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Cultures and Contexts: India – CORE UA-516 Spring 2020/TTH 9:30-10:45 AM/Silver 414

Professor: Tejaswini Ganti Recitations Teaching Assistant: Leela Khanna 003: Friday 9:30-10:45AM – GCASL 384 004: Friday 11:00-12:15AM – Bobst LL142 Office: 25 Waverly Place, # 503 Hours: Mon. 3:00-4:30pm or by appointment Phone: 998-2108 Email: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course introduces the history, culture, society, and politics of modern India. Home to over one billion people, eight major religions, twenty official languages (with hundreds of dialects), histories spanning several millennia, and a tremendous variety of customs, traditions, and ways of life, India is almost iconic for its diversity. We examine the challenges posed by such diversity as well as how this diversity has been understood, represented, and managed, both historically and contemporarily. Topics to be covered include the politics of representation and knowledge production; the long histories of global connections; colonialism; social categories such as caste, class, ethnicity, gender, and religion; projects of nation-building; and popular culture.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES § To recognize that knowledge about a country/region/community whether it is historical or cultural is never produced in a vacuum but is always inflected by issues of power. § To develop the ability to question our assumptions and interrogate our commonsensical understandings about India that are circulated through the media, political commentary, and self- appointed cultural gatekeepers. § To recognize that what we take as given or as essential social and cultural realities are, in fact, constructed norms and practices that have specific histories.

EXPECTATIONS § Attendance is mandatory and it will count for 5% of your grade § All assignments must be completed for a passing grade in the course. § Deadlines: EXTENSIONS WILL NOT BE GIVEN [except for authorized medical reasons/emergencies] § LATE WORK PENALTY: each day that an assignment is late, you will lose a half letter grade, i.e. if you turn in an assignment late by one day, and it was determined to be an A, you’ll get an A-, if it’s two days late, then a B+, etc. § Imagine you’re on a flight to India – all cell phones and electronic devices should be turned off. § Unless you have a very good reason, which you have to clear with me – please do not use laptops in my class. § Finally, please use the restroom before or after class and not during, as it is very distracting to have people exiting and entering the classroom during the lecture period.

GRADING I. Exams: 55% 1) Midterm Exam - 25%; this exam will be comprised of two equally weighted components:

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a) Take-Home Due MARCH 5 – uploaded by 5pm on NYU Classes i) A take-home, open-book, open-note portion that will consist of a series of essay questions. The questions for this portion of the exam will be distributed in advance [by Feb. 27] and you will have one week to complete them. b) IN CLASS EXAM, MARCH 12 i) An in-class portion that will be primarily short answer, identification and other objective elements. 2) Final Exam - 30% - Like the midterm this will be comprised of two equally weighted components: a) IN CLASS EXAM, MAY 7 [last day of class] i) An in-class portion that will be primarily short answer, identification and other objective elements covering material after the Midterm. b) Take-Home Due MAY 11 -- – uploaded by 5 PM on NYU Classes i) This will be a cumulative exam comprised of a series of essay questions that will be distributed in advance [by April 30].

II. Paper – 20% [More specific instructions and descriptions will be available on the course’s Classes site]. § Narrating/Mediating Caste [2000-3000 words]: DUE April 2, uploaded on NYU Classes by 5pm. This paper asks you to reflect upon and compare the representation and treatment of caste in the autobiography, Joothan, by Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki and the recent Hindi film, Article 15.

III. Recitations – 20%: Attendance is mandatory and the grade is broken down in the following way: § Discussion/Exercises – 15%: You may receive short homework assignments periodically in your recitation. § Attendance – 5%: if you miss more than 3 recitations [including those for which you have a valid excuse], you will receive a zero for this portion of your grade.

IV. Attendance – 5%: once again, attendance is mandatory and your grade will suffer if you don’t come to class

RECAP OF DUE DATES March 5: Take-home portion of midterm uploaded on NYU Classes by 5pm March 12: In-Class Midterm April 2: Narrating/Mediating Caste paper uploaded on NYU Classes by 5pm May 7: In-Class Final May 11: Take-home final exam uploaded on NYU Classes by 5pm

COURSE MATERIALS § Required Texts [books available at the campus bookstore] Davis, Richard H. 2009 Global India circa 100 CE: South Asia in Early World History. Association for Asian Studies. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford U.P. Kapoor, Raj 1951 Awara [feature film – available on YouTube] 3

Mines, Diane P. 2009 Caste in India. Association for Asian Studies. Valmiki, Omprakash 2003 Joothan: An Untouchable’s Life, transl. from Hindi by Arun Prabha Mukherjee. Columbia U.P. § There will also be a series of readings available for you to read/download/print from the course’s NYU Classes site, these will be marked with a C on the syllabus

Special Accommodations If you have a disability, which may require classroom, test-taking, or other reasonable modifications, please see me as soon as possible and be sure to register with the Center for Students with Disabilities (212-998-4980).

