RELIGION 348: RELIGION, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY: (3 credits; 45 contact hours) Fall 2013 in Delhi, India Instructor: Lee Siegel, UHM Department of Religion

An Introduction to a Semester of Living in India (Required for and restricted to UHM Study Abroad Students)

This course is meant to introduce students to the richness of Indian civilization as it can be observed, personally experienced, and intellectually understood in contemporary Delhi. We will explore the city historically and culturally, examining within it Indian social and domestic life, observing India’s religious practices, looking at its visual and theatrical arts, listening to its classical and contemporary music, tasting its foods. Meeting together each week students will be encouraged to support one another in a group endeavor to make this semester in India a profoundly and lastingly rewarding educational experience.

Geographical Orientation: An introduction to the regions, states, ethnic groups, and languages of India with a focus on North India and an emphasis on Delhi in particular. Students will become familiar with the layout of Greater Delhi and the location of their respective homestays in relationship to the city center (Connaught Place), Ambedkar University (Kashmir Gate), Old Delhi, the Metro system, and various sites of significant historical, political, commercial, artistic, and cultural interest.

Historical Overview: A survey of Indian cultural and political history from the Vedic period up to the present. Students will become familiar with the Classical empires and the Rajput dynasties. Focusing on Delhi in particular, students will learn about the Delhi Sultans, the Great Moghuls (with visits to the Purana Qila, Red Fort and Humayun’s tomb), British colonization (with a visit to the Coronation Memorial), and Indian Independence (with attendance at Republic Day celebrations on January 26). A visit to the Gandhi Smriti will provide data for reflections on Gandhi’s role in the formation of modern India.

Historical Overview of Normative Indian Values: A discussion of the three ends of human life, kama (love and pleasure), artha (economics and politics), and dharma (religion and social responsibility) were codified in classical Indian texts (from which selections will be assigned) and as students observe their manifestations in contemporary India.

Dharma as Religion: An introduction to Indian religious life Part One: Hinduism A historical overview of Hindu sectarian mythologies doctrines, and practices. Puja attendance at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, the Hanuman Temple, and the Kalkaji Temple.

Part Two: Indian Islam Visit to the Jama Masjid

Part Three: Sikhism Communal meal at Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

Dharma as Social and Domestic Obligation: Using the Ramayana (the animated film and selections from various textual versions) as a source, students will become familiar with Indian social and domestic hierarchies with a focus on the caste system and its modes of persistence in contemporary India.

Indian Domestic Life: Using observations made in the context of their respective homestays in India as well as their evaluations of representations of family life on Indian television and in contemporary films, students will discuss the ways in which family relationships define individuals and determine their values and behavior within Indian society. Students will be encouraged to observe an Indian wedding celebration.

Women in Indian Society: A historical survey of the position of women in Indian cultural traditions will serve as a foundation for a discussion of the roles and status of women in contemporary India. The media (film, television, magazines, and newspapers) as well as personal observation will provide the data for that discussion. Our discussion of gender issues should serve and be served by a more general consideration of attitudes toward sexuality in both traditional and global India.

Bollywood: The representations of Indian life in contemporary Indian films will be discussed in terms of the ways in which those constructions of the individual, the family, and society reflect, contradict, or define personal, domestic, and social realities.

Indian Cuisine: A discussion of the ways in which what and how one eats defines and reflects economic, aesthetic, and moral values will be held at Karim’s restaurant (the epitome of Moghul cuisine) in Old Delhi. Meals at a selection of restaurants in Delhi serving regional cuisines will provide the data for our reflections on the cultural meanings of ingredients and their preparation.

Indian music, dance, and drama: A discussion of classical Indian music and dance will be based on visits to concerts and recitals at the Triveni Kala Sangam and the India Habitat Center; further analytic discussion of contemporary music and dance (and it’s relationship to both classical and global trends) will be based on representations in films and on visits to a Delhi discotheque (one disco, Bora Bora, claims to be a genuine “Hawaiian Tiki Bar”). On a more sobering note, students will also attend a theatrical performance at the National School of Drama or the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Hindu Holy Days: We will participate in the various public celebrations that take place during our residence in Delhi and discuss our insights into the ways in which various mythologies become remembered and enacted in religious festivals: Mahashivaratri (celebrating the marriage of the god Shiva to the goddess Parvati), Holi (celebrating Krishna’s pranks); and Ramnavami (celebrating Rama’s birthday).

Other possible topics for individual investigation and class discussion: Yoga (with visits to the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Nataraja Centre); Ayurveda (with visits to the Ayurveda Kendra Clinic); Jainism (with visits to the Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir); Cricket (with attendance of a match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium); Magic (with attendances of performances arranged by the Resident Director); Puppetry (with attendance of performances by Rajasthani puppeteers in Haus Khaz).

Readings will be assigned from the Indian press (articles in newspapers, magazines, and other topical materials dealing with religion, politics, and society, with things that are happening while we are there). Also, given the premise and purpose of the course, it will be important to monitor current Indian posts and blogs on the Internet.

Course requirements: Each student will be required to keep a journal in which to record their observations of life in Delhi and their understanding of those observations in terms of the rich cultural history of Indian civilization. Journal entries will be discussed, and experiences compared and analyzed, at each weekly meeting of the group. These entries are meant to be a repository of ideas, feelings, stories, reflections serving a final essay demonstrating what the student has learned and come to understand about India, the world, and themselves from their participation in the UHM Study Abroad Program.

Grades will be based on the weekly journal entries (40%), participation in class discussion (40%), and the final essay (20%). Attendance at all class meetings and participation in all our visits to various sites in Delhi are required.

Learning Objectives: As participants in a study abroad course in India, in addition to having acquired a basic general knowledge of Indian cultural traditions as manifested in contemporary Delhi, our students will be particularly expected to demonstrate an increased capacity and eagerness to understand and respect a multiplicity of social and personal values and to communicate their own viewpoints effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds with worldviews very different than their own. They will be specifically expected to recognize and appreciate radically different basic assumptions about the nature of religion, family life, social structure, and the arts, and to understand the ways in which historical and cultural differences generate those assumptions.