Modern India - UNSW · Modern India British Raj to Bollywood ... including daily newspapers as a means of ... to introduce students to the modern history of the subcontinent,

Arts 2210 Course Outline

Page 1 of 27 CRICOS Provider Code 00098G

School of Humanities and Languages

Modern India British Raj to Bollywood

ARTS 2210 Semester 1, 2014



1. Course Staff and Contact Details 2. Course Details 3. Learning and Teaching Rationale 4. Teaching Strategies 5. Course Assessment 6. Attendance/Class Clash 7. Academic Honesty and Plagiarism 8. Course Schedule 9. Course Resources 10. Course Evaluation and Development 11. Student Support 12. Grievances 13. Other Information



1. Course Staff and Contact Details Associate Professor Kama Maclean Coordinator, Lecturer, Tutor Room: MB 366 Phone: 93853665 Email: [email protected] Consultations: Monday, 3.30-4.30

2. Course Details Units of Credit (UoC) 6

Course Description This course aims to explore India’s present through its past. The study of history and historiography of India are the special focus of the course. The course aims to use, and encourage interaction with, recent, interesting and provocative writing, including daily newspapers as a means of understanding contemporary events through an academic lens. The course makes use of ‘Bollywood’ film, inasmuch as it reflects the social and historical environment in which it is produced and consumed, to illustrate lectures. Topics include: the British Raj, the impact of colonialism, the politics of caste, gender, and famine, the nationalist movements, with particular reference to Gandhi, and decolonization and the creation of Pakistan. Students who have successfully completed this course will be able to understand and explain Indian history and will have an excellent basis for further study of the region. The narrative of post-independence India is continued at a third year level, in Powerful India (ARTS3212).

Course Aims 1.

to introduce students to the modern history of the subcontinent, with the aim of understanding the historical basis of contemporary developments in India

2.

To develop a familiarity with primary source materials, including visual and material culture, and develop critical reflection on a range of sources, through class debates and discussions

3. To foster an ability to understand and explain India’s perspectives on the world

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Understand internationally significant themes as they relate to India and the South Asian region

2. Critically reflect upon the subjective nature of history and appreciate interdisciplinary interventions and to understand the political nature of history in India, and elsewhere

3. Collect, analyse and synthesise historical and interdisciplinary sources

4.

Critically analyse and question the interpretation of India that is frequently presented in the media and to develop an informed appreciation of Indian culture, history and society and to understand how these position India and the region in the 21st century.

mailto:[email protected]



Graduate Attributes 1. Demonstrate initiative and judgement in scholarship

2. Identify and formulate solutions to complex problems with intellectual independence

3. A capacity to contribute to, and work within, the international community

4. The ability to engage in independent and reflective learning



3. Learning and Teaching Rationale We aim to teach history that is interesting and relevant. You can expect each lecture to begin with a catchy justification of why the lecture is important, and how it relates to contemporary politics, international relations and society. We also use as many props as possible in teaching: films, images, music, material culture, and sport. We rely a lot on what’s in the news, both in Australia and India.

4. Teaching Strategies The course is structured around a single two-hour lecture once a week, supported by a one-hour tutorial. The two-hour time slot works really well for exploring themes in some depth, and we try to break up the monotony of 2 hours in a lecture theatre with the use of short film clips during the lecture. You can also rely on a coffee break halfway through. The tutorials are your turn to speak, question, debate and contribute. We expect that you will have done the readings, which we try to keep interesting and to a minimum. If people don’t read, then the tutes are going to be pretty boring for us all. And there’s participation marks allotted based on how much constructive noise you make in tutes. If you hate speaking, speak to your tutor at the beginning of session for some strategies. We’ve tried to offer options in the readings for some weeks, so that you can to some extent follow your interests. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because we set an article, we endorse it; we don’t, necessarily. Sometimes the readings are deliberately provocative. To prepare for each tutorial, I suggest you read through the chapter/s and ask yourself the following questions, taking notes which you can use as a prompt in tutorials:

Who wrote this? Don’t simply respond with ‘the author’. Who is the author? What qualifies them to write on this topic? Do they have an agenda? In what context was this article written?

What is their argument? Try to summarise it in a sentence or two. You should also think about whether or not you agree, and why or why not.

How to they prove their argument? What is the evidence offered? Is it reliable? These are the questions that you should apply to all of your readings, including your morning news feed. Learning how to do this in tutes, and watching how others do it, will help you build up the skills you need for the first assignment. Finally, because tutorials are large, we make the most of small groupwork so that everyone gets the chance to speak and interact as much as possible. These are always highly rated in CATEIs. Moodle is your main gateway to the course. Important material will be posted on the course site, including all readings, turnitin assignment submission boxes and announcements.



5. Course Assessment

Assessment Task

Length Weight Learning

Outcomes Assessed

Graduate Attributes Assessed

Due Date

Document Analysis Assignment

1500 words 30% Collect, analyse and synthesise primary sources

Ability to engage in independent and reflective learning

April 22

Research Essay

2000 words 35%

Critical analysis of scholarship, writing and resources on and about Indian history

Identify and formulate solutions to complex problems with intellectual independence

May 20

Contribution Reports

Proforma 15% Demonstrate skills involved in scholarly inquiry

Capacity to contribute to and work within a community

Weekly

Final Test 2 hours 15%

Demonstrate An informed appreciation of Indian culture and history and society

Demonstrate cognitive skills that review analyse consolidate and synthesise knowledge

May 28

Please Note: In addition to fulfilling the above assessment requirements, students are expected to attend at least 80% of their lectures and tutorials in order to pass the course.