COURSE OUTLINE

PART I: INDIA IN THE WORLD Wk 1 Tue. 1/28 Introduction Readings: Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 1-10 (Ch. 1 – “Hope”)

Thu. 1/30 Representations of India Over Time Readings[C]: Asher, Catherine B. & Cynthia Talbot 2006 Introduction: situating India, In India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-24. Metcalf, Barbara D. 2009 “Islam in South Asia in Practice;” In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. xvii-xxv. Singer, Milton 1972 Passage to More than India: A Sketch of Changing European and American Images, In When a Great Tradition Modernizes, New York: Praeger, pp. 1-38.

Wk 2 Agents of Globalization in Early World History Tue. 2/4 Readings: Davis, Richard H. 2009 Global India circa 100 CE: South Asia in Early World History. [all] Khair, Tabish, et. al. 2005 “Three Chinese Scholars go “West” to India (5th-7th century), In Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 32-41.

Thu. 2/6 Readings[C]: Metcalf, Barbara D. 2009 “A Historical Overview of Islam in South Asia.” In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. 1-20. Khair, Tabish, et. al. 2005 “Al-Buruni’s Defence of Hindu India (1030 AD)” In Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 78-84.

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Wk 3 INDIA IN THE COLONIAL WORLD SYSTEM Tue. 2/11 Readings[C]: Bose, Sugata & Ayesha Jalal 2003 Modern South Asia, 2nd ed. ch. 7, “The First Century of British Rule, 1757-1857” Dutt, Romesh Chunder 1901 “The Causes of India’s Poverty” from The Economic History of India Under Early British Rule. In Sources of Indian Tradition, Ed. Stephen Hay, 2nd ed. Volume 2, 1988, Columbia University Press, pp. 120-27. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 11-33 (Ch. 2 – “Colonial India: impoverishment”) Robins, Nick 2006 The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational, ch. 4: pp. 58-80.

Thu. 2/13 Readings[C]: Bose, Sugata & Ayesha Jalal 2003 Modern South Asia, 2nd ed. ch. 9, “Eighteen Fifty-Seven: Rebellion, Collaboration and the Transition to Crown Raj.” ch. 10, “High Noon of Colonialism, 1858-1914: State and Political Economy.” Macauley, Thomas Babington 1835 “Minute on Indian Education” In Postcolonialisms: An Anthology of Cultural Theory and Criticism. Eds. Gaurav Desai & Supriya Nair. 2005. Rutgers. pp. 121-31. Metcalf, Barbara D. 2009 “Islam in Colonial India: Law, Jihad, and Mutiny.” In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. 20- 22.

Wk 4 GLOBAL CULTURAL FLOWS: MUSIC Tue. 2/18 Origins and History of Jazz in India Readings[C]: Fernandes, Naresh. 2012 Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age. Roli Books. “Forgetting the Ganges”; “Bombay Speed”; “Attaining Hindustanese”; “Italians of the East”; “Black Commotion”; “Indian Theme”; “Music Without Birth Control”; “Damned Good Show”; pp. 12-17; 20-33; 44-53; 54-63; 65-77; 98-107; 110-125; 138-155. 2011 “Remembering Anthony Gonsalves,” In The Greatest Show on Earth: Writings on Bollywood. Ed. Jerry Pinto. New Delhi: Penguin, pp. 271-81.

Thu. 2/20 Cosmopolitan Nature of Film Music Readings[C]: Beaster-Jones, Jason 2014 Bollywood Sounds: The Cosmopolitan Mediations of Hindi Film Song. New York: Oxford University Press, ch. 1: “Bollywood Sounds”; ch. 3: “But My Heart Is Still Indian”; ch. 5: “Songs in the Key of the Angry Young Man and the Cabaret Woman” Shope, Bradley 2014 “Latin American Music in Moving Pictures and Jazzy Cabarets in Mumbai, 1930s-1950s,” In More than Bollywood: Studies in Indian Popular Music. Eds. Gregory Booth & Bradley Shope. 5

New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 201-15.

