Anthropology 246 - Culture,Politics,and Representations of South Asia

Institution:

Bard College

Subject:

Description:

Asian Studies, SRE Using texts of anthropology as well as literature, history, and films, this course looks at representations of South Asia made by foreigners and South Asians alike. Employing the most general definition of ethnography, the course focuses on how particular metaphors, tropes, and ways of describing South Asia continue to shape our knowledge about the region. Students trace the development of certain categories-such as village, caste, family, religion, and gender-that have become crucial to many ethnographic portrayals of South Asia; these categories and each ethnographic piece are situated within the broader historical contexts of colonialism, the partition of Pakistan and India, Indian nationalism, and South Asia's postcolonial relation to global development and politics. A final section of the course examines the relation between contemporary politics and media, exploring, for example, the relation between the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and popular TV. Throughout the course, the work of two well-known Indian artists-the novelist Salman Rushdie and the filmmaker Satyajit Ray-is used to complement and challenge the ethnographic texts.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bard.edu

Phone Number:

(845) 758-6822

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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