About Registrar
Home
Mission Statement
Contact Information

 Course Publications
Spring 2010
 
Course Timetable
Fall 2009
 
Course and Room Roster
Final Exam Information

2009-2010 Course Register
Course Search & Schedule
Planning Tool
Academic Bulletin
3 Year Academic Calendar

Student / Alumni Services
 

Faculty / Staff Resources
 

 Additional Sites & Resources
Visit Penn's Website
Classroom Finder
Penn Portal
Penn Course Review
Penn In Touch
Student Financial Services
U@Penn Staff Portal
Division of Finance
Inside Finance
Division of Finance Access Only
 
 
2009-2010 University of Pennsylvania Course Register
pdf icon Download as PDF
 

SOUTH ASIA STUDIES (AS) {SAST}

Foundational Courses

L/R 001. (HIST089) The Idea of India. (C) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Rawat. This course broadly surveys various ideas about what constitutes "India" from the earliest period of record to the contemporary period. A straightforward chronology walks us through significant articulations of "India" throughout history as we seek to understand India in terms of geography, culture, religion, society, nationalism and globalization. This survey is situated amid debates about the Indus Valley civilization: the "Golden" ages of the Guptas and Ashoka; Mughal India; devotionalism and region; the legacy of Shivaji; colonial formulations of India as part of the "Orient" and a "Jewel in the Crown"; the "Two-Nations" theory; the competing visions of Gandhi, Nehru, and Jinnah; Hindu Right nationalism; the Cold War and non-alliance; and the embrace of India as part of a global economic and cultural community. This is an entry-level survey course in Indian culture and hence there are no prerequisites.

SM 002. (ANTH107, URBS122) The City in South Asia. (C) Society Sector. All classes. Mitchell. This course surveys important themes and methods in the study of South Asia by focusing on one or more South Asian cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Lahore, Lucknow, Banaras, Kathmandu, Lhasa, Dhaka, etc. Topics to becovered include urban planning, globalization, trade, labor, development, artistic production, politics, cultural exchange, and so on. Students draw literary and scholarly studies, investigating films, memoirs, ethnographies, histories, and other sources to understand the life of one or more major metropolitan centers.

003. (HIST086) India and South Asia. (C) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Ludden. This introductory survey course traces the major contours of cultural and political history in South Asia from ancient times to the present, focusing particularly on the formation of regional systems and on the transformation of human environments across the ancient, medieval, early-modern, and modern epochs. The goal of the course is to enable students to appreciate very long-term history and to locate within it particular places and times.

005. (MUSC165) Performing Arts in South Asia. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Miner. This course is a survey of selected traditions of theater, music, and dance in India and surrounding regions. Topics include ritual practices, theater, classical dance, classical music, devotional music, regional genres, and contemporary popular musics. Readings and lectures are supplemented by audio and visual materials and live performances. The aim of the course is to expose students to a variety of performance practices from this part of the world and to situate the performing arts in their social and cultural contexts. The course has no prerequisites.

SM 006. (RELS066) Hindu Mythology. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Staff. Premodern India produced some of the world's greatest myths and stories: tales of gods, goddesses, heroes, princesses, kings and lovers that continue to capture the imaginations of millions of readers and hearers. In this course, we will look closely at some of these stories especially as found in Purana-s, great compendia composed in Sanskrit, including the chief stories of the central gods of Hinduism: Visnu, Siva, and the Goddess. We will also consider the relationship between these texts and the earlier myths of the Vedas and the Indian Epics, the diversity of the narrative and mythic materials within and across different texts, and the re-imagining of these stories in India's vernacular languages as well as in the modern world. and fears. The settlers of the Indus Valley civilization believed in divine powers and the Aryans in the Vedic times believed in presiding deities of natural phenomena.As a result, thousands of stories have been generated to convey the supernatural powers and the Aryans in the Vedic times believed in presiding deities of natural phenomena. As a result, thousands of stories have been generatedto convey the supernatural powers and/or divinity of these entities.Different gods and goddess in various forms have dominated different regions of India and different eras. For ages, these traditional legends,which were later codified in the Puranas have beenhanded down to successive generations.The evidence also exists that new legendary accounts are added to the stockpile every now and then.These mythological accounts range from local to pan-community levels and despite the regional variation within them an underlying unity of thought exists. On one hand, Hindu faith contributes to the creation of these stories and on the the narration or the reading of these stories reinforces religious beliefs people at the popular level in all ages. Interestingly, these stories travel with Hindus during their migration to distant lands and get simplified through successive generations of the diaspora. and have formed the basis of many recent Indian movies. Summer Program: Interestingly, these stories travel with Hindus during their migration distant lands and get simplified through successive generations of the diasporaMost of the Hindu myths are living legends and have formed the basis of many recent Indian movies. The course will present a critical discussion of these stories and their sources. Students will see digital illustrations of these divinities.l watch relevant Hindi movies with subtitles in English, and visit Hindu temples and social events to see these divinities and their devotees in real life.

008. (RELS068) INDIA:CULTURE & SOCIETY. (M) Viswanath.R. What makes India INDIA? Religion and Philosophy? Architectural splendor? Kingdoms? Caste? The position of women? This course will introduce students to India by studying a range of social and cultural institutions that have historically assumed to be definitive India.Through primary tects, novels and historical sociological analysis, we will ask how these institutions have been reproduced and transformed, and assess as well their significance for contemporary indian society.

Freshman Seminars

SM 051. (RELS012) India In The Traveller's Eye. (C) Behl. Freshman Seminar. Historically, India has held a prominent yet paradoxical place in the Western imagination - as a land of ancient glories, a land of spiritual profundity, a land of poverty, social injustice and unreason. In this course, we examine these and other images of India as presented in European and American fiction, travel literature, news reportage, and film. We will consider the power and resonance of these images, how they have served Western interests, and how they may have affected Indian self-understanding.

SM 052. (ASAM012) Indians Overseas: A Global View. (C) Gambhir, S. This course is about the history of Indian immigration into different parts of the world. The course will consist of readings, discussions, observations, data collection and analysis. The topics will include cultural preservation and cultural change through generations of East Indian immigrats, especially in North America, the Caribbean area, the United Kingdom, the African continent, and some other countries in the Pacific Ocean. The course will encourage organized thinking, observations and analysis of components of the culture that immigrantcommunities are able to preserve and cultural components that either change or get reinterpreted. In this context, we will look at entities such as religion, food, language, and family. The course will discuss immigrants' success stories, sad stories, their contributions, their relationship with other groups in the host society and the nature and extent of their links with their homeland. The course will include discussion about victimization of and discrimination against immigrants in their new homelands. Other issues will include social and cultural needs of immigrants giving rise to new community organizations such astemples, NGOs and other cultural centers. The course will benefit from the study of other immigrant communities for a comparative view.

SM 053. (ENGL016) Literature and National Trauma: Partition and Independence in South Asia. (C)Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Kaul. This course will examine the way in which imaginative literature and film have addressed the difficult socio-political issues leading up to, and following from, the independence and partition of British India. Pakistan and India came into being as nation-states in moments of great national trauma: historians have long argued over the process that led up to Partition, and we will study some of these debates, but for the most part we will examine novels, short stories, poetry, and some films to think about the impact of Partition and Independence on communities and individuals in South Asia. In doing so, we will recognize the continuing role played by these events and experiences in shaping the cultural, social, and political realities of contemporary South Asia. We will also learn about the crucial role played by literary and creative texts in making available to us the full dimensions of human tragedy, especially those precipitated when the imperatives of nation-formation redefine the lives of individuals or of sub-national communities.

SM 054. Material Culture of South Asia. (C) Gangulee. India has been described as a palimpsest of cultures as well as a land of million mutinies. Material bases of any culture rest on its ideas of itself, its innovations, what it produces and consumes, its ideas of social org. and political governance. In this course we shall examine the material bases of South Asian culture, its mode of production, consumption and distribution of surplus product and how over the last five thousand years, the ideas behind these modes have been put forward, contested and negotiated for acceptance. Some of these ideas have come from emigration and immigration, some from invasion and some have simply sprung up. We will begin by looking at the Indian materiality in language, rituals, spatial analyses of towns, weights and measures. We will go on to the rituals and materiality of the Indo-Aryans, the political thought that evolved, to the scientific thinking andtechnological innovations, the Grand Mughals, the European colonial period, Nehru's independent India, the liberalized economy of India in 1991 and end with the present.

055. (ANTH137) Development Debate in India. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Ghosh. There has been a great deal of discussion, of late, about civilization and and attacks upon it. This course examines the meaning of "civilization" and "progress" by way of 1) classical sources in social thought, 2) pivotal issues contemporary cultural anthropology and 3) materials related to India. The course demands close readings of (at times) dense texts, class presentationand papers. The class format combines discussion with lectures.

056. (ANTH024) India: Ancient & Modern. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in History & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course is intended to be an introduction to the anthropological study of South Asia. It will cover archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistics, along with excursions into geography, the Indian Census and gazetteers. A second focus of the class will be an investigation of the origins of the caste system. Each student will be expected to complete a significant research paper related to the class, along with one class presentation. This is a WATU course and one of the class meetings each week will be devoted to writing. The grade for the course will be based upon the instructor's evaluation of each of these exercises.

SM 057. Planning to be Off-shore?. (C) Gangulee. In this course we will trace the economic development of India from 1947 to the present. Independent India started out as a centrally planned economy in 1949 but in 1991 decided to reduce its public sector and allow, indeed encourage, foreign investors to come in. The Planning Commission of India still exists but has lost much of its power. Many in the U.S. complain of American jobs draining off to India, call centers in India India taking care of American customer complaints, American patient histories being documented in India, etc. At the same time, the u.s. government encouragehighly trained Indians to be in the u.s. We will try to find out how 1991 essentially follows 1949. Students are expected to write four one-page response papers and one final paper. Twenty percent of the final grade will be based on class participation, 20 percent on the four response papers and 60 percent on the final paper.

