India: Modern South Asia

4 credits · Undergraduate

Here we will deal with the history of South Asia between the coming of the Europeans and the present. It will be organized around a series of contested formulations about the recent South Asian past. One of these problems is: how was India comprehended and manipulated by the Europeans? The second problem is: How was India conquered, by the sword or by the word? The third is: How did Indians resist the British? Finally, how was the voice of women, lower classes, and others expressed and heard? We will read books about language, gender, the "subaltern" classes, and women in an attempt to understand these questions.