Document Analysis Assignment Word Length: 1500 words, approx Rationale Historical documents, broadly defined, are the most basic tool of the historian: they are evidence (but not all evidence is equal). This exercise is intended to develop your skills in the nuanced analysis of a historical document. You will have the choice of what to analyse from a list of items, which are available on Moodle. Your task will be to apply critical analytical skills to that document, mapping it against the backdrop of the lectures and a small amount of background research. Essentially, you will be expected to explain what the document is evidence of, and to discuss its uses and limitations. Details of the documents for analysis will be distributed in the first lecture. Assessment Criteria: Has the document been critically analysed? Has the document’s unique attributes and limitations been taken into account? Has it been situated within its historical context (based on lecture and tutorial

material, some background research and lateral thinking)? Does the assignment read well, and conform to expected academic conventions

(referencing etc)?



Research Essay The essay should be approx 2000 words long (not including footnotes and bibliography). You should have at least 12 specialised (this means apart from a basic text books) items in your bibliography, including ONE primary source, and material from books and journal articles. Clear guidelines for writing essays can be found at The Learning Centre’s Website: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/olib.html or you can make an appointment at the Learning Centre for an individual consultation. If you are not enrolled in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, and you haven’t done an essay before, this is a really good idea. You can talk to your tutor about how to approach your essay if you need help. Essay Topics 1. To what degree is communalism in contemporary India the product of colonialism?

2. Can the rebellion in 1857 be truly described as the ‘first war of independence’?

Why or why not?

3. Why did the Congress have such difficulty in attracting the support of the

subcontinental Muslim population from its inception to the 1940s?

4. Can the argument that the British government created famine in colonial India be

sustained? In your answer, focus on recent debates about the Bengal famine in 1942.

5. To what degree can it be said that colonialism was fundamentally gendered?

6. How can the popularity of cricket in South Asia be historically explained? Focus on

British Indian cricket in your response.

7. What are the pitfalls associated with trying to imagine, as Michael Kirby has

recently attempted, what Gandhi would do now? Analyse his interpretation of the

Mahatma alongside the accessible primary and secondary sources.

8. Was the burning of British-made cloth on bonfires, in a country struggling with

poverty, was an immoral form of politics?

9. Can the violence surrounding the partition of the subcontinent be described as a

genocide?

10. How can the relative reticence of Indian filmmakers on the subject of partition be

explained?

12. To what degree was the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 the product of a

personal clash between the key political personalities involved?

13. Was the experience of partition essentially different in East Pakistan from that of

the West Pakistan? Why or why not?

14. Why did the figure of Mother India (Bharat Mata) become important during the

struggle for independence?

15. Can it be said that Gandhi welcomed his own death?

17. What difference did Bhagat Singh make to the conduct of Indian nationalism?

18. Was Gandhi patronising to ‘Harijans’, as many contemporary Dalits argue?

19. What was the role of the Indian princes in the British imperial imagination?

20. Did Britain deliberately de-industrialise India?

21. Can it be argued that the British are responsible for the contemporary

phenomenon of dowry murder in India?

20. Devise your own question; but it must be in consultation with Kama.

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/olib.html



-- Where to start? Go straight to a general textbook and get a grounding of the topic. Follow the references suggested in the textbooks and go from there. Question the question. Is it a trick question? Is it ridiculously broad, and should you redefine it in such a way that it can be adequately addressed in the word limit? Are there different ways of interpreting the question? Essay Assessment Criteria The criteria we use to mark your essay are as follows:

Criteria

Topic Has the topic been clearly defined? Has the essay question been answered?

Structure Does the introduction present clear statement of the issues to be covered? Does the essay have a clear structure or organization in which

the main points develop logically the relevance of the material to the theme or argument is clear?

Is there an effective Conclusion, which draws the main points together?

Content Is there evidence of adequate reading and research? Use of primary sources (one is mandatory). Is the breadth of coverage adequate? Are the issues and ideas analysed in sufficient depth? Are the arguments supported by evidence, examples, sources and quotations?

Analysis Are the arguments logical and consistent? Are the opinions based on fact and logic? Does the essay show evidence of original or critical thought?

Presentation Fluency and style of writing Spelling, grammar and paragraphing Neatness and legibility Sources: Are they acknowledged? Are references cited? Is referencing done correctly?

Contribution Reports 15% of your mark is allocated to your participation in class, which is assessed based on the nature of your participation and conduct in the tutorials. This is based on your honest assessment of your preparation for tutorials (ie readings) and participation in discussions. You will be given a template with 7 short questions to fill in at the end of each tutorial. Participation is not the same as turning up; you need to make some noise, preferably in the form of informed contribution which indicates that you have done the readings, have attended the lectures and are thinking about the topic creatively. Participation is also assessed on the basis of your demonstration of the following Graduate Attributes:

the skills of effective communication the skills required for collaborative (ie group) and multidisciplinary work a respect for ethical practice and social responsibility an appreciation of, and respect for, diversity appreciation of, and responsiveness to, change



If you have concerns about your capacity to contribute to group discussion, you need to see your tutor or lecturer for strategies within the first weeks of term.

Final Test The test will be held during the lecture in week 12, worth 15% of your final grade. The test is intended to gauge and reward your engagement in lectures. The test will consist of eleven short-answer questions. These short questions will be explicitly framed in the lectures, so that the questions will be known to anyone who has attended and followed the lecture. I will also give the answer in each lecture. There are eleven lectures, there will be eleven questions, and I will count the best ten responses to calibrate your mark. Anyone absent on the day will require certification – medical, or special consideration – to sit the test at a later date.

Class Times & Venues

Lectures Mondays 1-3 CLB 5

Tutorials Wed 1 Mat 230

Wed 2 Mat 230

Wed 3 Mat 230

NB. Lectures are interactive sessions, in which you are expected to contribute. iLecture is only available to students with an allowable clash or misadventure.

