Third World Problems: Contemporary South Asia in Historic Perspective

4 credits · Undergraduate

A paradox lies at the heart of our visions of present-day South Asia: on the one hand, the region has witnessed explosive economic growth, leading some to speak of the next hundred years as an ‘Asian Century’. On the other hand, the countries of the region remain beset by enormous challenges, from the shadow of terrorism, the threat of nuclear war, the increasingly rapid slide into authoritarianism, the growth of religious violence and fundamentalism, resource scarcity and the looming environmental catastrophe – to name only a few. This course will explore this paradox through works of reportage, fiction and contemporary history from across the Indian subcontinent today.