Spring Courses 2013
ANT 267 Self and Society in South Asia
Pinky Hota (Anthropology)
TTh 3 - 4:30 p.m.
This course introduces students to the culture, politics and everyday life of South Asia. Topics covered will include religion, community, nation, caste, gender and development, as well as some of the key conceptual problems in the study of South Asia, such as the colonial construction of social scientific knowledge, and debates over "tradition" and "modernity." In this way, we will address both the varieties in lived experience in the subcontinent, and the key scholarly, popular and political debates that have constituted the terms through which we understand South Asian culture. Along with ethnographies, we will study and discuss novels, historical analysis, primary historical texts and popular (Bollywood) and documentary film. {S} 4 credits
CLT 239/EAL 239 Contemporary Chinese Women's Fiction
Sabrina Knight (Comparative Literature)
TTh 1 - 2:50 p.m.
An exploration of major themes through close readings of contemporary fiction by women from China, Taiwan, Tibet, and Chinese diasporas. Theme for 2013: Intimacy. How do stories about love, romance, and desire (including extramarital affairs, serial relationships and love between women) reinforce or contest norms of economic, cultural, and sexual citizenship? What do narratives of intimacy reveal about the social consequences of economic restructuring? How do pursuits, realizations, and failures of intimacy lead to personal and social change? Readings are in English translation and no background in China or Chinese is required. {L} 4 credits
DAN 143 Indian Dance I: Bharata Natyam
Instructor TBA
MW 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Course description pending. {A} 2 credits
ENG 246 South Asian English Literatures
Ambreen Hai (English Language and Literature)
WF 1:10 - 2:30 p.m.
This course will explore the rich diversity of late 20th and 21st century literatures written in English and published internationally by award-winning writers of South Asian descent from Britain, the U.S., Canada, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Writers range from established celebrities (Rushdie, Naipaul, Kureishi, Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ondaatje, Selvadurai, Ghosh) to promising new stars (Kiran Desai, Hari Kunzru, Tahmima Anam, Monica Ali, Daniyal Mueenuddin). Among many questions, we will consider how writers craft new idioms and forms to address multiple audiences in global English, how they explore or foreground emergent concerns of postcolonial societies and diasporic, migrant, or transnational peoples in a rapidly globalizing but by no means equalizing world. Not recommended for first-year students. {L} 4 credits
ENG 267 Asian American Literature
Flyod Cheung (English Language and Literature)
MW 1:10 - 2:30 p.m.
Although we sometimes think only of modern-day authors like Amy Tan or Jhumpa Lahiri when we think of Asian American literature, in fact Asian Americans have been writing and publishing in English since at least 1887. In this course, we will read selected Asian American poetry, novels, short stories, plays, and films produced from the late nineteenth century until the present. We will consider how works engage with issues that have always concerned Asian Americans, like identity development and racism. Also, we will pay attention to how works speak to concerns specific to their period, such as the exclusion acts of the 1880s, the proletarian movement of the 1930s, the decolonization of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries since the 1940s, and the increasing size and diversity of the Asian American population in the late twentieth century. At all times, we will attend closely to matters of language and form. {L} 4 credits
PHI 252 Buddhist Philosophy: Madhyamaka and Yogacara
Constance Kassor (Philosophy)
TTh 9 - 10:20 a.m.
This course examines the two principal schools of Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. The Madhyamaka school is highly skeptical and critical in its dialectic. The Yogacara or Cittamatra school is highly idealist. The two present contrasting interpretations of the thesis that phenomena are empty and contrasting interpretations of the relationship between conventional and ultimate reality. The debate between their respective proponents is among the most fertile in the history of Buddhist philosophy. We will read each school's principal sutras and early philosophical texts, medieval Tibetan and Chinese commentarial literature and recent scholarly discussions of the texts and doctrines of these schools. Prerequisites: one course in Philosophy or Buddhist Studies. Enrollment limited to 40. {H} 4 credits
REL 275 Religious History of South Asia: Ancient to Medieval
Andy Rotman (Religion)
MW 1:10 - 2:30 p.m.
This course is an introduction to the literature, thought, and practice of religious traditions in India, from ancient times to the medieval period. Readings will include materials from the Vedas, Upanishads, and epics, from plays and poetry, as well as Buddhist and Jain literature. Particular consideration will be given to the themes of dharma, karma, love, and liberation as they are articulated in Classical Hinduism. {H} 4 credits
Five College Courses
Many courses related to South Asia are taught at the Five Colleges. Please see the Five College Course Catalog.