Grades

All results are reviewed at the end of each semester and may be adjusted to ensure equitable marking across the School. The proportion of marks lying in each grading range is determined not by any formula or quota system, but by the way that students respond to assessment tasks and how well they meet the objectives of the course. Nevertheless, since higher grades imply performance that is well above average, the number of distinctions and high distinctions awarded in a typical course is relatively small. At the other extreme, on average 6.1% of students do not meet minimum standards and a little more (8.6%) in first year courses. For more information on the grading categories see https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/academiclife/assessment/GuideToUNSWGrades.html

Submission of Assessment Tasks

Assignments are all submitted to Turnitin, via Moodle. There is no hard copy required.

Turnitin is an electronic plagiarism detection platform which analyses the originality of your paper. By submitting an essay to turnitin, you are by default declaring that it is your work; no signed forms are required.

The cut off time for all assignment submissions for this course is 9pm of the due date.

When you upload your assignment, please make sure that you have named the document by the question attempted, eg. “Document 3” or “Question 10”. This is so I can happily mark the same questions together at the same time.

https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/academiclife/assessment/GuideToUNSWGrades.html



Assignments are returned to you on turnitin. You can access your grade and comments approximately two weeks after your submission.

A student may apply to their tutor for an extension to the submission date of an assignment. Requests for extension must be made on the appropriate form and before the submission due date, and must demonstrate exceptional circumstances, which warrant the granting of an extension. If medical grounds preclude submission of assignment by due date, contact should be made with subject coordinator as soon as possible. A medical certificate will be required for late submission and must be appropriate for the extension period.

Students that require foreseeable Special Consideration or are working with SEADU need to make an appointment with the Course Coordinator early in the session.

Late Submission of Assignments

Late assignments will attract a penalty. Of the total mark, 3% will be deducted each day for the first week, with Saturday and Sunday counting as two days, and 10% each week thereafter. The penalty may not apply where students are able to provide documentary evidence of illness or serious misadventure. Time pressure resulting from undertaking assignments for other courses does not constitute an acceptable excuse for lateness.

6. Attendance/Class Clash

Attendance

Students are expected to be regular and punctual in attendance at all classes in the courses in which they are enrolled. Explanations of absences from classes or requests for permission to be absent from classes should be discussed with the teacher and where applicable accompanied by a medical certificate. If students attend less than 80% of their possible classes they may be refused final assessment. Students who falsify their attendance or falsify attendance on behalf of another student will be dealt with under the student misconduct policy.

Class Clash

A student who is approved a permissible clash must fulfil the following requirements: a. The student must provide the Course Convenor with copies of lecture notes from those

lectures missed on a regular basis as agreed by the Course Convenor and the student.

b. If a student does attend a lecture for which they had secured a permitted clash they will still submit lecture notes as evidence of attendance.

c. Failure to meet these requirements is regarded as unsatisfactory performance in the course and a failure to meet the Faculty’s course attendance requirement. Accordingly, Course Convenors will fail students who do not meet this performance/attendance requirement.



d. Students must attend the clashed lecture on a specific date if that lecture contains an assessment task for the course such as a quiz or test. Inability to meet this requirement would be grounds for a Course Convenor refusing the application. If the student misses the said lecture there is no obligation on the Course Convenor to schedule a make-up quiz or test and the student can receive zero for the assessment task. It should be noted that in many courses a failure to complete an assessment task can be grounds for course failure.

7. Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s thoughts or work as your own. It can take many forms, from not having appropriate academic referencing to deliberate cheating. In many cases plagiarism is the result of inexperience about academic conventions. The University has resources and information to assist you to avoid plagiarism. The Learning Centre assists students with understanding academic integrity and how to not plagiarise. Information is available on their website: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism/. They also hold workshops and can help students one-on-one. If plagiarism is found in your work when you are in first year, your lecturer will offer you assistance to improve your academic skills. They may ask you to look at some online resources, attend the Learning Centre, or sometimes resubmit your work with the problem fixed. However, more serious instances in first year, such as stealing another student’s work or paying someone to do your work, may be investigated under the Student Misconduct Procedures. Repeated plagiarism (even in first year), plagiarism after first year, or serious instances, may also be investigated under the Student Misconduct Procedures. The penalties under the procedures can include a reduction in marks, failing a course or for the most serious matters (like plagiarism in an Honours thesis) or even suspension from the university. The Student Misconduct Procedures are available here: http://www.gs.unsw.edu.au/policy/documents/studentmisconductprocedures.pdf

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism/

http://www.gs.unsw.edu.au/policy/documents/studentmisconductprocedures.pdf



Course Program Please note that tutorials start in the first week of term.

Week Date Commencing:

Lecture Content Tutorial/Lab Content

1 March 3 The Past in the Indian Present

Intros and Issues

2 March 10 Mughal History and Controversy

Religion, History, Myth

3 March 17 The East India Company Scandal & Angry History

4 March 24 Rebelling against Colonialism

Civilising

5 March 31 The British Raj Economy

6 April 7 Indian Nationalism Collaboration

7 April 14 Gandhi Gandhi

April 18-27 BREAK

8 April 28 Nationalism and Religion Nationalism

9 May 5 Violence and Non-violence

Caste

10 May 12 Partition Theorising Communal Violence

11 May 19 Postcolonial India and Pakistan

High Politics of Partition

12 May 26 [end of term test] Postcolonial India & Pakistan

8. Course Resources Virtual Study Kit

All readings are provided on Moodle. All readings (or links to them; but be aware that these only work if you are on campus) will be up by O Week and can be printed off or downloaded to an e-reader. Please make sure that you have a copy of the reading in front of you during tutes.

Textbook Details

Crispin Bates, Subalterns and the Raj: South Asia since 1600, London: Routledge, 2007.

