AANB11066U Contemporary South Asia: Reason and Religion

Volume 2015/2016
Content

This course introduces students to recent anthropological debates about contemporary identity politics that define the study of society, religion and politics in modern South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives). It begins with an investigation into what constitutes anthropological knowledge and ethnographic fieldwork in representing cultural realities in the region. The course will then critically explore tribal and caste discriminations through the lens of social and economic changes in South Asia. It will move on to consider various manifestations of identity politics in the region, including gender and kinship, queer sexualities and homosociality, colonial and post-colonial masculinities, minority religious identities, and show how they are shaped by current nationalist movements, communal violence, migration, globalisation and ‘westoxification’, visual cultures of commercial cinema, material consumption and religious traditions. The course unit will finally highlight the power negotiations, problems and possibilities of aging in the context of modernity in South Asia. The module will also consider how ethnographic representations of social transformations will equip students to review assumptions about hierarchy, cohesion and oppression in non-western societies. Course materials will include documentaries, ‘Bollywood’ films, web-based resources, literature, and newspaper articles in addition to scholarly books and research-based articles.

Tentative Course Outline

Topic 1  – Introduction: Towards an ethnographic study of South Asia

Topic 2  – Global and the tribal: Low caste identities and economic change

Topic 3  – ‘Gandhi, my mother’: Colonial and post-colonial masculinities

Topic 4 – ‘I hate Gandhi’: Aggressive Hindu nationalism in contemporary India

Topic 5 –  Urban horrors: Pogroms, riots and negotiating Muslim identities

Topic 6 – Violent women: Subversive femininities and women’s vigilantism

Topic 7 – Lovers and lipsticks: Globalized media and consumption practices

Topic 8 – Transgression and visibility: Eunuchs and same-sex encounters

Topic 9 –  Redundant wisdoms: Aging, social exclusion and modernity

Topic 10 – In conclusion: Micro and macro identity politics in South Asia

Learning Outcome

By the end of the course, a student should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a critical awareness of key themes/debates on social, economic and political relations in post-colonial South Asia.
  • Display knowledge of society and politics in South Asia through the use of both theoretical and empirical models.
  • Evaluate how traditional social hierarchies are impacted and transformed by modernity and economic changes in South Asia.
  • Locate the key areas where anthropological research can contribute towards quelling myths and assumptions about South Asian societies.

BSc and Open Education students: 500 pages obligatory literature.
MSc students: 500 pages obligatory literature + 200 pages of literature chosen by students

Literature chosen by students must be relevant to the course’s subject matter.

Course literature will be available in Absalon on the course website

The course consists of lectures, seminars and exercises based on in depth reading of ethnographic texts on health, illness and healing across a range of human societies. Students are expected to engage actively in oral presentations, discussions, group work and exercises.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam Preparation
  • 89
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 89
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
Obligatory portfolio assignments: The course lecturer determines the number and length of portfolio assignments. A minimum of 75% thereof will be assessed as the exam. At the end of the course, the lecturer will announce upon which portfolio assignments the assessment will be based.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
There is appointed a second internal assessor to assist with the assessment when the first assessor finds this necessary.
Re-exam

1. re-exam:

A new essay with a revised problem statement must be submitted at the announced date. The students are automatically registered for the 1. re-exam. Please note that the re-exam is an essay even for courses, where the ordinary exam is a portfolio exam.

2. re-exam:

A new essay with a revised problem statement must be submitted at the announced date next semester. The students must sign up for the 2. re-exam.

Criteria for exam assesment

See description of learning outcome. Formalities for Written Works must be fulfilled, read more: MSc Students/ BA students (in Danish)/ exchange, credit and Open University students