Wk 5 GLOBAL CULTURAL FLOWS: CINEMA *Please watch Awara prior to this class Tue. 2/25 Hindi Cinema as a Cultural Hybrid Readings[C]: Ganti, Tejaswini 2013 Bollywood: A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema. London: Routledge Press, chs. 1,3,4 Kesavan, Mukul 1994 “Urdu, Awadh and the Tawaif: the Islamicate roots of Hindi Cinema,” In Forging Identities: Gender, Communities and the State in India. Ed. Zoya Hasan. New Delhi: Kali for Women, pp. 244-257.

Thu. 2/27 Hindi Cinema as Global Popular Culture Readings[C]: Eleftheriotis, Dimitris & Dina Iordanova 2006 “Indian Cinema in the World.” South Asian Popular Culture. 4(2): 79-82. Gurata, Ahmet 2010 “‘The Road to Vagrancy’: Translation and Reception of Indian Cinema in Turkey.” BioScope 1(1): 67-90. Iordanova, Dina, et. al. 2006 “Indian Cinema’s Global Reach: Historiography Through Testimonies.” South Asian Popular Culture. 4(2): 113-40. Rajagopalan, Sudha 2006 “Emblematic of the Thaw: Early Indian Films in Soviet Cinemas.” South Asian Popular Culture. 4(2): 83-100.

PART II: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Wk 6 UNDERSTANDING CASTE Tue. 3/3 Orientalism, Colonialism & Caste Readings[C]: Cohn, Bernard S. 1987 “Notes on the History of the Study of Indian Society and Culture.” In An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays. Delhi: Oxford U.P. pp. 136-69. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 34-47 (Ch. 3 – “Colonial India: religious and caste divides).

Thu. 3/5 Caste as Social Category Readings: Mines, Diane P. 2009 Caste in India, pp. 1-46

Wk 7 Tue. 3/10 The Politics of Caste Readings: Guha, Ramachandra [C] 2008 “Rights” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 597-613. 6

Mines, Diane P. 2009 Caste in India, pp. 47-77

Thu. 3/12 MIDTERM – [In Class]

3/17 & 3/29 SPRING BREAK

Wk 8 CASTE IN PRACTICE Tue. 3/24 Caste & Intersectionality Readings: Racine, Josiane & Jean-Luc Racine with Viramma [C]: 2002 Viramma, Life of an Untouchable, chs. 16, 17, 19, 25 & “Routes to emancipation: a Dalit life story in context” Valmiki, Omprakash 2003 Joothan: An Untouchable’s Life, Foreword, Preface to Hindi Edition, Introduction, pp. 1-51.

Thu. 3/26 The Lived Realities of Caste Readings Valmiki, Omprakash 2003 Joothan: An Untouchable’s Life, pp. 53-154.

PART III: NATION Wk 9 NATIONALISM Tue. 3/31 The Creation of Hindi Readings [C]: King, Christopher R. 1989 “Forging a New Linguistic Identity: The Hindi Movement in Banaras, 1868-1914.” In Culture and Power in Benares, ed. Sandra B. Freitag. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, pp. 179-202. Lelyveld, David 1993 “The Fate of Hindustani: Colonial Knowledge and the Project of a National Language.” In Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament, eds. Carol A. Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer, Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 189-214. Rai, Alok 2001 “What’s in a Name?” In Hindi Nationalism, New Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 11-16.

Thu. 4/2 Anti-colonial Struggles Readings [C]: Bose, Subhash Chandra 1933 “The Anti-Imperialist Struggle and Samyavada” In Netaji Collected Works: Volume 8- Letters, Articles, Speeches and Statements 1933-1937. Eds. Sisir Kumar Bose & Sugata Bose, 1994, Oxford Univ. Press, pp. 241-263. Gandhi, M.K. 1958 “Nonviolent Democracy: Control by the People of Themselves and Their Government” from The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vols. 1-72. In Sources of Indian Tradition, Ed. Stephen Hay, 2nd ed. Volume 2, 1988, Columbia University Press, pp. 256-260. Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “Freedom and Parricide” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 19-40. Metcalf, Barbara D. 7

2009 “Renewal and Community” In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. 22-26. Nehru, Jawaharlal 1946 The Discovery of India, Calcutta: Signet Press. Excerpts: “Twenty Months”; “Famine”; “The War for Democracy” pp. 15-20.

Wk 10 PARTITION Tue. 4/7 Logics and Legacies of Division Readings: Butalia, Urvashi 2000 “Beginnings,” “Blood” & “Facts In The Other Side of Silence, Duke University Press, pp. 3-83. Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “The Logic of Division” & “Refugees and the Republic” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 41-51; 97-114. Metcalf, Barbara D. 2009 “Islam in the New Nation States” In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. 26-32.