Journals

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies Journal of Asian Studies Modern Asian Studies South Asian History and Culture South Asian Popular Culture South Asian Survey Contemporary South Asia

Additional Readings

I highly recommend a good reference book, such as the New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought (by Alan Bullock and Stephen Trombley, HarperCollins, 2000);



Megawords (by Richard Osborne, Allen & Unwin, 2001) or the Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory (by David Macey, Penguin, 2001). While this course is not dense especially in theory, there are terms you will encounter in some of the readings which you will not find adequate definitions for in any dictionary (for example, the word ‘subaltern’, which used to mean ‘subordinate’ but is now related to a mode of history writing ‘from below’, which simply means it is interested in the lives of ordinary people as opposed to political leaders, kings, queens and so on). You will find yourself less confused by postmodern, postcolonial and other terminology if you get your hands on one of these books (the last two are particularly good for theoretical ideas, affordable [around $25], and should be in our bookshop). The Fontana book is good for definitions on things such as nationalism, hegemony, imperialism and so on.

Websites

There are links regularly posted on Moodle.

9. Course Evaluation and Development Courses are periodically reviewed and students’ feedback is used to improve them. Feedback is gathered using various means including UNSW’s Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) process.

10. Student Support The Learning Centre is available for individual consultation and workshops on academic skills. Find out more by visiting the Centre’s website at: http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au

11. Grievances All students should be treated fairly in the course of their studies at UNSW. Students who feel they have not been dealt with fairly should, in the first instance, attempt to resolve any issues with their tutor or the course convenors. If such an approach fails to resolve the matter, the School of Humanities and Languages has an academic member of staff who acts as a Grievance Officer for the School. This staff member is identified on the notice board in the School of Humanities and languages. Further information about UNSW grievance procedures is available at: https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/Complaints.html

12. Other Information

myUNSW

myUNSW is the online access point for UNSW services and information, integrating online services for applicants, commencing and current students and UNSW staff. To visit myUNSW please visit either of the below links: https://my.unsw.edu.au https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/ABC.html

OHS

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/

https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/Complaints.html

https://my.unsw.edu.au/

https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/ABC.html



UNSW's Occupational Health and Safety Policy requires each person to work safely and responsibly, in order to avoid personal injury and to protect the safety of others. For all matters relating to Occupational Health, Safety and environment, see http://www.ohs.unsw.edu.au/

Special Consideration

In cases where illness or other circumstances produce repeated or sustained absence, students should apply for Special Consideration as soon as possible. The application must be made via Online Services in myUNSW. Log into myUNSW and go to My Student Profile tab > My Student Services channel > Online Services > Special Consideration.

Applications on the grounds of illness must be filled in by a medical practitioner. Further information is available at: https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/SpecialConsideration.html

Student Equity and Disabilities Unit

Students who have a disability that requires some adjustment in their learning and teaching environment are encouraged to discuss their study needs with the course convener prior to or at the commencement of the course, or with the Student Equity Officers (Disability) in the Student Equity and Disabilities Unit (9385 4734). Information for students with disabilities is available at: http://www.studentequity.unsw.edu.au Issues that can be discussed may include access to materials, signers or note-takers, the provision of services and additional examination and assessment arrangements. Early notification is essential to enable any necessary adjustments to be made.

Tutorial Guide

Tutorial 1

Intros and Issues

We’re starting with India today: from this, we’ll track backwards. This week the reading is intended to be provocative and interesting, as well as introduce you to some of the current controversies, issues and problems India faces, plus an introduction to Bollywood, before we go ahead to ground these issues historically.

Required Readings:

Arundhati Roy, ‘The ladies have feelings, so….’ In The Algebra of Injustice, Flamingo, 2002, pp. 167-191.

Rachel Dwyer, Bollywood’s India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Modern India’, Asian Affairs, 41, 3, 2010, pp. 381-398.

Further Readings (because everyone needs more Bollywood):

http://www.ohs.unsw.edu.au/

https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/atoz/SpecialConsideration.html

http://www.studentequity.unsw.edu.au/



Rachel Dwyer, Bollywood’s India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Modern India. London: Reaktion; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Tejaswini Ganti, Bollywood: a guidebook to popular Hindi cinema, New York; London: Routledge, 2004.

A. S. Ahmed, ‘Bombay Films: Cinema as a Metaphor for Indian Society and Politics’, Modern Asian Studies, 26, 2, 1992, pp. 289-320.

Ashis Nandy (ed), The Secret Politics of Our Desires, Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema, New Delhi: Zed Books, 1998.

Vijay Mishra, Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire, Routledge, 2002.

Tutorial 2

History, Religion and Myth

Where does religion fit into ideas of historical time? As you saw in the lecture, Mughal history has been contested in recent years in India, in particular around ideas of historical wrongs and religious histories. Here we have two contrasting ideas about what is to be done.

Required Readings:

Gyanendra Pandey, ‘The New Hindu History’, South Asia, Special Issue, Vol. XVII, pp. 97-112;

Ashis Nandy, ‘History’s forgotten Doubles’, History & Theory, 34, 2, 1995, pp. 44-66.

Further readings

Richard Eaton, ‘Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States’, Frontline, January 5, 2001, pp. 70-77.

Patrick Wolfe, ‘Islam, Europe and Indian nationalism: towards a postcolonial transnationalism’ in Connected Worlds History in Transnational Perspective, Ann Curthoys and Marilyn Lake (eds), ANU e-press.

J.F. Richards, The Mughal Empire, Cambridge, 1993.

Harbans Mukhia, The Mughals of India, Blackwell, 2004.

Tutorial 3

Scandal and Angry History

Is it possible to comprehend/write/think about the history of the British Empire without being judgmental and indignant? This week we explore historical sensibilities and attitudes towards



the British Empire, with a particular focus on the East India Company and a recent ‘literary spat’. Also we will allocate readings for next week – there are 5 to choose from.

Required Readings

Nicholas Dirks, The Scandal of Empire, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2006, Ch. 1.

Christopher Bayly, ‘Moral Judgment: Empire, Nation and History’, European Review, 14, 3, pp. 385-391.

Niall Ferguson, ‘On being called a racist: My “Literary Spat” with the London Review of Books’, Spectator, Vol. 317, 2011, p. 42.