The Arts, Media, and Performance

104.(MUSC060) Beginning Tabla I. (A) Bhatti. An introduction to the tabla, the premier drum of north Indian and Pakistani classical music traditions.

105.MUSC062) Beginning Tabla II. (B) Bhatti. A continuation of Tabla I, also open to beginning students. Speak to the instructor for permission to enroll.

106.(MUSC061) Beginning Sitar I. (A) Miner. This course is an introduction to the repertoire and performance practices of the North Indian sitar. Fundamentals of sitar technique, composition, and improvisation are presented and practiced in class. Class lectures and discussions, audio and video material, and reading and listening assignments on selected topics supplement practice, to provide an overview of the social and historical context and the formal structures of North Indian music in general. There are no prerequisites for the course, but some experience with instrumental or vocal music is suggested. Each student is expected to put in two hours of individual practice per week, and complete reading, audio, and written assignments. The class gives a group performance at the end of the semester.

107.(MUSC063) Beginning Sitar II. (B) Miner. This is the second semester of a performance course in the North Indian sitar Students who have not taken the first semester but play any musical instrument are permitted to join. Principles of composition and improvisation will be explored in practice and supplemented by readings and listening. The class gives a group performance at the end of the semester.

108.(MUSC161) Intermediate Sitar I. (C) Miner. This is a performance course open to students who have completed both semestersof Beginning Sitar, or to others by permission from the instructor. Students will work with right and left-hand techniques, study three ragas in depth, learn the contours of several other ragas, and work with concepts of tala, composition, and improvisation. Assigned readings and listenings will complement the performed material. A group performance will be given at the end of the semester.

109.(MUSC162) Intermediate Sitar II. (C) Miner. This is a continuation of an intermediate performance course in the North Indian sitar.It is open to students by permission of the instructor. Students who play other instruments and have had at least a beginning level of training in Hindustani music may also join, with the permission of the instructor.

110.Media and Society in South Asia. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Novetzke. This course selectively surveys modern media in South Asia, with an emphasis on India and the interactions between India and other South Asian countries. The media we'll examine include novels, non-fiction monographs, films, cartoons, clothing, and cricket. We'll explore the effects of colonialism, globalism, capitalism, "Orientalism", and modernity on portrayals of various facets of South Asian life, including nationalism, religion, diasporic life, and gender. The course assumes no previous knowledge of South Asian history or culture, and all are welcome.

115.(MUSC164) India's Classical Musics. (C) Miner. Hindustani and Karnatak music are among the great classical music systems of the world. Developed in temple, shrine, court, and concert stage environments in North and South India,they have a strong contemporary following in urban South Asia and a significant international presence. This course is an introduction to theory, structures, instruments, and aesthetics. We will work with primary and secondary texts, recordings, videos, and live performances. Topics will cover selected aspects of raga, tala, composition, improvisation and social contexts. The course aims to give students analytical and listening skills with which to approach and appreciate India's classical music. No prior music training is required.

116.(MUSC466) Music Cultures of North India and Pakistan. (C) Miner. A great variety of song and instrumental genres have thrived in the Hindu and Muslim milieus of North India and Pakistan. In this course we examine a selection of urban and rural musics, such as instrumental music of Baluchistan, qawwali in Delhi, the garba of Gujarat, ballad singing of Rajasthan and the urban music of Calcutta. We will explore the sounds, poetry, historical, and social contexts of chosen genres and trace aspects of continuity and adaptation in the changing environment of contemporary South Asia. Readings are supplemented by audio-visual material and live performances.

200. (ARTH104, SAST500) Introduction to Art in South Asia. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Meister/Staff. This course is a survey of sculpture, painting and architecture in the Indian sub-continent from 2300 B.C., touching on the present. It attempts to explore the role of tradition in the broader history of art in India, but not to see India as 'traditional' or unchanging. The Indian sub-continent is the source for multi-cultural civilizations that have lasted and evolved for several thousand years. Its art is as rich and complex as that of Europe, as diverse. This course attempts to introduce the full range of artistic production in India in relation to the multiple strands that have made the cultural fabric of the sub-continent so rich and long lasting.

210. (SAST510) Bollywood Dreams. (C) Novetzke. We will explore the world's largest film industry, India's `Bollywood' centerinBombay(Mumbai), to see how the shared dreams, and nightmares,of Indian public culture light up the silver screen. Through a combination of weekly screenings and readings from fiction, biography, journalism, criticism, and scholarship, will carried out a dialogue on the utopias and dystopias that Bollywood has created since Indian independence in 1947.

211. (RELS268, RELS568, SAST511) Media and Religion in India. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Novetzke. In this course we will explore how religious life and ideals are expressed through various media, and how these media have affected cultural life in India. Our aim is two-fold: to acquire a familiarity with a variety of intriguing media forms-including traditional architecture, devotional poetry-music, visual-sensorial worship, modern film, recorded music, and television-and to situate these media within important cultural fields-religion, primarily, but also politics, popular culture, and global culture. Though much of our study will immerse us in India's past, our aim is to understand contemporary India and its religious culture through media.
213. (CINE215, GSOC213, GSOC513, SAST513) Indian Cinema and Society. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course will meet for three hours to view and discuss a variety of films/videos in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Urdu (with English subtitles), and English, which bring up issues of social, political, and cultural significance. Readings for the course will include articles in various fields ranging from film studies and communication to sociolinguistics and women's studies. Discussions will focus on cinema as a means of expression and as an instrument for social change, examining the various ways in which films both reflect and influence contemporary culture. Screenings will be held.

215. (MUSC462, SAST515) History of Music in India. (C) Miner. This course works with selected primary and secondary sources to explore the place of music, musicians, and others associated with music in the temple, shrine, court and salon environments of Hindu and Muslim South Asia. The periods covered extend from the early centuries A.D.to the modern period. Specific topics will be chosen each semester.

Literature and Linguistics

120. Contemporary South Asian Literatures. (C) Behl. The aim of this course is to explore the complex engagement of Indian lit. with modernity and postmodernity, focusing on novels, short stories, and poems,as well as more general critical readings. The emphasis will be on linking modeof narrative with issues of history and politics, authorship, gender, and postcolonial theory. We will begin by examining works written within the context, both in English and in Indian languages (in translation).The segments of the course focus on nationalism, in particular the contrasted trope of modernity vs. tradition, as well as partition, gender, and diaspora. We will examine issues of migrancy, cultural authenticity and hybridity, as well as the politics of identity- formation in today's transnational cultures.

122.(RELS008) Indian Epics. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. In this course we will explore the two Indian epic masterpieces, the Ramayaoa and the Mahabharata, poems that are among the most important pieces of imaginative writing in world history. By examining these, both through translation of their Sanskrit originals as well as reworkings in test and performance (including film and other media), we'll try to understand the fundamental claims made by the epics about family and political life, the ethics of violence, and the status of gender. The epics present startling and contrasting understandings of the social world in its ideal state as well as in its destruction, and these visions of order and chaos will be our recurrent themes throughout. This course is introductory and assumes no previous knowledge.

123.Wives, Courtesans, Nuns. (C) Staff. Draupadi, Sita, Vasantasena, Kannaki: The literature of ancient India presents unforgettable portraits of many powerful women. In this course we will read their stories and reflect on the culture that imagined them. While focusing on literary representation, we will also be concerned with the roles played by women in historical South Asia, drawing widely on the evidence of art history, ethnography, and archaeological data. Though the majority of ancient Indian texts (in Sanskrit and other languages) were undoubtedly written by and for men, there do exist texts written by female authors, and we will also examine these traces of authentic women's voices.

124.(COML077, ENGL077) Literature and Empire. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Loomba. Since the sixteenth century English has been, among other things, an imperial language, and ideas about empire and imperialism have shaped not only many of English literature's central texts but also the development of English literary study as a discipline. This course is an introduction to the way imperial contact and changing ideas about empire and decolonization have shaped literature in English from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. We will consider historical and cultural materials to offer contexts for literary production of texts from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. The course also will serve as a comprehensive introduction to the way literary and cultural representations of Europe have been influenced by changing ideas about empire and imperialism. Different versions of the course will vary in the historical and cultural material they cover as they offer a context for literary production.

220.(SAST520) The Lyric in South Asia. (C) Staff. We will read South Asian lyrical poetry in translation, ranging over a span of time of some three thousand years, from the Vedas via classical Sanskrit and Prakrit to medieval and modern vernacular literature, and exploring also the range of emotions from delicate descriptions of the seasons and nature to passionate outpourings of love and both erotic and religious ecstacy.

221.(SAST521) Indian Romances. (C) Behl. This course will address the literary tradition of the romance in South Asia, focusing on Indian narratives of love, their articulation in different poetic and social contexts, and the fantasy structures attached to the ideal of romantic love. We will also consider current critical approaches to the romance: psychoanalytic, folkloric, feminist, and Marxist. Readings include Kalidasa'a Sakuntala, the love-story of UrvasiandPururavas, Niami's Laya Majnun, Sufi love-stories from Islamic India, colonial romances, postcolonial and diasporic fictions, and modern Hindi films.

225. (SAST525) History of Urdu Literature. (C) Staff. This class will deal with the main periods of Urdu writing: (1) early beginnings 1200-1500; (2) Dekkani Urdu; (3) the "Golden Tradition" (18th century); (4) 19th century; (5) 20th century. In all these periods important trends and the foremost authors will be presented in biographical and poetical examples. The changes of literary genres will be discussed and due importance will be given to the social and historical developments of the times.

SM 230. (SAST530) Language and Society in South Asia. (C) Gambhir, V. This course focuses each year on one of several topics which include the genesis of the South Asian linguistic area, the social implications of multilingualism, language development, language policy and education, and language in the political process.

