South Asian America: Histories, Cultures, and Politics.

Catalog description

This course maps the South Asian American experience during indentured labor, pre-1965 immigration, anti-colonial efforts, post-1965 immigration, and post-9/11 era. We will examine South Asian diasporic cultural objects, including music, film, and literary works. Using interdisciplinary frameworks to analyze how South Asians have been constructed in relation to class, caste, religion, and other systems of difference, we will trouble the notion that South Asians in the United States have historically been a "model minority," and unearth histories of resistance. This will reveal connections to critical issues facing South Asians Americans today, including civil rights, assimilation, and expansion of state surveillance.