Further Readings

Robert Travers, ‘The Eighteenth Century in Indian History’, Eighteenth Century Studies, 40, 3, 2007, pp. 492-508.

Dane Kennedy, ‘Imperial History and Post-Colonial Theory’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 24, 3, 1996, pp. 345-363.

Tutorial 4

The Civilising Mission

As a way of providing some focus on the enormous issue of the civilising mission, this week we focus on British concerns with the treatment of Indian women, with particular reference to sati/suttee. The articles below range across the topic, from colonial India to contemporary debates.

Jigsaw Groups

Jigsaw Groups are a fantastic way of covering a large amount of material and working collaboratively. They are always highly rated in CATEIs. See this link for how they work http://www.uni-koeln.de/hf/konstrukt//didaktik/wettkampf/Jigsaw%20Groups.htm

Sati is a highly contested issue; to cover the various arguments I have divided this week’s readings into modules. These will be divided up in class in tutorial 3; small groups of around 4 will be allocated a module to read and prepare notes on individually. In the module groups, we will discuss the relevant focus question; and then we will bring the different modules together in a discussion about Sati in groups.

When preparing notes on your reading, you should plan so that you are able to explain the argument of your reading, and what you think of it, in about 5 minutes to your group.

If you don’t have a reading allocated, email your tutor. Don’t just read the shortest article; this messes up the whole thing because everyone reads the same paper. We need roughly equal groups reading each article for this exercise to work.

Required Readings:

http://www.uni-koeln.de/hf/konstrukt/didaktik/wettkampf/Jigsaw%20Groups.htm



Reading 1

Lata Mani, ‘Contentious Traditions: the Debate on Sati in Colonial India’, Cultural Critique, No. 7, Autumn, 1987, pp. 119-56.

Reading 2

Anand Yang, ‘Whose Sati? Widow Burning in early 19th Century India’, Journal of Women’s History, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1989, pp. 8-33.

Reading 3

Jorg Fisch, ‘Dying for the Dead: Sati in Universal Context’, Journal of World History, 16, 3, 2005, pp. 293-325.

Reading 4

Sanjukta Gupta and Richard Gombrich, ‘Another View of widow-burning and womanliness in Indian public culture, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 22, 1984, pp. 252-258; plus Ashis Nandy’s response pp. 264-68. (this reading is shorter but more complex).

Reading 5

Francis Jarman, ‘Sati: From Exotic Custom to Relativist Controversy’, Culture Scan, 2, 5, 2002.

More on Women in Colonial India

Sinha, Mrinalini, ‘Refashioning Mother India: Feminism and Nationalism in Late-Colonial India’, Feminist Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3, Points of Departure: India and the South Asian Diaspora (Autumn, 2000), pp. 623-644.

Nicholas Dirks (ed.), Colonialism and Culture, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992.

Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of the Self under Colonisation, Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Sudipta Sen, ‘Colonial Aversions and Domestic Desires: Blood Race, Sex and the Decline of Intimacy in Early British India’, South Asia, Vol. 24, 2001, pp. 25-45;

Janaki Nair, ‘Uncovering the zenana: Visions of Indian womanhood in Englishwomen’s writings, 1813-1940, in Catherine Hall (ed), Cultures of Empire, Manchester: Manchester University Press,’ 2000, pp. 224-245.

Aishwarya Lakshmi, ‘The Mutiny Novel: Creating the Domestic Body of Empire’, in 1857: Essays from Economic and Political Weekly, Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2008, pp. 229-251.

Harald Fisher Tine and Michael Mann (Eds), Colonialism as Civilising Mission: Cultural Ideology in British India, Anthem Press, 2004.



Margaret Strobel, ‘Gender, Sex and Empire’, in Michael Adas (ed), Islamic and European Expansion: the Forging of a Global Order, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993, pp. 345-375.

P. J. Marshall, ‘British Society in India under the East India Company’, Modern Asian Studies, 31, 1, 1997, pp. 89-108.

E. M. Collingham, Imperial Bodies, The Physical Experience of the Raj, c.1800-1947, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001.

Fiction: E. M. Forester, A Passage to India (the book is much better than the film, for some reason Englishman Alec Guinness [the original Obiwan Kenobi] was cast to play the brahman Godbole); Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (definitely the book, not the film!).

Film: for an Indian perspective of colonialism, see the colonial cricket epic Lagaan, which nearly won an Academy Award a few years ago.

Website: Lots of interesting colonial documents, like the census, available here.

Tutorial 5:

The Economy of Colonialism

As we learned from Arundhati Roy, economic inequality is a major issue in contemporary South Asia, with the virtually seamless juxtaposition of the world’s richest and poorest in every metropolis. While contemporary poverty has reasons other than bad history, it’s still interesting to ask how poverty in South Asia has been construed historically.

Required Readings:

Katherine Mayo, ‘Psychological Glimpses Through an Economic Lens’, Mother India, NY: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1927, pp. 389-408.

Mike Davis, ‘India: the Modernisation of Poverty’, in Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño famines and the making of the third world, London : Verso, 2001, pp. 311-340; 446-451.

Further Readings:

David Washbrook, ‘The Indian Economy and the British Empire’, in Douglas M. Peers &

Nandini Gooptu (eds), India and the British Empire, Oxford, 2012.

T. Roy, ‘Economic History and Modern India: Redefining the Link’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16, 3, 2002, pp. 109-130.

Prabhat Patnaik, ‘Imperialism and the Growth of Indian Capitalism’, in Roger Owen & Bob Sutcliffe (eds), Studies in the Theory of Imperialism, London: Longman, 1972.

C. A. Bayly, ‘India and the Great Divergence’, Itinerario, vol. xxiv, Vol 3, Iss. 4, 2000.

K. N. Chaudhuri, Asia Before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge Uni Press, 1990.

http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/slv.htm



Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age, Berkeley: Uni of California, 1998.

Michael Twaddle, ed, Imperialism, the State and the Third World, Tauris Press, 1992.