322. (SAST622) History of Sanskrit Literature. (C) Staff. This lecture series aims to provide a broad overview of the major genres and currents of classical (post-Vedic) Sanskrit literature. Topics will include: the development of the drama, the place of the court epic or mahakavya, devotional poetry, and prose poetry (the Sanskrit "novel"). Some attention will also be given to literature in Middle Indic languages (Prakrit and Apabhramsa), as illuminating developments within Sanskrit.

332. (SAST632) Hindi Dialects. (C) Gambhir, S. Prerequisite(s): A knowledge of standard Hindi. Students read specimens of major rural Hindi dialects which are not comprehensible to one trained solely in standard Hindi. Dialectal vocabulary and structure are emphasized. Discussions focus on historical development and on the relations between dialects and standard Hindi in the total network of communication. The course seeks to enable social scientists, among others, to conduct fieldwork in rural Hindi areas.

333. (LING319, LING519, SAST633) Topics in Dravidian Linguistics. (C) Staff. This course is for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. After an overview of the Dravidian family as a whole (languages, speakers, history of research), followed by a general structural description of a particular modern Dravidian language (such as Tamil or Kannada), the course will focus on grammaticalization. After a review of the literature on how grammatical change takes place, the topic will narrow in on recent kinds of grammaticalization in Tamil. Students will write a paper on a topic of their own theoretical interest, using data from a selected Dravidian language. Non-South-Asia Majors may write about grammaticalization in another language oftheir choice.

Religion and Philosophy

140. (RELS163) Introduction to Hinduism. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Fleming. Hindu religious beliefs and practices from the earliest period to the present, stressing contemporary religious thought, performances, and institutions and their historical backgrounds. Basic human issues such as the origin and nature of the world and society, the meaning of personal existence, sex, birth, death, human responsibility, the family, destiny, and the variety of Hindu understandings of them as revealed in myth, story, philosophy, and ritual will be the focus of this course. Readings will mostly be original sources in English translation.

141. (ANTH142, RELS142) Islam in South Asian Culture. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Spooner. Islam reached South Asia in the eighth century and Muslim rulers held sway over large parts of the Subcontinent for much of the period from the late 12th century until the colonial period. However, the majority of the population never converted to Islam, and since independence in 1947 Islam--its interpretation, realization, and influence--has been a major factor underlying many difficult political issues. This has been true not only in the largest country, India, where Muslims form 12% (unevenly distributed) of the population, but in Bangladesh and Pakistan where non-Muslims are relatively insignificant minorities. This course explores the realities and the perceptions related to Muslim identities and the Islamic heritage in the Subcontinent, and sets it in global context by comparison with other parts of the world which share various aspects of the South Asian experience. The course will conclude with an assessment of the larger significance--social, economic and political, as well as cultural--of Islam in South Asia today.

142. (RELS173) Introduction to Buddhism. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. An examination of the fundamentals of Buddhist thought and practice. In addition to reading and discussing selected primary Buddhist sources (in English Translation), we shall review the history and development of Buddhism from its Indian origins through its spread to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Primary sources and historical materials will be supplemented by some ethnographic readings dealing with the actualities of Buddhist life in contemporary Southeast and East Asia. This course provides basic background for more advanced courses on Buddhism.

SM 240. (RELS362, SAST540) Religions of India in Practice. (C) Staff. This course uses ethnography and documentary film to examine religious practice in India, looking at daily rituals and habits associated with religionand special moments in collective religious life, such as festivals, pilgrimageand "rites of passage." We'll also investigate ways that religious life intersects with secular life, the state, the nation, and media.

SM 241. (SAST541) Devotion and Ecstasy: Bhaktas and Sufis. (C) Behl/Staff. This course is designed to introduce students to the wide array of devotional and mystical literatures of pre-modern South Asia. We will focus on the texts, practices, and discourses of the religious and literary communities which create these forms of literature, placing them within social and historical contexts. Topics covered include the formation of Sufi silsilahs in India, Krishna bhakti and the Vais_ava sects, Kabir, Guru Nanak and the Sikhs, Tulsidas's Ramcaritmanas, and other texts in translation.

242. (SAST542) Islamic Mysticism in South Asia. (C) Behl. The aim of this course is to cover the history, sources, techniques, and exemplary biographies of Sufis in the Indian subcontinent. Attention will be paid to particular chains of instruction as well as principles of piety and and spiritual improvement. We will also read poetic works by members of the different silsilahs or orders which pioneered the regional literary traditions of South Asia. Also included are performance traditions (qawwali) attached to shrines.

243. (SAST543) Religions of Southern India. (C) Staff. A critical examination of selected problem areas in the interpretation of religious texts, traditions, and practices in South India and Southeast Asia.

244. (SAST544) A Buddhist India. (C) Staff. This course will offer an unusual perspective on pre-modern India. Over a period of nearly two millennia from its origins in the fourth or fifth century BC Buddhism played an important role in Indian religious practice and philosophical thought, as well as in politics and in the court, and it is often not realized that Buddhists made important contributions to the arts, literature, and the sciences as well. In addition to studying key works writtenby Indian Buddhists, we will read accounts of Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims to what they saw as the holy land of the founder of their faith.

245.(SAST545) Religious Biography. (C) Staff. From the Buddha and Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, to Ramakrishna and even modern times: India's religions are full of holy men and women, and their biographies, often colorful and full of supernatural incident, have inspired devotees and played a key part in communicating moral and philosophical values. In this course we will read a wide range of these tales of saints and sainthood, some of high literary sophistication and some moving in their simplicity, and consider the roles that religious biography andhagiography has played in the complex traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

246.(SAST546) Paths of Passion: Hindu & Buddhist Tantra. (C) Staff. Despite increasing popular interest in them, the Indian religious traditions (Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Buddhist) that are commonly called Tantra or Tantric, and that are often associated with antinomian transgressive practices such as the ritual consumption of alcohol and ritual sexual intercourse, have until recently received relatively little attention from Indologists and historians of religion. This course will examine the rise of these traditions, their development, and their interactions with each other. Reactions to and criticism of Tantra from the side of non-tantric Indian religious will also be considered.

247.(SAST547) The Awakening of a Prince: Indian Lives of the Buddha. (C) Staff. Buddhism may well be termed India's most successful export. Arising in India inabout the 4th century B.C.E., this religion of world-transcendence quickly spread both towards the West and the East. From its earliest period, and in all its diverse incarnations, the figure of the founder of the religion, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, has been a central one to all Buddhists. We will be reading a number of the most famous retellings of the Buddha's life, spanning well over a millennium, and considering how they reflect changing concerns and needs both of popular devotion and of learned theories (often competing ones) about the nature of enlightenment. We will look also at images from India, Nepal and Tibet that bring to life the Buddha's biography in stunning art.

350. (SAST650) Themes in Indian Philosophy. (C) Staff. This course is intended for students who have taken SAST 160 (Introduction to Indian Philosophy) and wish to deepen their understanding of the major issues in Indian philosophical thought. Underlying the themes that we will consider -of arguments for and against the existence of God, of the ontological status of external objects, and of the means of valid knowledge and the standards of proof--is a millennia-long conflict between Buddhist and Hindu thinkers, which stimulated remarkable intellectual achievements on both sides.

History, Anthropology, and Archaeology

163.Empire in South Asia/ Indian Polities. (C) Staff. A survey of the theories and realities of polities in South Asia, , from the first emergence of states, via the empires of Asoka and of dynastiessuch as the Guptas, up to the late medieval kingdoms of both North and South India. Inscriptional records will be read and juxtaposed with the prescriptionsof texts such as the famously Machiavellian Arthasastra, and we will also consider the mechanics of taxation, the maintenance of armies, and the realities of armed conflict in pre-modern South Asia.

164.(HIST188) History and Film in South Asia. (C) Staff. An introductory course that shows a film each week and includes reading, discussion, and writing to explore film as a medium for representing history. It includes popular films, documentaries, educational films, and art films; and we will also when possible read books that generated the films, particularly novels. I think this class will have a nice clientele in itself but I also want it to serve as a resource for other courses, for example, my own introduction to South Asian history, in which I can ask students to see some of the films as part of the course. Various South Asian Studies courses might also use this resource, and I will gather some ideas from faculty about films that suit various purposes, toward that end.

SM 260. (HIST384, SAST560) Modern History of Afghanistan and Pakistan. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. An overview of the shared and conflicting legacy of history between the two countries; their role in shaping the contours of global politics in that region. Social, ethnic, religious, and sectarian discourses with power politics, the rise of religious militancy, Taliban, their predecessors and potential successors will also be discussed.

261. (SAST561) The Partition: Literature and Historiography. (C) Ghosh. This course will operate concurrently at three levels. First we will critically consider theories of social change, drawing on anthropology, history and sociology. Second we will examine the complex interrelationships between nationstates/nationalism on the one hand and migration/population flows on the other. The third and final level will be an intensive investigation of the 1947 Partition of British India, which led to the creationof the Republics of India and Pakistan (and later Bangladesh).The goal, here, will be to situate the partition within the literatures on social change, nationalism and migration. Requirements include multiple class presentations and two major papers - the second of which will entail original research.

SM 360. (ANTH233, SAST660) South Asia: Anthropologies and Histories. (C) Ghosh. This course offers a survey of readings in the historical anthropology of South Asia, India in particular. Readings touch on an array of topics, including(post)colonialism, nationalism, violence, village life, family life, media and diaspora. The common theme will be a focus on how social agents are constructed and represented, and how social change is effected. Class sessions will combine lecture and discussion, with an emphasis on the latter. Requirements: three papers, one in-class examination, one in-class oral presentation.

