History of Modern South Asia
Fall 2008
India is home to diversity: of histories, religious traditions, languages, kinds of polities, architecture, cuisine, and styles of music, clothing and dance. It is a place where history meets the present in complex and contentious ways. In this course we will read and discuss a wide range of sources about South Asia’s rich past. Major topics include conflict and accommodation in the Indo-Islamic world; change and continuity under colonial rule; competing ideas on the shape and substance of a new India; and the Partition of the subcontinent. The following textbooks will be available in the bookstore: Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy and Ramachandra Guha, A Corner of a Foreign Field: the Indian History of a British Sport. Other required readings consisting of primary and secondary sources will be placed on toolkit. Films will also be used to accompany textual materials.
Course requirements include attendance and active participation in class (15%); a book review (20%); a midterm exam (25%); and a final exam (40%). This course is the first of a two-semester sequence: in the spring we will focus on Twentieth century South Asia.