Responses to Mayo:

C.F. Andrews, The True India, London: Allen & Unwin, 1939.

Katherine Mayo and India, People’s Pub. House [1971].

Tutorial 6:

Durbars, Rajas and Pomp

The cooperation and cooption of indigenous ruling structures and leaders, as well as the education and training of Indian intermediaries, was a vital aspect of maintaining the Raj. Why did these ‘collaborators’ agree to work with the British? And how did the British create certain categories of collaborators? And how could they just make stuff up, like princely hierarchies and fancy salutes and all the heraldry, without people seeing through it? Or did they?

Required Reading:

Bernard Cohn, ‘Representing Authority in Victorian India’, in Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 165-209;

Jim Masselos, ‘The Great Durbar Crowds’, in Julie F. Codell (ed), Power and Resistance: The Delhi Coronation Durbars, Mapin Publishing, 2012, pp. 176-203.

Additional Readings:

Richard Eaton, ‘(Re)imag(in)ing Other2ness: A Post-mortem for the Post-modern in India’, Journal of World History, xi, I, 2000.

Empire Online, electronic resource available thru the LRD. Worth checking out.

Thomas Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

R. Robinson, ‘Sketch for a Theory of Collaboration’, in Roger Owen & Bob Sutcliffe (eds), Studies in the Theory of Imperialism, London: Longman, 1972.

Tutorial 7:

Indian Nationalism

Benedict Anderson has famously argued that print capitalism has played a vital role in allowing people (such as a newspaper readership) to share the experience of being bound within the nation, and thereby to imagine themselves into being as a common unit (Imagined



Communities, 1993). Many critiques have been made of his thesis by South Asianists (see Partha Chatterjee’s book, below). For the study of South Asian nationalism in general, and Indian nationalism in particular, the very low levels of literacy (indicated by census data), and the presence of many regional languages raises questions about how nationalism in India grew in the early twentieth century, despite these inhibitions. This week we examine how ideas about two important Indian ‘Freedom Fighters’, Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh, were spread and received in the early twentieth century. You all know Gandhi; that’s Bhagat Singh on the front cover of this course guide. Also, this week we will allocate the Gandhi readings for next week, so please think about which module you want to do. Numbers are limited, so choose at least 2, in case you don’t get the one you want. Required Readings: Shahid Amin, ‘Waiting for the Mahatma’, in Robin Jeffrey (eds, et al), India: Rebellion to Republic Selected Writings, 1857-1990, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1990, pp. 83-96. Kama Maclean, ‘The Portrait’s Journey: The Image, Social Communication and Martyr-Making in Colonial India’, Journal of Asian Studies, 70, 4, 2011, pp. 1051-82. Further reading: Partha Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? London: Oxford University Press, 1986, chapter 4. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (ed), The Nationalist Movement in India: A reader, Oxford University Press: 2009. Yasmin Khan, ‘From Imagined Communities to Nation states in India and Pakistan’, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs (97.398, Oct. 2008). Films: Rang de Basanti, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Shaheed

Tutorial 8:

Gandhi

Gandhi is arguably one of the most fascinating political figures of the twentieth century. In recent years his role in Indian history has been reassessed by a number of groups, from radical dalit (low caste) movements, to Hindu nationalists, and postcolonial theorists. Seen variously as a maverick, a wily politician or a great visionary with impeccable ethics, Gandhi has continued to inspire, puzzle, exasperate, activate and enlighten countless ordinary and not so ordinary people (such as Martin Luther King Jnr and Nelson Mandela) around the globe.

Required Reading: Jigsaw Groups

As a means of beginning to come to terms with Gandhi’s complexity, we have divided this week’s readings into modules.

They will be allocated in tutes in the previous week; we need roughly equal groups reading each article for this exercise to work, so if you missed out, email your tutor to be allocated a reading.

Module 1: Gandhi on Gandhi

Selections from Gandhi’s writings, in Anthony Parel (ed), Hind Swaraj and other writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 28.



Module 2: Gandhi and Non-Violence

Thomas Weber, ‘Gandhian Nonviolence and its Critics’, on Moodle.

Module 3: Gandhi, Gandhi and more Gandhi

Perry Anderson, ‘Gandhi Center Stage’, London Review of Books, July 5, 2012, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n13/perry-anderson/gandhi-centre-stage

Module 4: Gandhi’s Assassination

Ashis Nandy, ‘The Politics of the Assassination of Gandhi’, in At the Edge of Psychology: Essays in Politics and Culture, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997 [1980], pp. 70-98.

Module 5: Gandhi’s Critics

Vinay Lal, ‘The Gandhi everybody loves to hate’, Economic and Political Weekly, 43, 40, 2008, pp. 55-64.

Further Readings:

David Arnold, Gandhi, London: Pearson, 2001.

Dennis Dalton, Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

Bhikhu Parekh, Gandhi’s Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination, Basingstoke, 1989.

Emma Tarlo, ‘Gandhi and the Recreation of Indian Dress’, in Clothing Matters: the Question of Dress in India, London: Hurst, 1996.

Thomas Weber, ‘Gandhi and the Nobel Peace Prize’, South Asia, 12, 1989, 29-47.

Claude Markovits, The Un-Gandhian Gandhi: the Life and Afterlife of the Mahatma, Delhi: Permanent Black, 2003.

Film: Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi; and even better, these relatively recent Hindi Films: Hey Ram; Lage Raho Munnabhai (Carry On, Munnabhai); Gandhi, My Father; and Maine Gandhi ko Nahi Mara (I didn’t kill Gandhi).

Fiction: R. K. Narayan, Waiting for the Mahatma, Michigan State University Press, 1955.

Tutorial 9:

Caste

Was Gandhi’s take on caste wrong?