SM 361. (RELS465, SAST661) Memory, History & Religion in South Asia. (C) Staff. This course explores academic and social debates about memory and history, highlighting the role of religion, trauma, and narrative in dividing these two modes of recollection. We will examine how the various nations of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, primarily) remember their ownpast and their relationship with their neighbor-nations. Important historical moments such as colonialism, independence, partition, wars, subnational and secessionist movements, riots and insurgencies, will be explored through the the lenses of memory, history, and religion. Materials for the course include films, television serials, plays, novels, academic scholarship, poetry, visual culture, architecture, and the Internet.

363. (HIST436, SAST663) Capitalism in Asia since 1500. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. This course considers the evolution of capitalism in Asia from 1500 to the present. Its conception of Asia includes the Middle East and African regions touching the Indian Ocean. It considers (1) the early-modern vitality of Asian commercial economies and their interactions with Europe, (2) the rise of modern industrial capitalism and its imperial expansion in Asia, (3) the emergence of national economies and their engagement with globalization. Its concentrates on interactions between social and economic change in geographical frames defined by Asian localities, regions, empires, nations, and networks of mobility. It combines lecture, discussion, short weekly writing assignments, and student research on topics of student interest.

Politics, Economics, Health and Society

281.(SAST581) Issues of Economic Development in South Asia. (C) Staff. The purpose of this introductory course is to familiarize the students with the historical and conceptual framework in which the problems of development of South Asia are to be situated to develop a proper sense of perspective.The courseshould also enable them to understand the theoretical underpinnings of the experiences of the development processes and critically appreciate the problems and policy issues facing the regional economies.We will discuss the basic concepts and indicators of the development process and look at post-colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as case studies.

282.(ECON028, SAST582) Globalization, Regional Blocks and Sustainable Development. (C) Staff. This course examines the twin phenomena of liberalization and globalization in the context of developing economies and the complex economic issues thrown up by them. The course will explore the resulting interlinkages and their implications regarding the interrelationship between the North and the South and policies for the economies of the South Asia Region. The study of the course will involve understanding and analysis of both the empirical evidence and the underlying theoretical principles concering the issues outlined. We will address issues such as the role of the state and market, globalization and regional trading blocks, foreign direct investment and the problems of multinationals, growth, poverty and sustainable development etc.

283.Community, Development and Environment in South Asia. (L) Staff. Penn-in-India course. This course introduces students to Indian society through the history, theory, and practice of community development. The course will examine local and other initiatives in the fields of social and economic development, health care, and environment in rural and urban India with special emphasis on the role of non-government organizations, the third sector. The readings will focus on a spectrum of theoretical perspectives and practices. Students will read about and discuss development models in the classroom and participate through the assistance of local non-governmental organizations in the community programs devised for disadvantaged sectors of Indian society. Grading will be based on classroom participation, field work, journal writing, a classroom presentation, and a final paper.

284.(PSCI256, SAST584) International Relations of the United States and Asia. (C) Frankel. This course is one of the first arising out of scholarship on cold war international history. It draws on declassified government documents and other archival records to provide a window into the world-view of decision-makers who need to make national security policy based on incomplete information about ambiguous threats. The materials reveal a great deal about the importance of divergent historical perspectives and strategic cultures in the foreign policy-making process. The main focus of the course is on the intersection of the cold war and the rise of Asian nationalism. At the core of the analysis is the clash between America's global strategy of military containment against the Soviet Union and the assertion of Indian, and Chinese nationalism, concerned with preventing the United States from succeeding to Great Britain's imperial rule. The course examines new patterns of US-India and US-China relations in the post-cold war period. This is primarily a lecture course, but the course web is a critical element of class work.

SM 285. (HSOC305, SAST585) Health and Society in South Asia. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Sheehan. The countries of South Asia have large and diverse populations in need of public, preventative, and curative health services relevant to the health and disease problems of the region. This course will consider the historic origins of health services in South Asia, beginning with a focus on health needs and health services' development in the 19th century through the mid-20th century. In a context influenced by politics, economics, and socio-cultural factors, biomedical health services and education emerged as the dominant health system. Yet this system remains tied to foreign health models and contends with the socio-cultural competition of traditional medical systems. Through lectures, discussion, and assignments, this course will explore the historic and contemporary complexity of the health care systems in South Asian countries as they attempt to deliver health care to populations with wide disparities in income, education, health problems and needs. Selected comparative experiences of Asian health care systems, such as Chinese, will be discussed.

SM 286. (HSOC109, SAST586, GSOC108) Women and Health in South Asia. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Sheehan. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical evidence, the course uses a socio-medical approach for understanding the health status and health behaviors of women in South Asia. Gender is a crucial explanatory variable of women's survival experience; burden of disease; nutritional status; and access to and utilization of health services. Girls and women face health and disease problems over their life course related to nutrition needs, reproductive health, work conditions, as well as to infectionous disease. This course places the experience of women's health in South Asia in contemporary, historic, and comparative frameworks. Lectures, discussion, and assignments provide entry to greater understanding of both the specialized nature of South Asian women's health problems, as well as those common to women worldwide.

287. (SAST587) Ayurvedic Medicine: Research and Practice. (L) Staff. Penn-in-India course. A healthcare tradition of India and Southeast Asia which has roots over 3000 years old and continues as an alternative system of medicine today. Ayurveda views a balance between body, mind, and environment as essential to health. It employs vegetal, mineral, and animal products to treat diseases. This Penn-In-India course explores the ancient and modern practices of Ayurvedic medicine as described in texts and as applied in clinical methods and in the preparation of herbs for medical purposes. Visits of clinics, herb gardens, and pharmaceutical facilities are a part of the course.

SM 290. (ASAM209, SAST590) South Asians in the United States. (C) Staff. This course begins with a historical survey of South Asian immigration in the United States. It continues with a broad look at cultural, social, and political issues which confront the South Asian American community today, issues such as citizenship and transnationality, minoritization, economic opportunity, cultural and religious maintenance and adaptation, changes in family structure and gender roles, and generational shifts. It concludes with an examination of the emergence of a body of creative writings by South Asians in America as an expatriate Indian literature of exile and as American immigrant and ethnic literature.

SM 294. (ANTH281, ANTH581, HIST383, SAST594) Language, Race, and Ethnicity in South Asia: History and the Politics of Culture. (C) Mitchell. How has India maintained itself as a nation containing 1/6 of the world's population by recognizing 22 official languages and scores of mother tongues? Why have other South Asian countries broken into conflict over linguistic differences? This course examines the shaping of ethnic, racial, and linguistic categories of identity in modern South Asia, and explores the socio-political movements that have emerged in conjunction with these categories. Topics include colonial administrative practices such as the decennial censuses and the Linguistic Survey of India; the rise of regional linguistic movements; the relationships between language, ethnicity, and the writing of history in the context of ethnic conflicts in Lanka; the Dravidian, Non-Brahmin, Adi-Dravida, and anti-Hindi movements in southern India; the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh; and recent debates over the origins of the Aryans.

380. (PSCI511, SAST680) Society & Politics in India. (C) Frankel. This course analyzes the changing relations between social dominance and state power from the time of colonial rule. Special emphasis is placed on ways in which the historical-social context of India at Independence shaped the democratic institutions introduced, and reciprocally, how social hierarchy and preferences for group rights have been affected by egalitarian and liberal principles of governance. Within this analytical framework, religion, caste, class and ethnicity are examined as process and as social formation leading to the emergence of new identities and conflicting ideas of political community associated with them.

381. (HIST388, SAST681) Hunger and Poverty in Market Economies. (C) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Ludden. This course considers hunger and poverty as features of market economies. It provides technical skills for measuring the extent, severity, and causation of nutritional deprivation amidst economic growth. It analyzes institutions and policies that seek to overcome the tendency of markets to sustain inequalities including hunger and poverty. We concentrate on empirical evidence, case studies, and quantitative analysis. Coursework stresses practical skills in gathering and using empirical data, especially statistics, and it includes making web pages and using the worldwide web as a research tool.

382. (ANTH323, SAST682) South Asia Development Discourse. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Ghosh. The course examines various meanings of "development" in Modern South Asia (mostly India). It will be guided by three questions: i) what is development? ii) what are the "pros" and "cons" of development? iii) what are the mechanisms of development (i.e., who is empowered to "enact" it)? We will consider the complex and changing interrelationships between "development," on the one hand, and "civilization," "nation," "(post)colonialism," "modernization" and "globalization" on the other. An emphasis will be placed on Anthropological and theoretical approaches to these issues. Preparation for and participation in class is essential. The writing requirements will include an original research paper.

385. (HSOC410, SAST685) Health Policy in S.A. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Jahan. The course will examine the process of health care planning and policy in the major South Asian societies since the 1950s. The role of central, state and local government and non-governmental agencies, as well as of international organizations in health care planning will be analyzed. Topics will include medical services and facilities, preventative and public health, training of health care professionals, and public/private financing of health care. Specialized needs of women, children, disabled, and aged will be considered. The influence of political, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of South Asian societies on health services will be identified.

386. (HSOC411, SAST686) Contemporary Issues in South Asian Health. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Sheehan. This course will focus on birth, aging, as well as selected chronic and infectious diseases in South Asia. For each health condition/lifestyle a framework of analysis will develop incorporating the complex set of factors that come into play. Sociocultural beliefs; status markers--gender, class, caste, occupation; availability and accessibility of public and private health services; state, national, and international plans and policies will be considered. An overview of South Asian demography, health problems and services will introduce the course.

387. (HSOC412, SAST687) Traditional Medicine in South Asia: Historic Orgins and ContemporaryUse. (C) Sharma. In South Asia, traditional medical systems (Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha) have deep affiliation with the scientific, philosophical, religious, and cultural systems. This course will examine the historic origins and socio-cultural dimensions of these systems. Topics will include the encounter between traditional and Western medicine in the nineteenth century; twentieth century revival and professionalizing activities in the traditional systems; state a central government support for education, services, and research in traditional medicine; their role in the overall health care system; and their use by patients in urban and rural areas. The world-wide interest in complimentary and alternative medicine as it relates to the Indian medical systems will be considered.

