Penguin Books, New York, 1996

Refashioning Futures: Criticism After Postcoloniality by David Scott, Princton University Press: Princeton, 1999

Reading Subaltern Studies ed. David Ludden, Anthem 2002

Important Deadlines

Paper 1 Due on September 25
Paper II Due on October 23
Research Proposal Due on November 18
Paper III Due on November 25
Research Paper Due on December 11

CLASS SCHEDULE
Readings marked “*” are in the course packet.

Week 1
September 9
Introduction

September 11
The Riddle of Midnight

Week 2
The “Origins” of South Asia
September 16
Advising Day: No Class

September 18
Readings: Ludden, India and South Asia chs.1-2

Week 3
Ideologies of Empire
September 23
Readings: Ludden, India and South Asia chs. 3-4

September 25
Readings: Orwell, Burmese Days
FIRST PAPER DUE TODAY

Week 4
Colonialism and Culture
September 30 Readings: Masani, IndianTales of the Raj, pp. 1-80

October 2
Readings: Masani, IndianTales of the Raj, pp 81-164

Week 5
Contesting the Nation
October 7
Readings: *Sections by Syed Ahmad Khan, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, and V.D. Savarkar

October 9
Readings: Ludden, Indian and South Asia chs. 5-6

Week 6
Gandhi’s India
October 14
Fall Break: No Class

October 16
Readings: Mukherjee, Penguin Gandhi Reader, pp. 1-123

Week 7
Gandhi and the Nation
October 21
Readings: Mukherjee, Penguin Gandhi Reader, pp. 124-255; *sections by Nehru and Jinnah

October 23
Readings: Partha Chatterjee’s Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World
SECOND PAPER DUE TODAY

Week 8
The Formation Nation-States: The Predicaments of Partition
October 28
Readings: *Manto’s “Toba Tek Singh”and *Butalia’s “Blood”

October 30
Readings: No readings; screening and discussion of film “Stories my country told me”

Week 9
Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge
November 4
Readings: *Dirks, “Introduction”; and *Guha “On some aspects of the historiography of colonial India”

November 6
Readings: *Dirks, “The Invention of Caste”

Week 10
The Women’s Question
November 11
Readings: Hossain, Sultana’s Dream

November 13
Advising Day: No Class

Week 11
Interrogating Subaltern Studies
November 18
Readings: Ludden, Reading Subaltern Studies, pp. 1-132
FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL IS DUE TODAY. Please come prepared to discuss your paper topics in class.

November 20
Readings: Ludden, Reading Subaltern Studies, pp. 135-255

Week 12
The State and Political Economy
November 25
Readings: Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia, chs. 1 to 3
THIRD PAPER DUE TODAY

November 27
Readings: Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia chs. 4 to 6;

Week 13
Postcoloniality and Beyond
December 2
Readings: Scott, Refashioning Futures pp. 3-52

December 4
Readings: Scott, Refashioning Futures pp. 131-189

Week 14
The Predicaments of Postcoloniality
December 9
Readings: Roy, Cost of Living

December 11
Summing up…
FINAL RESEARCH PAPER DUE TODAY