CONTEMPORARY INDIAN SOCIETY

HISTORY 142

Survey of the development of societies within the Indian subcontinent. Equal segments for the ancient, medieval and modern periods.

ASIAN 630

Advanced topics in Asian studies.

ANTHRO/ASIAN 305

South Asia has long been a region of significance in anthropology, offering rich and varied contexts for exploring questions about social organization, cultural practices, and religious diversity. Engage with evolving anthropological perspectives on the region, drawing from foundational theorizations of caste, kinship, and the state while attending to contemporary ethnographic insights on care, poverty, health, medicine, and gender. Address questions like: How does the ethnographic method reveal the complexities of social worlds and cultural life in South Asia? What insights and limitations does this approach offer? How might it be enriched with other analytical tools? Engage critically with anthropological theory and recent ethnographies to explore the structures, relationships, and beliefs that shape everyday experiences and broader social patterns in India and the region in local and global frameworks.

ASIAN/SOC 336

An exploration of social continuity and change of contemporary South Korea. Covers different institutions of a society - political, economic, and societal/cultural spheres. Incorporates material from anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and law. Focus on South Korea after the division of the 'two Koreas'.

HISTORY 450

Everything you ever hear about South Asia is true. But the exact opposite is also true. Tradition and modernity, development and stagnation, the past and the future all exist simultaneously, at times in harmony and at other times in conflict with one another. Through an exploration of the political, social and economic history of this region from the 18th century to the present day, learn about the making of modern South Asia and attempt to understand this paradox.