SM 388. (HIST387, HSOC387, SAST688) Health Environments in Asia. (C) Ludden. This course considers historical dynamics of health environments in Asia from the nineteenth century to the present. Focusing on problems posed by infectious disease, malnutrition, pollution, natural disaster, violence, urbanism, industrialization, deforestation, and ecological disruption, it concentrates particularly on contexts of inequality defined by gender, class, and ethnicity under imperialism, capitalism, globalization, and diverse national development regimes.

Language Courses

405. (PERS111, PERS511) Beginning Pashtu. (G) Staff. Prerequisite(s): For advanced students . Offered through Penn Language Center.

407. Beginning Kannada. (E) Rajagopalan. Offered through Penn Language Center. This is a two-semester course.

410. Beginning Marathi. (E) Ranade. Offered through Penn Language Center. This is a two-semester course. The first year course in Marathi begins with learning the Devnagari script which is common for other important languages like Hindi and Nepali. With proper emphasis on grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics, the syllabus will see the student becoming able to speak conversational Marathi, read Marathi data from the Internet, and compose simple short essays on selected topics.

411. Intermediate Marathi. (E) Ranade.

425. (PERS113) Intermediate Pashtu. (G) Staff. Offered through Penn Language Center.

427. Intermediate Kannada. (E) Rajagopalan. Offered through Penn Language Center. This is a two-semester course.

435. (PERS115, PERS515) Advanced Pashtu: Pop Romances. (G) Staff. Offered through Penn Language Center.

442. Advanced Gujarati:Pop Culture. (C) Suthar. Offered through Penn Language Center.

447. Advanced Kannada: Selected Topics. (C) Rajagopalan.

452. (RELS555) Readings in Urdu. (A) Behl. Prerequisite(s): Two years of Hindi and/or Urdu instruction and a knowledge of the Urdu script. Readings in the various genres of Urdu prose and poetry, including short and long narrative fiction, drama, the ghazal, the masnavi, the qasida, and the elegiac styles of marsiya and shahrashob. Selections will be drawn from the early Dakani authors as well as from those representing the Urduliterary tradition as developed in Delhi and Lucknow in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Contemporary Urdu writers are also included, both in classical and modern genres, as well as some Urdu critical and commentatorial prose. Depending on student and faculty interest, topics may change from year to year;; students may repeat the course for credit with the permission of the instructor.

461. Classical Tamil: 1st Year. (C) Staff.

471. Classical Tamil: 2nd Year. (C) Staff.

Early Hindi: 1st Sem. (C) Staff. Early Hindi: 2nd Sem. (C) Staff. Early Urdu: 1st Sem. (C) Staff. Early Urdu: 2nd Sem. (C) Staff. Early Marathi. (C) Staff.

Literature and Culture in a Language

445. (PERS116, PERS516) Advanced Pashtu Prose Literature. (C) Staff. Offered through Penn Language Center.

SM 481. Readings in Sanskrit Philosophical Literature. (C) Prerequisite(s): For advanced students (who have completed two years or more of Sanskrit). This course will explore the richly diverse pre-modern philosophical traditions of India through the study of primary sources in Sanskrit.

SM 482. Readings Sanskrit Rel. Texts. (C) Staff.

SM 483. Readings Sanskrit Culture and Society. (C) Staff.

SM 484. Readings Sanskrit Law and Politics. (C) Staff.

BENGALI

403. Beginning Bengali. (E) Banerjee. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course introduces students to colloquial Bengali. It gives equal emphasis to each of the four skills, reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Language will be studied in the context of socio-cultural aspects of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Besides lessons from the text, a major portion of the syllabus will be based on topics drawn from films, cultural events, festivals, food, and religion.

423. Intermediate Bengali. (E) Banerjee. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course develops the student's prior knowledge of Bengali. An attempt is made to gear the syllabus to meet the specific needs of students. The focus of the course is to develop the oral and aural skills of the learner as well as improve writing skills and reading strategies. Emphasis is also laid on increasing the sociolinguistic and strategic competence of the learners so that they will be able to function in the target culture. Besides discussions on various aspects of Bengali life, students read some short literary texts in the original Bengali version.

433. Advanced Bengali. (A) Banerjee.S. Fall: Bengali Literature-The objective of this course is to develop the proficiency level of the students in all the four skills by using different genres of Bengali literature (West Bengal and Bangladesh) s its course content. Reading comprehension will be enhanced as students learn to understand authentic texts at the linguistic and cultural level while discussion (description, narration, supporting opinion) on issues related to these texts aim to hone the oral and written skills. Studentswill be allowed to work on individual texts & topics(with the instructors permission)for their final project. This is a one semester course. Spring: Bengali Popular Culture- This course aims to use as its content, different aspects of popular Bengali culture as they are represented in media (film, television, magazines, newspapers) and arts (fashion, local and regional art, music). Students will be expected to develop their linguistic skills (description, narration, supporting opinion) and socio-cultural awareness while interacting with these varied types of texts. Students will be allowed to work on individual texts & topics (with the instructors permission) for their final project. This is a one semester course.

GUJARATI

402. Beginning Gujarati. (E) Suthar. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. During the first year of Gujarati, major emphasis is placed on acquiring phonetics, grammatical patterns, and basic vocabulary. These goals are accomplished through guided drills and conversations accompanied by formal instruction on Gujarati grammar. From the outset, students are also taught the Gujarati writing system, which is used for all materials. By the end of the first year of instruction, student should be able to carry on coherent conversations on selected topics, read simple texts and compose short pieces in Gujarati.

422. Intermediate Gujarati. (E) Suthar. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course is designed as a continuation of beginning Panjabi. The course objectives are to expand the mastery of sentence patterns and augment vocabulary and its usage through intensive grammar and comprehension exercises. A special emphasis will be placed on greater cultural awareness. Upon completion of this course students should be able to interact socially with added confidence and greater expressiveness. Students should also experience a great improvement in their comprehension of spoken and written language. During the second year of Gujarati, students are introduced to progressively more difficult reading selections, along with additional instructions in the formal grammar of the language. To maintain and develop oral and aural command of the language, readings are discussed in Gujarati. To develop their writing abilities, students are also expected to compose short essays on their readings.

HINDI

400. Beginning Hindi. (E) Gambhir, S. This is a two-semester course. The course aims at developing an interactive speaking ability on everyday topics. At this stage there is less emphasis on developing reading and writing skills. The target language is presented in its sociocultural context including body language. For achieving a meaningful and operational control of the language, students acquire basic rules of the language and its use, and a basic vocabulary of about 1200 words. In addition, students learn two scripts: Devanagari script for Hindi in Fall and Nastaliq script for Urdu in Spring. Authentic and simulated video materials are used to bring the South Asian culture live to the classroom. Class activities include watching videos, singing, role-playing, language games and group work.

420. Intermediate Hindi. (E) Gambhir, V. This is a two-semester course. In Intermediate Hindi the student continues to develop the four language skills, with an emphasis on real-life situations-through hearing and practicing conversation on everyday topics, reading a variety of authentic texts ranging from advertisements to short stories, watching segments of current films, and carrying out short research projects using Hindi sources. There is a strong emphasis on vocabulary development and on using contextually appropriate styles of spoken and written Hindi.

430. Advanced Hindi. (A) Gahunia.A. Advanced Hindi aims at systematically developing higher level linguistic functions and cultural nuances. Students learn to describe, narrate and support opinions in informal and formal styles. The objective of the course is to promote a meaningful interaction with written literature and with native speakers in a socially acceptable manner in a variety of simple and complicated situations. A variety of authentic materials are used, such as short stories, plays, newspapers, magazines, videos, television and radio broadcasts, and interviews. Every semester the course materials and foci vary depending on the needs and interests of students in the class.

MALAYALAM

408. Beginning Malayalam. (E) Kurichi. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course is designed to develop skills in reading, writing, and speaking. It will focus on the alphabet, basic vocabulary, nouns (cases, gender and number), verbs and their basic tenses, numerals, rules of joining words, adjectives, adverbs, and sentence structure. Guided conversation will be a part of every class. Students will receive considerable training in speaking and writing their own sentences and paragraphs.

428. Intermediate Malayalam. (E) Kurichi. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course is designed to further the language skills learned in Beginning Malayalam. Direct and indirect speech, passive voice, postpositions, and rules of joining words, will be included. Reading and discussion of texts from current Malayalam literature (essays, narration, short stories, and poems) will be a major portion of the course.

PANJABI

404. Beginning Panjabi. (E) Gahunia. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course emphasizes speaking and reading skills in Punjabi. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to interact meaningfully and in a socially acceptable manner in a variety of simple situations involving everyday conversational topics. Further, students should be able to read and understand the main idea and most details of simple connected texts. This course will utilize authentic printed, audio, and video materials and will provide opportunities for natural communication both within and outside the classroom.

424. Intermediate Panjabi. (E) Gahunia. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course is designed as a continuation of Beginning Punjabi, but can also be taken by anyone who can demonstrate a similar level in proficiency of the language. The course objectives are to expand the mastery of sentence patterns and augment vocabulary and its usage through intensive grammar review and comprehension exercises. A special emphasis will also be placed on greater cultural awareness. Upon completion of this course students should be able to interact socially with added confidence and greater expressiveness. Students should also experience a great improvement in their comprehension of the spoken and written language.

434. Advanced Punjabi. (E) Gahunia. A. The objective of the course is to improve proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing. this course addresses the indiaviadual needs of learners. The focus of the course will be to study the interpretation of written and oral materials on social, political and contemporary cultural topics from modern literature, television, internet, magazines, newspaper, music and film. Weekly written compositions and oral presentations will be assigned. Grading will be based on this.

SANSKRIT

460. Sanskrit: 1st Year. (E) Staff. An introduction to the grammar of Sanskrit with emphasis on developing skills in reading Sanskrit texts. This is a two semester course.

