ANHS W4177 - Religion, Caste, and Culture: The Anthropological history of India

Institution:

Columbia University in the City of New York

Subject:

Description:

How did Western scholars/missionaries/anthropologists/colonial officials understand the strange world of India they found themselves in? The religion was unrecognizable by the terms of a Western understanding: it was not congregational, confessional, or recognizably scriptural. Culturally, Indian society was deeply hierarchical, divided by a system called "caste" which was both scriptural and not. Furthermore, religion and caste contributed centrally to the understanding of "culture" a term invoked interchangeably with "tradition." The divide between caste, religion, and culture, at the same time the difficulty of implementing that divide baffled Western scholars and missionaries of the late medieval period, but also later (19th century) colonial officials and anthropologists. Knowledge about India was centrally produced by these various gatherers and compilers of information on India, and in this course we begin with early accounts of missionary activities, and will work our way through the writings of political theorists, sociologists, anthropologists, in order to arrive at an understanding of the interdisciplinary and anthropological history of India.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.columbia.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 854-1754

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.