Courses

** indicates courses sponsored by ICA and the Center for South Asia

FALL

** IR 110 South Asia: Politics, Economics, Culture and Society
Instructor and Coordinator: Keila Diehl
Tu-Th 1:15-2:45, 380-380X
What are the key issues and ideas that inform conceptions of South Asia held by residents of the region and by outsiders? How do different ideas of the past and future contribute to these visions? This new course offers an overview of historical and contemporary issues in South Asia from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Professors from a wide range of departments, including economics, biology, modern thought and literature, history, political science, religious studies, and cultural and social anthropology, will lecture on their areas of expertise, with the shared goal of stimulating a complex and realistic understanding of the region today. Occasional discussion sections and brief reading/writing assignments will put the lectures in conversation with one another and allow students to further explore topics of particular interest to them.

WINTER

** IR 115: Development Issues in South Asia
Instructor: Rafiq Dossani
Tu-Th: 11:00am-12:30pm, Encina West 202

1.4 billion people live in South Asia, or about a fifth of world population. Up to their independence from British colonial rule in 1947 (India and Pakistan) and 1948 (Sri Lanka), South Asia shared a common government. Socio-economic conditions were similar across the subcontinent, characterized by high rural populations with low levels of literacy and life expectancy, and low and variable income streams. For the first five decades after independence, while their political destinies have varied greatly, their socio-economic evolution remained remarkably similar. Since the mid-1990s, however, variations in development patterns and rates have been marked. The reasons for the variations are complex, but the early establishment of different types of institutions - social, political and economic, have been important.

The objectives of the course are: (1) To understand the causes of South Asia's socio-economic condition. (2) To provide a framework for analyzing current events in South Asia.

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Religious Studies 107 Hindus and Muslims in South Asia
Instructors: Linda Hess and Rafiq Dossani (lionda [at] stanford [dot] edu and dossani [at] stanford [dot] edu)
Tu-Th 2:15-3:45, 30-102

Hindus and Muslims have been living together in South Asia for about 1200 years, with both harmonious and conflicted histories. They have created rich composite cultures and interdependent social worlds. They have also built walls and fought with each other. In 1947 the subcontinent was split violently into separate nations, with Pakistan designated as a Muslim state; yet over 100 million Muslims remained in India. In 1971, there was a further split between the eastern and western wings of Pakistan, with the new state of Bangladesh coming into being. All three of these nation-states have been defined to a large extent by religious identity. In this course we will examine the categories of “Hindu” and “Muslim” and focus on selected aspects of Hindu/Muslim worlds, separate and intertwined, past and present, in the subcontinent. It is less a course “on religion” than on how religious identities function in society, history, and politics. The two instructors, based in humanities and social sciences, will bring different perspectives to our study, as will our inclusion of film, literature, and guest speakers.

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CASA 188 South Asian American Experiences in Cultural and Historical Perspective
Instructor: Ulka Anjaria (uanjaria [at] stanford [dot] edu)
Wednesdays 3:15-6:05, 420-245
This course will introduce students to the important concepts and themes surrounding the diverse experiences of South Asians in the United States from the nineteenth century until the present. Through anthropological, sociological, historical and literary readings as well as popular film, we will discuss issues of stereotype, immigration, Orientalism, transnational culture, capitalism, racism, politics and activism, gender and cultural conflict. Attempts will be made to understand both the early South Asian migrants of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as immigrants and second-generation South Asians of the post-1965 era. We will focus especially on themes of dislocation and loss, as well as on the relationships between South Asians and other U.S. minorites, as they appear in literary productions by diasporic writers and filmmakers. Authors covered will include Jhumpa Lahiri, Kiran Desai, Bharati Mukherjee and Hari Kunzru; films will include Mississippi Masala and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

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CASA 74 South Asian History and Cultures Through Film: Bollywood and Beyond
Instructor: Jonathan Anjaria (janjaria [at] ucsc [dot] edu)
MW11:00 AM - 12:30 PM, 200-034
Required Screenings (weekly), Tue 07:00 PM - 09:50 PM Econ 140
In South Asia, popular Hindi films, commonly referred to as ‘Bollywood’, draw from everyday life as much as people's everyday lives are drawn from films. In emphasizing the role of popular Hindi film as an important source of cultural commentary, this course will explore key questions regarding twentieth century South Asian culture, society and politics. Each film will be accompanied by texts that address the historical, sociological and political problems that the film poses. Topics covered include: the anti-colonial struggle, Partition, the politics of development, globalization and urban youth culture. Films will include Dil Chahta Hai, Shri 420, Monsoon Wedding and Garam Hawa, among others.

SPRING

**Music XXX / ICA XXX Introduction to the Music of South Asia
Instructor: Zakir Hussain
MW 3:15-5 CCRMA Stage, Knoll

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Religious Studies 156 Goddesses and Gender in Indian Religions
Instructor: Linda Hess (lionda [at] stanford [dot] edu)
Time & place TBA
India has an ancient tradition of worshiping female forms of the divine, such as Kali, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Radha, Sita, and local deities. We will learn about stories, histories, iconographies, theologies, arts, and practices associated with these goddesses, and we will consider how the worship of goddesses is related to the construction of gender and the lives of women.

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MS&E 75SI: Brainstorming India: Entrepreneurship Models for Indian Social Venture Projects
(Student-Initiated Course: contact Deepti Chatti)
Time & place TBA
Want to apply entrepreneurial and technical skills to solve social problems in India? Ever wondered how your education could help make the world a better place? Here's your opportunity to help researchers and social entrepreneurs working on problems in India. These "project champions" will present specific hurdles they face in their social ventures and students in the class will collectively brainstorm to address them. Prior experience in social work is not needed. This class uses India only as a test bed and is open to students of all nationalities.