470. Sanskrit: 2nd Year. (G) Staff. Prerequisite(s): SKRT 460. Fall: Reading of classical Sanskrit. Spring: Introduction to Vedic literature.

TAMIL

406. Beginning Tamil. (E) Renganathan. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course introduces students to colloquial Tamil and formal written Tamil. A balance between production skills, viz. writing and speaking, and comprehension skills, viz. reading and listening, will be maintained throughout the course. Reading materials will introduce students to customs and habits of the Tamil speakers in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore. Lessons in the class will be based on a set of Tamil learning software made available at the MMETS Server. This software will be customized to the needs of students.

426. Intermediate Tamil. (E) Renganathan. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course develops the skills obtained either from the Beginning Tamil course or from students' prior exposure to Tamil. The emphasis will be on using the language in actual environments both in spoken medium and in written medium. Multimedia materials such as audio and video facilities will be used extensively to provide students an exposure to the Tamil culture and customs. Besides improving their speech and writing, students will also be introduced gradually to Tamil literature, which has two thousand years of literary history. The learning process in this course will be facilitated by appropriate software equipped with multimedia facilities.

436. Advanced Tamil. (B) Renganathan. V. This course is intended for learners with a high degree of proficiency in most of the skills. The course is designed to meet the specific needs of the learners. Reading materials for this course can be either classical Tamil texts or modern Tamil prose texts.

TELUGU

409. Beginning Telegu. (G) Magier.A. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course introduces students to the basic telugu language skills, with an emphasis on practice for listening comprehension, and speaking telugu. Combined with exposure to Andhra culture, the classroom and online work in this course w ill enable interested students to pursue further language study in Telugu at the intermediate level, to carry out field research in Andhra Pradesh, or to prepare them to advanced work in Telugu Studies. An introduction to telugu like this will also be useful for students who just want to acquire basic telugu langauge skills for learning a new language or being able to communicate with telugu - speaking family and friends or to enjoy Telugu music and films.

429. Intermediate Telugu. (E) Magier.A. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This course is designed to expand the students' basic language skills in Telugu in order to allow them to function adequately in a Telugu-speaking environment, to immerse themselves in the rich Andhra culture, and to accomplish a more advanced competency in an interesting foreign language. This course is also aimed at students planning to conduct scholarly research in Telugu history, literature or society, or humanities or social science fieldwork in Telugu speaking areas.

URDU

401. Beginning Urdu. (E) Quereshi. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. This is a systematic introduction to Urdu language and culture for beginners. the course aims at developing listening and comprehension and a real life interactive speaking ability in a variety of everyday topics. The urdu script is introduced from the beginning. The target language is presented in its total socio cultural context for achiving a meaningful and operational control of languages. Students aquire basic rules for structural ans socio - cultural appropriateness.Students are expected to learn a vocabulary of about 1200 words during the semester. the final evaluation will be based on class participation, performance in quizzes and tests and completed assignments.

421. Intermediate Urdu. (E) Quereshi. This is a two-semester course offered through the Penn Language Center. In Intermediate Urdu, the curriculum focuses on the development of reading, listening and speaking skills. Although there are short assignments for writing in Urdu, the emphasis on developing writing as a skill is not part of the course objectives. Authentic texts in the three skills include conversations, short stories, current events, articles, films and plays. There is a continuous emphasis on vocabulary development and students are expected to add about five hundred new words to their active vocabulary per semester. The rules of grammar for structural accuracy and socialcultural propriety are parts of the regular curriculum. Class activities include students' short presentations, role-plays, singing and conversations. There are weekly assignments and quizzes, a mid-term and a final examination. The final evaluation will rest on class participation, performance in quizzes and tests, and completed assignments. This is a two-semester course.

431. Prose & Poetry. (A) Qureshi.

Independent and Directed Study

199. Independent Study. (C) Staff. Directed Study for Undergraduates

299.Independent Study. (C) Staff.

300.Directed Study. (C) Staff.This course is required for all senior honors majors, and open to senior majors. Honors majors must, in addition, prepare a research paper.

999. Independent Study. (C) Staff. Directed Study for Graduates

Graduate Credit

500. (ARTH104, SAST200) Introduction to Art in South Asia. (M) Meister/Staff. This course is a survey of sculpture, painting and architecture in the Indian sub-continent from 2300 B.C., touching on the present. It attempts to explore the role of tradition in the broader history of art in India, but not to see India as 'traditional' or unchanging. The Indian sub-continent is the source for multi-cultural civilizations that have lasted and evolved for several thousand years. Its art is as rich and complex as that of Europe, as diverse. This course attempts to introduce the full range of artistic production in India in relation to the multiple strands that have made the cultural fabric of the sub-continent so rich and long lasting.

501. (ARTH212, ARTH612, SAST201) Cities and Temples of Ancient India. (C) Meister. The wooden architecture of ancient India's cities is represented in relief carvings from Buddhist religious monuments of the early centuries A.D. and replicated in remarkable excavated cave cathedrals. This course will trace that architectural tradition, its transformation into a symbolic vocabulary for a new structure, the Hindu temple, and the development of the temple in India from ca. 500-1500 A.D.

SM 502. (ARTH501) Proseminar in Indian Art. (C) Meister.

SM 505. (ARTH514) ASPECTS OF INDIAN ART. (C)

510. (SAST210) Bollywood Dreams. (C) Staff. We will explore the world's largest film industry, India's `Bollywood' centeredin Bombay (Mumbai), to see how the shared dreams, and nightmares,of Indian public culture light up the silver screen. Through a combination of weekly screenings and readings from fiction, biography, journalism, criticism, and scholarship, will carried out a dialogue on the utopias and dystopias that Bollywood has created since Indian independence in 1947.

513. (CINE215, GSOC513, SAST213) Indian Cinema and Society. (C) Staff. This course will meet for three hours to view and discuss a variety of films/videos in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Urdu (with English subtitles), and English, which bring up issues of social, political, and cultural significance. Readings for the course will include articles in various fields ranging from film studies and communication to sociolinguistics and women's studies. Discussions will focus on cinema as a means of expression and as an instrument for social change, examining the various ways in which films both reflect and influence contemporary culture.

SM 515. (MUSC462, SAST215) History of Music in India. (C) Miner. This course works with selected primary and secondary sources to explore the place of music, musicians, and others associated with music in the temple, shrine, court and salon environments of Hindu and Muslim South Asia. The periods covered extend from the early centuries A.D.to the modern period. Specific topics will be chosen each semester.

(SAST220) The Lyric in South Asia. (C) Staff. We will read South Asian lyrical poetry in translation, ranging over a span of time of some three thousand years, from the Vedas via classical Sanskrit and Prakrit to medieval and modern vernacular literature, and exploring also the range of emotions from delicate descriptions of the seasons and nature to passionate outpourings of love and both erotic and religious ecstacy.

(SAST221) Indian Romances. (C) Behl. This course will address the literary tradition of the romance in South Asia, focusing on Indian narratives of love, their articulation in different poetic and social contexts and the fantasy structures attached to the ideal of romantic love. We will also consider current critical approaches to the romance: psychoanalytic, folkloric, feminist, and Marxist.

Readings include Kalidasa'a Sakuntala, the love-story of UrvasiandPururavas, Niami's Laya Majnun, Sufi love-stories from Islamic India, colonial romances, postcolonial and diasporic fictions, and modern Hindi films.

SM 522. (SAST222) Engendering the Nation. (M) Loomba. This course will explore the relationship between discourses of gender and those of nationalism, and how this shapes both imperial and postcolonial writing. Why are nations routinely imagined as women, and imperial conquest expressed in terms of sexual mastery? Are 'race'and 'gender' analogous? What are the differences between the way in which women and sexuality are used in the imperial imagination on the one hand, and anti-colonial,nationalist writing on the other? We will address these questions via a range of literary texts ranging from Shakespeare's The Tempest to recent postcolonial fiction (by Tayib Salih, Ama Ata Aidoo and Arundhati Roy, among others) as well as key theoretical and historical writings in the field.

524. (SAST224) Growing up Funny: Nation and Identity in South Asian Writing. (C) Loomba. It is a curious fact that some of the most compelling fiction about and by South Asians features the coming of age of a child protagonist. This body of writing appropriates and reshapes the classic European Bildungsroman, but it also uses narrative traditions from South Asia in order to tell the story of the postcolonial nation, and to chart the contours of contemporary South Asian identity and sexuality. In this course, we will read novels, short stories and plays--some well known and others less so, some now considered 'classics' and others very recent, produced from within the Indian subcontinent as well as from the West. All of these speak of the excitement andtrauma of growing up 'Indian'. Through them, we will discuss key features of the political and social upheavals of the Indian subcontinent, as well as the dynamics of the family, gender relations, sexual identities and cultural belonging. The course will include writings by Rudyard Kipling, Salman Rushdie,Bapsi Sidhwa, Amitav Ghosh, Mahasweta Devi, Hanif Kureishi, Anjana Appachana, Arundhati Roy, Meera Sanyal,Sara Suleri, Shyam Selvadurai, and Mahesh Dattani.

525. (SAST225) History of Urdu Literature. (C) Staff. This class will deal with the main periods of Urdu writing: (1) early beginnings 1200-1500; (2) Dekkani Urdu; (3) the "Golden Tradition" (18th century); (4) 19th century; (5) 20th century. In all these periods important trends and the foremost authors will be presented in biographical and poetical examples. The changes of literary genres will be discussed and due importance will be given to the social and historical developments of the times.

SM 530. (SAST230) Language and Society in South Asia. (C) Staff. This course focuses each year on one of several topics which include the genesis of the South Asian linguistic area, the social implications of multilingualism, language development, language policy and education, and language in the political process.

