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21G.040

A Passage to India: Introduction to Modern Indian Culture and Society

3-0-9 units. HASS-H · Undergraduate

Introduction to Indian culture through films, short-stories, novels, essays, newspaper articles. Examines some major social and political controversies of contemporary India through discussions centered on India's history, politics and religion. Focuses on issues such as ethnic tension and terrorism, poverty and inequality, caste conflict, the missing women, and the effects of globalization on popular and folk cultures. Particular emphasis on the IT revolution, outsourcing, the new global India and the enormous regional and subcultural differences. Taught in English.

Spring 2012

Topics

  • Introduction
  • Partition
  • Sexuality and Gender
  • Modernity
  • From Courtesans to Bar Girls
  • Midterm
  • History and Memory
  • Lost in Translation
  • Poetry in Contemporary India
  • Stories from India, A Traveler’s Literary Companion : North India
  • Stories (cont.): Rural India
  • Stories (cont.): Urban India
  • Stories (cont.): South India
  • Reports on final paper

Readings

  • Manto, Saadat H. Selected Stories . Translated by Khalid Hasan. Penguin Global, 2008, pp. 474–86 and 517–24. ISBN: 9780143102182.
    Listed reading
  • Pritam, A. The Skeleton . Translated by Khushwant Singh. Oriental University Press, 1987, pp. 1–50. ISBN: 9780746500798.
    Listed reading
  • Chughtai, I. The Quilt and Other Stories . Translated by Tahiri Naqvi and Syeda Hameed. The Sheep Meadow Press, 1994, pp. 5–13. ISBN: 9781878818348.
    Listed reading
  • Kesavan, M. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 in The Ugliness of the Indian Male and Other Propositions . Permanent Black, 2008. ISBN: 9788178242064.
    Listed reading
  • SES #: 4 · TOPICS: Modernity · READINGS: Chattopadhyay, S. Devdas and Other Stories . Translated and edited by V. S. Naravane. Lotus Collection, 1996, pp. 31–78. ISBN: 9788174360304.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 5 · TOPICS: From Courtesans to Bar Girls · READINGS: Narayan, R., and M. Gorra. The Guide: A Novel . Penguin Classics, 2006. ISBN: 9780143039648.
    Reading assignment
  • Thapar, R. “ In Defence of History .” Lecture delivered at Thiruvananthapuram, 2002. ↗
    Listed reading
  • Ramanujan, A. “ Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation .” Chapter 2 in Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia . Edited by P. Richman. University of California Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780520075894. ↗
    Listed reading
  • SES #: 8 · TOPICS: Lost in Translation · READINGS: Bhagat, C. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage . Rupa & Co., 2009. ISBN: 9788129115300.
    Reading assignment
  • Choudhury, C. India: A Traveler’s Literary Companion . Whereabouts Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781883513245.
    Listed reading
  • Deb, Siddhartha. The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India . Faber & Faber, 2011, pp. 207–49. ISBN: 9780865478626.
    Listed reading
  • Choudhury, C. India: A Traveler’s Literary Companion. Whereabouts Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781883513245.
    Listed reading
  • Narayan, R., and M. Gorra. The Guide: A Novel . Penguin Classics, 2006. ISBN: 9780143039648.
    Required
  • Bhagat, C. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage . Rupa & Co., 2009. ISBN: 9788129115300.
    Required
  • Choudhury, C. India: A Traveler’s Literary Companion . Whereabouts Press, 2010. ISBN: 9781883513245.
    Required

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H

Sources