SAST 054 - Material Culture of South Asia

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

Gangulee. India has been described as a palimpsest of cultures as well as a land of million mutinies. Material bases of any culture rest on its ideas of itself, its innovations, what it produces and consumes, its ideas of social org. and political governance. In this course we shall examine the material bases of South Asian culture, its mode of production, consumption and distribution of surplus product and how over the last five thousand years, the ideas behind these modes have been put forward, contested and negotiated for acceptance. Some of these ideas have come from emigration and immigration, some from invasion and some have simply sprung up. We will begin by looking at the Indian materiality in language, rituals, spatial analyses of towns, weights and measures. We will go on to the rituals and materiality of the Indo-Aryans, the political thought that evolved, to the scientific thinking andtechnological innovations, the Grand Mughals, the European colonial period, Nehru's independent India, the liberalized economy of India in 1991 and end with the present.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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