SM 540. (RELS362, SAST240) Religions of India in Practice. (C) Novetzke. This course uses ethnography and documentary film to examine religious practice in India, looking at daily rituals and habits associated with religionand special moments in collective religious life, such as festivals, pilgrimageand "rites of passage." We'll also investigate ways that religious life intersects with secular life, the state, the nation, and media.

541.(SAST241) Devotion and Ecstasy: Bhaktas and Sufis. (C) Behl/Staff. This course is designed to introduce students to the wide array of devotional and mystical literatures of pre-modern South Asia. We will focus on the texts, practices, and discourses of the religious and literary communities which create these forms of literature, placing them within social and historical contexts. Topics covered include the formation of Sufi silsilahs in India, Krishna bhakti and the Vais_ava sects, Kabir, Guru Nanak and the Sikhs, Tulsidas's Ramcaritmanas, and other texts in translation.

542.(SAST242) Islamic Mysticism in South Asia. (C) Behl. The aim of this course is to cover the history, sources, techniques, and exemplary biographies of Sufis in the Indian subcontinent. Attention will be paid to particular chains of instruction as well as principles of piety and and spiritualimprovement. We will also read poetic works by members of the different silsilahs or orders which pioneered the regional literary traditions of South Asia. Also included are performance traditions (qawwali) attached to shrines.

543. (SAST243) Religions of Southern India. (C) Staff. A critical examination of selected problem areas in the interpretation of religious texts, traditions, and practices in South India and Southeast Asia.

544.(SAST244) A Buddhist India. (C) Staff. This course will offer an unusual perspective on pre-modern India. Over a period of nearly two millennia from its origins in the fourth or fifth century BC Buddhism played an important role in Indian religious practice and philosophical thought, as well as in politics and in the court, and it is often not realized that Buddhists made important contributions to the arts, literature, and the sciences as well. In addition to studying key works writtenby Indian Buddhists, we will read accounts of Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims to what they saw as the holy land of the founder of their faith.

545.(SAST245) Religious Biography. (C) Staff. From the Buddha and Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, to Ramakrishna and even modern times: India's religions are full of holy men and women, and their biographies, often colorful and full of supernatural incident, have inspired devotees and played a key part in communicating moral and philosophical values. In this course we will read a wide range of these tales of saints and sainthood, some of high literary sophistication and some moving in their simplicity, and consider the roles that religious biography andhagiography has played in the complex traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

546.(SAST246) Paths of Passion: Hindu & Buddhist Tantra. (C) Staff. Despite increasing popular interest in them, the Indian religious traditions (Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Buddhist) that are commonly called Tantra or Tantric, and that are often associated with antinomian transgressive practices such as the ritual consumption of alcohol and ritual sexual intercourse, have until recently received relatively little attention from Indologists and historians of religion. This course will examine the rise of these traditions, their development, and their interactions with each other. Reactions to and criticism of Tantra from the side of non-tantric Indian religious will also be considered.

547. (SAST247) The Awakening of a Prince: Indian Lives of the Buddha. (C) Staff. Buddhism may well be termed India's most successful export. Arising in India inabout the 4th century B.C.E., this religion of world-transcendence quickly spread both towards the West and the East. From its earliest period, and in all its diverse incarnations, the figure of the founder of the religion, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, has been a central one to all Buddhists. We will be reading a number of the most famous retellings of the Buddha's life, spanning well over a millennium, and considering how they reflect changing concerns and needs both of popular devotion and of learned theories (often competing ones) about the nature of enlightenment. We will look also at images from India, Nepal and Tibet that bring to life the Buddha's biography in stunning art.

SM 560. (HIST384, SAST260) Modern History of Afghanistan and Pakistan. (C) Staff. An overview of the shared and conflicting legacy of history between the two countries; their role in shaping the contours of global politics in that region. Social, ethnic, religious, and sectarian discourses with power politics, the rise of religious militancy, Taliban, their predecessors and potential successors will also be discussed.

561. (SAST261) The Partition: Literature and Historiography. (C) Ghosh. This course will operate concurrently at three levels. First we will critically consider theories of social change, drawing on anthropology, history and sociology. Second we will examine the complex interrelationships between nationstates/nationalism on the one hand and migration/population flows on the other. The third and final level will be an intensive investigation of the 1947 Partition of British India, which led to the creationof the Republics of India and Pakistan (and later Bangladesh).The goal, here, will be to situate the partition within the literatures on social change, nationalism and migration. Requirements include multiple class presentations and two major papers - the second of which will entail original research.

581.(SAST281) Issues of Economic Development in South Asia. (C) Staff. The purpose of this introductory course is to familiarize the students with the historical and conceptual framework in which the problems of development of South Asia are to be situated to develop a proper sense of perspective.The courseshould also enable them to understand the theoretical underpinnings of the experiences of the development processes and critically appreciate the problems and policy issues facing the regional economies.We will discuss the basic concepts and indicators of the development process and look at post-colonial India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as case studies.

582.(ECON028, SAST282) Globalization, Regional Blocks and Sustainable Development. (C) Staff. This course examines the twin phenomena of liberalization and globalization in the context of developing economies and the complex economic issues thrown up by them. The course will explore the resulting interlinkages and their implications regarding the interrelationship between the North and the South and policies for the economies of the South Asia Region. The study of the course will involve understanding and analysis of both the empirical evidence and the underlying theoretical principles concering the issues outlined. We will address issues such as the role of the state and market, globalization and regional trading blocks, foreign direct investment and the problems of multinationals, growth, poverty and sustainable development etc.

584.(SAST284) International Relations of the United States and Asia. (C) Frankel. This course is one of the first arising out of scholarship on cold war international history. It draws on declassified government documents and other archival records to provide a window into the world-view of decision-makers who need to make national security policy based on incomplete information about ambiguous threats. The materials reveal a great deal about the importance of divergent historical perspectives and strategic cultures in the foreign policy-making process. The main focus of the course is on the intersection of the cold war and the rise of Asian nationalism. At the core of the analysis is the clash between America's global strategy of military containment against the Soviet Union and the assertion of Indian, and Chinese nationalism, concerned with preventing the United States from succeeding to Great Britain's imperial rule. The course examines new patterns of US-India and US-China relations in the post-cold war period. This is primarily a lecture course, but the course web is a critical element of class work.

585.(SAST285) Health and Society in South Asia. (C) Sheehan. The countries of South Asia have large and diverse populations in need of public, preventative, and curative health services relevant to the health and disease problems of the region. This course will consider the historic origins of health services in South Asia, beginning with a focus on health needs and health services' development in the 19th century through the mid-20th century. In a context influenced by politics, economics, and socio-cultural factors, biomedical health services and education emerged as the dominant health system. Yet this system remains tied to foreign health models and contends with the socio-cultural competition of traditional medical systems. Through lectures, discussion, and assignments, this course will explore the historic and contemporary complexity of the health care systems in South Asian countries as they attempt to deliver health care to populations with wide disparities in income, education, health problems and needs. Selected comparative experiences of Asian health care systems, such as Chinese, will be discussed.

SM 586. (SAST286) Women and Health in South Asia. (C) Sheehan. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical evidence, the course uses a socio-medical approach for understanding the health status and health behaviors of women in South Asia. Gender is a crucial explanatory variable of women's survival experience; burden of disease; nutritional status; and access to and utilization of health services. Girls and women face health and disease problems over their life course related to nutrition needs, reproductive health, work conditions, as well as to infectionous disease. This course places the experience of women's health in South Asia in contemporary, historic, and comparative frameworks. Lectures, discussion, and assignments provide entry to greater understanding of both the specialized nature of South Asian women's health problems, as well as those common to women worldwide.

587. (SAST287) Ayurvedic Medicine: Research and Practice. (L) Staff. Penn-in-India course. A healthcare tradition of India and Southeast Asia which has roots over 3000 years old and continues as an alternative system of medicine today. Ayurveda views a balance between body, mind, and environment as essential to health. It employs vegetal, mineral, and animal products to treat diseases. This Penn-In-India course explores the ancient and modern practices of Ayurvedic medicine as described in texts and as applied in clinical methods and in the preparation of herbs for medical purposes. Visits of clinics, herb gardens,

SM 590. (SAST290) South Asians in the United States. (C) Staff. This course begins with a historical survey of South Asian immigration in the United States. It continues with a broad look at cultural, social, and political issues which confront the South Asian American community today, issues such as citizenship and transnationality, minoritization, economic opportunity, cultural and religious maintenance and adaptation, changes in family structure and gender roles, and generational shifts. It concludes with an examination of the emergence of a body of creative writings by South Asians in America as an expatriate Indian literature of exile and as American immigrant and ethnic literature.

593. (SAST293) Caste & Class in South Asia. (C) Staff. This course will explore the reality of caste and class in South Asian society,and the theories, classical and modern, that attempt to explain it.We shall survey a wide sweep of sources, from the earliest evidence for a division into caste-classes in the Rig-Veda to reports in modern media of caste-related social problems; from orthodox Hindu normative texts justifying and upholding a rigid hierarchical division of society to voices, in Sanskrit and in vernaculars, criticizing the caste system. Our goal is to gain a nuanced and many-sided insight into a deeply pervasive phenomenon that has shaped South Asian society and culture from ancient times up to the twenty-first century.

SM 594. (ANTH281, ANTH581, HIST383, SAST294) Language, Race, and Ethnicity in South Asia: History and the Politics of Culture. (C) Mitchell. How has India maintained itself as a nation containing 1/6 of the world's population by recognizing 22 official languages and scores of mother tongues? Why have other South Asian countries broken into conflict over linguistic differences? This course examines the shaping of ethnic, racial, and linguistic categories of identity in modern South Asia, and explores the socio-political movements that have emerged in conjunction with these categories. Topics include colonial administrative practices such as the decennial censuses and the Linguistic Survey of India; the rise of regional linguistic movements; the relationships between language, ethnicity, and the writing of history in the context of ethnic conflicts in Lanka; the Dravidian, Non-Brahmin, Adi-Dravida, and anti-Hindi movements in southern India; the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh; and recent debates over the origins of the Aryans.

