Culture and Identity in Modern South Asia

Catalog description

This course looks at the issue of identity formation in modern Asia (1800-2010s). The question of identity lies at the heart of much contemporary debate in and beyond our region of study. We will interrogate what we mean by “identify” – if it is a thing to be possessed, an essence in the character of a community or people, or something more complex, fluid and changing, or whether its exists at all. Through the course, these questions will be posed with reference to specific historical examples from South Asian continent. The focus of the course is on the cultural, social, and political history of South Asia since the 19th century, but we also study how aspects of the enormous social and economic change that took place during this period affected cultural and political processes today.