Required Readings (there are 3; read Ambedkar and Gandhi’s writings first; to make sense of them, scan Coward’s article):

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n13/perry-anderson/gandhi-centre-stage



‘Ambedkar on Ambedkar: What does it mean to be a Dalit?’ in K. C. Yadav (ed), From Periphery to Center Stage: Ambedkar, Ambedkarism & Dalit Future, Delhi: Manohar, 2000, pp. 19-38.

Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Speech on Antyaj Conference, Nagpur’, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, at http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL022.PDF pp. 128-135.

Harold Coward, ‘Gandhi, Ambedkar and Untouchability’, in Indian Critiques of Gandhi, SUNY Press, 2003, pp. 41-66.

Further Readings

Nicholas Dirks, ‘The Invention of Caste: Civil Society in Colonial India’, Social Analysis, 25, September 1989, pp. 42-52.

Susan Bayly, Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Nicholas B. Dirks, Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Gloria Goodwin Raheja, ‘Caste, Colonialism, and the Speech of the Colonized: Entextualization and Disciplinary Control in India’, American Ethnologist, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1996, pp. 494-513.

Imtiaz Ahmad, ‘Caste Mobility Movements in North India’, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 8, 2, 1971, pp. 164-91.

Ramnarayan S. Rawat, ‘Making Claims for Power: A New Agenda in Dalit Politics of Uttar Pradesh, 1946–48’, Modern Asian Studies 37, 3, 2003, pp. 585–612.

Ishita-Banerjee Dube, (ed.), Caste in History. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, ‘From Alienation to Integration: Changes in the Politics of Caste in Bengal, 1937-47’, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 31, 3, 1994, pp. 349-91.

Tutorial 10:

Theorising Communal Violence

Some historians argue that there is a direct link between colonialism and present-day fundamentalism and conflict in South Asia. This week we will examine some of these claims, by looking at twentieth century state-formation and conflict. To what extent was the colonial state responsible for the conflicts between Hindu and Muslim communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? How can we understand communal violence in general?

AND: Have a look at next week’s readings, you need to nominate one of them for the tutorial, which will be the same format as the Gandhi week.

Required Readings:

http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL022.PDF



Paul Brass, ‘Explaining Communal Violence’, in The Production of Hindu-Muslim Violence in Contemporary India, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003, pp. 5-37.

Sudhir Kakar, ‘The Riot’, in Colours of Violence: Cultural Identities, Religion and Conflict, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996, pp. 25-51.

Further Reading:

Gyanendra Pandey, ‘The Colonial Construction of “Communalism”: British Writings on Banaras in the Nineteenth Century’, in Veena Das (ed), Mirrors of Violence, Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 94-134.

C. A. Bayly, ‘Pre-history of “Communalism”? Religious Conflict in India, 1700-1860’, Modern Asian Studies, 19 (1985).

Paul R. Brass, ‘Elite groups, Symbol Manipulation and Ethnic Identity among the Muslims of South Asia’, in David Taylor and Malcolm Yapp, (eds.), Political Identity in South Asia (London, 1979), pp. 35-77.

Jabez T. Sutherland, ‘Hindu-Muslim Antagonism: A British Creation’, in Wallbank, T.W. (ed.), The Partition Of India: Causes and Responsibilities (Boston, 1966), pp. 38-42.

Paul Brass, ‘The Partition of India and retributive genocide in the Punjab, 1946-7: means, methods, and purposes’, in Journal of Genocide Research, 2003, 5, 1, pp. 71-101.

Ayesha Jalal, ‘Exploding Communalism: The Politics of Muslim Identity in South Asia’, in Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal (eds), Nationalism, Democracy and Development: State and Politics in India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 76-103.

Kama Maclean, ‘Hybrid nationalist or Hindu nationalist? The life of Madan Mohan Malaviya’ in Kate Brittlebank (ed), Tall Tales and True: India, historiography and British Imperial Imaginings, Melbourne: Monash Asia Institute, 2008, pp. 107-124.

Mushirul Hasan, Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1885-1930, Delhi: Manohar, 1990.

Tutorial 11:

The High Politics of Partition

Most people agree that partition was a bad idea that has created more conflict, not less. So why did it happen? This class interrogates the idea of the ‘Big Man in History’ (sic), which posits that it just takes one great man to decisively change history. Had any one of the key players died in 1945, would partition have taken place?

This week, by popular demand, we will do jigsaw groups again. Readings will be allocated in tutorial 10. If you missed out, please contact your tutor to have a reading allocated.

Jigsaw Groups

1. Had Nehru died in 1945, would partition have taken place?



B. R. Nanda, ‘Jawaharlal Nehru and the Partition of India’, in Jawaharlal Nehru: Rebel Statesman, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 115-173.

2. Had Jinnah died in 1945, would partition have taken place?

Sharif al Mujahid, ‘Jinnah and the Making of Pakistan: The Role of the Individual in History’, in Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, 21 (1), 1997.

3. Had Mountbatten died in 1945, would partition have taken place?

Andrew Roberts, ‘Lord Mountbatten and the Perils of Adrenalin’, in Eminent Churchillians, London: 1994, pp. 84-98; 330-1.

4. Had Gandhi died in 1945, would partition have taken place?

Judith Brown, Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1989, pp. 359-384.

5. Had Edwina Mountbatten died in 1945, would partition have taken place?

Akbar S. Ahmed, Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity, London and New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 143-168.

Further Readings:

W. H Morris Jones, ‘Thirty-Six Years Later: the Mixed Legacies of Mountbatten’s Transfer of Power, International Affairs, 59, 4, 1983, pp. 621-8.

Yasmin Khan, The Great Partition, Yale University Press, London, 2007.

Tai Yong Tan and Gyanesh Kudaisya (eds), The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, London: Routledge, 2000.