SM 610. (ASAM510, CINE793, COML653, ENGL591, SAST310) Topics in South Asian Cinema. (C)Majithia. In this course we will focus on post colonial global modernity as they are imaged through cinema. Foregrounding the concept of affect, we will consider topics such as: the role of mass affect and mass culture; nationalism , community, sentimentality and nostalgia; film technology and film inductry development as productive of a history of the senses; affect and the (gendered and racialized) subject and body, film genres and developement of post colonial modernism; style; cinephilia and production of publics; representaions of popular religiosity; and the relationaship between feeling and ideology.We will examine films that suggest particular affective states. our study will be interdisciplianry and readings will draw on fileds of cinema, area studies as well as anthropology, philosophy and history.

632.(SAST332) Hindia Dialects. (C) Gambhir, S. Prerequisite(s): A knowledge of standard Hindi. Students read specimens of major rural Hindi dialects which are not comprehensible to one trained solely in standard Hindi. Dialectal vocabulary and structure are emphasized. Discussions focus on historical development and on the relations between dialects and standard Hindi in the total network of communication. The course seeks to enable social scientists, among others, to conduct fieldwork in rural Hindi areas.

633.(SAST333) Topics in Dravidian Linguistics. (C) Staff. This course is for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. After an overview of the Dravidian family as a whole (languages, speakers, history of research), followed by a general structural description of a particular modern Dravidian language (such as Tamil or Kannada), the course will focus on grammaticalization. After a review of the literature on how grammatical change takes place, the topic will narrow in on recent kinds of grammaticalization in Tamil. Students will write a paper on a topic of their own theoretical interest, using data from a selected Dravidian language. Non-South-Asia Majors may write about grammaticalization in another language oftheir choice.

641. (SAST341) Bhakti and Society. (L) Novetzke. Penn-in-India. Within the plural religious history of India is cut a deep path of practice and literary production called "bhakti" or "personal devotion to God". In songs and rituals, participants affirm a direct relationship to their deity, often in the language of eroticism, subservience, complaint, and skepticism. Though the adherents of bhakti in India come from all walks of life, the literary trace of this kind of devotionalism is often marked by the motifs of social suffering due to caste, gender, and class difference. In addition, the idea of social community, of sharing the burdens of life, is central to bhakti. These sentiments have been expressed for a millennium or more primarily through song and oral performance, highlighting the power of the voice to convey deep religious and social sentiment. This course selectively surveys forms of expressing bhakti in India.

SM 642. (SAST342) Pilgrimage and Politics in India. (C) Staff. For over two millennia pilgrimage has been one of the most important religious practices in South Asia. Pilgrimage was and is not only a way for anyone, humble or rich, to gain merit or even liberation, but also an important industry, and we shall put the religious into the context of the political, and examine key issues of patronage and control of major sites of pilgrimage. We will examine pilgrimage texts from early Buddhist literature and the epic Mahabharata, Sufi and devotional sources, as well as colonial and postcolonial accounts. We will also pay attention to visual representations and audio-visual material, looking at sites ranging from great pilgrimage centres to Sufi and local shrines

643. (SAST343) Topics in the History of Islam in South Asia. (C) Staff.

650. (SAST350) Themes in Indian Philosophy. (C) Staff. This course is intended for students who have taken SAST 160 (Introduction to Indian Philosophy) and wish to deepen their understanding of the major issues in Indian philosophical thought. Underlying the themes that we will consider -of arguments for and against the existence of God, of the ontological status of external objects, and of the means of valid knowledge and the standards of proof--is a millennia-long conflict between Buddhist and Hindu thinkers, which stimulated remarkable intellectual achievements on both sides.

SM 660. (SAST360) South Asia: Anthropologies and Histories. (C) Ghosh. This course offers a survey of readings in the historical anthropology of South Asia, India in particular. Readings touch on an array of topics, including(post)colonialism, nationalism, violence, village life, family life, media and diaspora. The common theme will be a focus on how social agents are constructed and represented, and how social change is effected. Class sessions will combine lecture and discussion, with an emphasis on the latter. Requirements: three papers, one in-class examination, one in-class oral presentation.

SM 661. (SAST361) Memory, History & Religion in South Asia. (C) Novetzke. This course explores academic and social debates about memory and history, highlighting the role of religion, trauma, and narrative in dividing these two modes of recollection. We will examine how the various nations of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, primarily) remember their ownpast and their relationship with their neighbor-nations. Important historical moments such as colonialism, independence, partition, wars, subnational and secessionist movements, riots and insurgencies, will be explored through the the lenses of memory, history, and religion. Materials for the course include films, television serials, plays, novels, academic scholarship, poetry, visual culture, architecture, and the Internet.

662.(SAST362) The Court in South Asia. (C) Staff. From early Buddhist sources describing courtly intrigue in the fourth century BC to the splndor of the Mughal court and the fading glory of Rajput rulers: South Asian history (and literature) is full of kings and emperors who were looked to by poets, artists, musicians and men of religion for patronage, and at whose courts culture bloomed in countless ways. This course will draw on a variety of different types of source, including courtly poetry, royal edicts, and painting, which reveal facets of a fascinating, often staggeringly rich and sophisticated court culture, under the surface of which lurk the realities of the struggle for power.

663.(SAST363) Capitalism in Asia since 1500. (C) Ludden. This course considers the evolution of capitalism in Asia from 1500 to the present. Its conception of Asia includes the Middle East and African regions touching the Indian Ocean. It considers (1) the early-modern vitality of Asian commercial economies and their interactions with Europe, (2) the rise of modern industrial capitalism and its imperial expansion in Asia, (3) the emergence of national economies and their engagement with globalization. Its concentrates on interactions between social and economic change in geographical frames defined by Asian localities, regions, empires, nations, and networks of mobility. It combines lecture, discussion, short weekly writing assignments, and student research on topics of student interest.

680.(PSCI511, SAST380) Society & Politics in India. (C) Frankel. This course analyzes the changing relations between social dominance and state power from the time of colonial rule. Special emphasis is placed on ways in which the historical-social context of India at Independence shaped the democratic institutions introduced, and reciprocally, how social hierarchy and preferences for group rights have been affected by egalitarian and liberal principles of governance. Within this analytical framework, religion, caste, class and ethnicity are examined as process and as social formation leading to the emergence of new identities and conflicting ideas of political community associated with them.

681.(SAST381) Hunger and Poverty in Market Economies. (C) Ludden. This course considers hunger and poverty as features of market economies. It provides technical skills for measuring the extent, severity, and causation of nutritional deprivation amidst economic growth. It analyzes institutions and policies that seek to overcome the tendency of markets to sustain inequalities including hunger and poverty. We concentrate on empirical evidence, case studies, and quantitative analysis. Coursework stresses practical skills in gathering and using empirical data, especially statistics, and it includes making web pages and using the worldwide web as a research tool.

682.(SAST382) South Asia Development Discourse. (C) Ghosh. The course examines various meanings of "development" in Modern South Asia (mostly India). It will be guided by three questions: i) what is development? ii) what are the "pros" and "cons" of development? iii) what are the mechanisms of development (i.e., who is empowered to "enact" it)? We will consider the complex and changing interrelationships between "development," on the one hand, and "civilization," "nation," "(post)colonialism," "modernization" and "globalization" on the other. An emphasis will be placed on Anthropological and theoretical approaches to these issues. Preparation for and participation in class is essential. The writing requirements will include an original research paper.

685. (SAST385) Health Policy in S.A. (C) Sheehan. The course will examine the process of health care planning and policy in the major South Asian societies since the 1950s. The role of central, state and local government and non-governmental agencies, as well as of international organizations in health care planning will be analyzed. Topics will include medical services and facilities, preventative and public health, training of health care professionals, and public/private financing of health care. Specialized needs of women, children, disabled, and aged will be considered. The influence of political, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of South Asian societies on health services will be identified.

687. (SAST387) Traditional Medicine in South Asia: Historic Orgins and Contemporary Use. (C) Sharma. In South Asia, traditional medical systems (Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha) have deep affiliation with the scientific, philosophical, religious, and cultural systems. This course will examine the historic origins and socio-cultural dimensions of these systems. Topics will include the encounter between traditional and Western medicine in the nineteenth century; twentieth century revival and professionalizing activities in the traditional systems; state a central government support for education, services, and research in traditional medicine; their role in the overall health care system; and their use by patients in urban and rural areas. The world-wide interest in complimentary and alternative medicine as it relates to the Indian medical systems will be considered.

SM 688. (SAST388) Health Environments in Asia. (C) Ludden. This course considers historical dynamics of health environments in Asia from the nineteenth century to the present. Focusing on problems posed by infectious disease, malnutrition, pollution, natural disaster, violence, urbanism, industrialization, deforestation, and ecological disruption, it concentrates particularly on contexts of inequality defined by gender, class, and ethnicity under imperialism, capitalism, globalization, and diverse national development regimes.

Graduate Advanced Seminars

SM 710. Seminar Classical Indian Studies. (D) Staff. Prerequisite(s): Two years of Sanskrit is required.

SM 711. (ARTH711) Seminar in Indian Art. (C) Meister. Research seminar. Topics change.

SM 712. Seminar in Indian Philosophy. (C) Staff.

SM 760. Seminar in Modern South Asian History. (C) Ludden. Centered on major recent work and on writing by class participants, this seminar is primarily for Ph.D candidates doing research on South Asia. Each week we read the equivalent of one book and meet to discuss its contribution to South Asian historiography. Each participant will submit a major piece of writing for discussion and will assign auxiliary readings to be read with their own work for one class meeting.

 

 
Penn Home Penn A-Z Directories Calendar Maps
Advanced Search