Thu. 4/9 Representing Partition Readings [C]: Bedi, Rajinder Singh 1995 “Lajwanti” In India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, ed. Mushirul Hasan, New Delhi: Lotus Books, pp. 177-89. Choudhary, Salil 1999 “The Dressing Table” In Stories about the Partition of India, ed. Alok Bhalla, New Delhi: Harper Collins, pp. 33-49. Faiz, Ahmad Faiz 1995 “The Morning of Freedom” In India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, ed. Mushirul Hasan, New Delhi: Lotus Books, pp. 86-87. Insha, Ibn-e 1999 “Our Country” In Stories about the Partition of India, ed. Alok Bhalla, New Delhi: Harper Collins, pp. 400-01. Manto, Sa’adat Hasan 2001 “Toba Tek Singh” [1953] In Translating Partition, ed. Ravikant & Tarun K. Saint, New Delhi: Katha, pp. 63-72. Prabhakar, Vishnu 1995 “My Native Land” In India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, ed. Mushirul Hasan, New Delhi: Lotus Books, pp. 125-33. Rai, Amrit 1999 “Filth” In Stories about the Partition of India, ed. Alok Bhalla, New Delhi: Harper Collins, pp. 695-705. Sahni, Bhisham 1995 “We Have Arrived in Amritsar” In India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, ed. Mushirul Hasan, New Delhi: Lotus Books, pp. 113-24. Tauswi, Fikr 1995 “The Book of Divine Knowledge” In India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom, ed. Mushirul Hasan, New Delhi: Lotus Books, pp. 100-112.

Wk 11 POSTCOLONIAL NATIONALISM Tue. 4/14 Forging a New Nation Readings[C]: 8

Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “Apples in the Basket,” “Ideas of India,” & “Redrawing the Map” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 52-73; 74-96; 189-208. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 48-67 (Ch. 4 – “Making India work?1947-1989”). Roy, Srirupa 1999 Instituting Diversity: Official Nationalism in Post-Independence India. South Asia 22(1): 79-99.

Thu. 4/16 The Nature of Indian Secularism Readings[C]: Ahmad, Irfan 2009 The Indian Jama‘at-i Islami Reconsiders Secular Democracy. In Islam in South Asia in Practice, pp. 447-55. Bhargava, Rajeev 2002 “What is Indian secularism and what is it for?” India Review 1(1): 1-32. Sen, Amartya 2005 “Secularism and its Discontents” In The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity, ch. 14: pp. 294-316.

Wk 12 CHALLENGES TO THE NATION Tue. 4/21 Kashmir Readings[C]: Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “A Valley Bloody and Beautiful,” “Securing Kashmir,” and “Riots” “In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 74-96; 249-266; 641-45. Mishra, Pankaj 2006 “Kashmir: The Cost of Nationalism” In Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond, pgs. 147-211.

Thu. 4/23 Hindutva and the Politics of Religion Readings [C]: Davis, Richard H. 2005 “The Cultural Background of Hindutva.” In India Briefing: Takeoff at Last? Eds. Alyssa Ayres and Philip Oldenburg, New York: Asia Society, pp. 107-40. Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “Minding the Minorities” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 365-86. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 68-83 (Ch. 5 – “Rethinking India”). Sen, Amartya 2005 “India Large and Small” In The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity, ch. 3: pp. 45-72.

Wk 13 REVISITING HISTORY Tue. 4/28 Rewriting the Past Screening: Ram ke Naam [In the Name of God] – Anand Patwardhan, 1992, 75 min. Readings [C]: 9

Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “Riots” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 624-50. Mishra, Pankaj 2006 “Ayodhya: The Modernity of Hinduism.” In Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond, pgs. 80-110.

Thu. 4/30 Hindutva and the Politics of Pre-colonial History Readings [C]: Jha, D.N. 2001 The Myth of the Holy Cow. New Delhi: Matrix Books. preface, introduction, ch. 1 Guha, Sudeshna 2005 Negotiating Evidence: History, Archaeology and the Indus Civilization. Modern Asian Studies 39(2): 399-426. Thapar, Romila 2005 Politics and the Rewriting of History in India. Critical Quarterly 47(1/2), pgs. 195-203. 1999 Somanatha and Mahmud. Frontline. 16(8). April 10-23.

Wk 14 Tue. 5/5 Concluding Thoughts Readings [C]: Guha, Ramachandra 2008 “Why India Survives” In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. Harper Perennial. pp. 733-59. Jeffrey, Craig 2017 Modern India: A Very Short Introduction, pp. 84-117 (ch. 6 – “Social Revolution” & ch.7 – “Youth”).

Thu. 5/7 FINAL EXAM