Gyanendra Pandey, Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Tushar A. Gandhi, Let’s Kill Gandhi!: A Chronicle of his Last Days, the Conspiracy, Murder, Investigation and Trial, New Delhi: Rupa, 2007. Manohar Malgonkar, The Men Who Killed Gandhi, London: MacMillan, 1979/New Delhi: Roli, 2008. Stanley Wolpert, Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Films: Earth, (one of the controversial films from the trilogy by Deepa Mehta, Fire, Earth and Water). In Indian spice stores (which often sell DVDs) or youtube, look for: Pinjar, Hey Ram, and Tamas.



Tutorial 12:

Postcolonial India and Pakistan

As nation-states, India and Pakistan have followed two very different trajectories since 1947. How can we begin to account for these?

Required Readings:

Kunal Mukherjee, ‘Why has democracy been less successful in Pakistan than in India?’, Asian Affairs, 41: 1, 2010, pp. 67-77.

Ashis Nandy, ‘The Fantastic India-Pakistan Battle: Or, the Future of the Past in South Asia’, in Vinay Lal (Ed), Dissenting Knowledges, Open Futures, OUP, 2000, pp. 186-200.

Further Readings:

Philip Oldenburg, India, Pakistan and Democracy, Routledge, 2010.

Rafiq Dossani and Henry S. Rown (eds), Prospects for Peace in South Asia, Stanford Uni Press, 2005.

Mushirul Hasan & Nariaki Nakazato (eds), The Unfinished Agenda: Nation-Building in South Asia, Manohar, 2001.

Khadija Haq (ed), The South Asian Challenge, OUP, 2002.

Farzana Shaikh, Making Sense of Pakistan, New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.

Films: Veer Zara, Main Hoon Na

Course evaluation and development

Student Feedback

Student evaluative feedback on this course is welcome and is gathered periodically, using among other means UNSW’s Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) process.

Student feedback is taken seriously, and continual improvements are made to the course based in part on such feedback. Significant changes to the course will be communicated to subsequent cohorts of students taking the course.

A summary of feedback from 2013:

The best part about this course was

The Bollywood clips



The diversity of lecture material. Very broad range of topics enabled a thorough understanding of modern India.

The lectures were very engaging with a wide variety of content as well as means of presentation.

Course was really interesting, I really enjoyed all the aspects talked about during the course. All lecture material was good and put online, lecturer really put lots of effort into making the lectures engaging and interesting. Would do another course with this lecturer. So amazing!!!!

The lecture slides were provided in each lecture to take notes on.Use of bollywood films to help us understand the course content.

I enjoyed the tutorials most when the readings were divided up

The use of Bollywood to demonstrate social and cultural trends and ideology in India was great!

The use of films to express historical events and links. The lectures were really great loved it!

The content was really interesting! Loved the mixing of bollywood films and digital content

The Bollywood clips! The way Kama linked the various historical themes to current day India. I liked the broad view and the way the course was framed around questions.

The content, the structure, the incorporation of popular culture in Bollywood films and Kama Maclean

The course content- it was interesting, relevant and well presented.

Variety of topics, use of media

interesting, interactive, relevant

Really interesting topic studies - learnt a lot about india i had no idea about. liked the integration of bollywood too, made subject matter more interesting bollywood

karma was a great lecturer

the link between history and contemporary India to show how modern India is a

direct result of its past

Great course.

Integration of Bollywood movies with political, cultural, social, economic theories etc showing how traditions on the screen reflect events in real life.

Constant references to Indian cinema and the role of history in contemporary India

Bollywood was fun! It was a good use of media in the lectures and even in the tutorials;

The format of the final test was great

The lectures were quite enjoyable, probably the best I have had till now.

Interesting topics and lectures by the lecturer RICH IFORMATION ABOUT MODERN INDIA This course could be improved by:

I like the lecture slides but it would be good if they were printed and collated consistently.



Make it very very clear at the beginning of the semester that exam questions will be

provided in the lectures and people NEED to turn up. I was constantly bombarded by

classmates asking for exam questions and their excuse was they didn’t realise you would be so strict with the exam questions in the lectures.

Having more time to study for the exam - moving it out by a week would work very well but I

like the fact its inside semester just needed a bit more time to study for it as the essay was

due to the week before.

Possibly making clearer the exam at the beginning; I mistakenly thought that there would only be one or two of the questions posed throughout the lecturer in the exam, not every question more puzzle readings

I wish all the readings were put together in a reader that was available for purchase from

the book store. i would have done more of the weekly readings if they were in this format

and easy to get at... i could read them on the train or what not and did not have to print

them off with my own ink and paper if i wanted to read them and highlight them away from my computer

the readings in the first few weeks were not very captivating or relevant

Some readings way to long. And the fact that the tutorial was straight after the lecture but lagging by one week was EXTREMELY confusing. Making the first few readings a bit easier to understand

Perhaps an extra week on Moghul India, I felt this part was covered too briefly

I would like a little more focus on Mughal history.

More regular modes of assessment, document analysis weighting was a bit too big

in my opinion. Shorter readings would have been much better, some of them were

very long. Kama’s Responses Regarding the assessments; how much and how often we can assess is highly structured by the faculty, with the aim of keeping assessments to consistent and reasonable levels. So I can’t have more assessments worth less spread through the term. I have changed the tutorial-lecture sequence so that we are covering the same topic in the same week. Hopefully this will reduce confusion and provide more focus to topics. I will also clarify how the test works in the first lecture. I should also mention that asking other students for the questions that are revealed in the lecture is basically cheating and very bad karma. Regarding not printing the course materials. Because I use so many ‘jigsaw’ readings, with at least five readings per week on offer, to print a course reader is prohibitively expensive (and VERY heavy, but also wasteful, given that for 3 weeks you only read one reading out of a possible five). All I can suggest is that you dedicate a hour to downloading and printing all of your materials at once. Many students now have e-readers to get around this problem. Mughal history: it’s not my thing. What can I say? Hope the other 20th century stuff makes up for it.

Documents

Modern India - UNSW · Modern India British Raj to Bollywood ... including daily newspapers as a means of ... to introduce students to the modern history of the subcontinent,