ANTHROPOLOGY OF SOUTH ASIA

ASIAN/RELIGST 218

Study primary and secondary sources to explore how South Asian societies have understood the ideas of health and well-being throughout history. We will consider a number of cases that illustrate uniquely South Asian conceptions of illness and physical dysfunction and the ways in which people in South Asia have attempted (and continue to attempt today) to heal bodies. Students will learn about the traditional healing systems of South Asia, including Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani, the basic components of each systems' ideas about disease pathology and treatment that have been used for centuries to heal illness, maintain good health, and, in some instances, aspire to a state of super-health that transcends the limitations of bodily existence altogether.

ASIAN 655

From Greek ethnos, "folk" + grapho, "to write," doing ethnography involves writing about people, societies, and cultures. It is a qualitative, rather than a quantitative, type of research. One does ethnography, and thus it's a process. But an ethnography is also a product: the outcome of the ethnographic process is an ethnography. In-depth studies and discussions of classic and contemporary ethnographies in multiple Asian contexts that focus on themes like religion, health, economics, and sexuality in writing, photography, and film at once illustrate various methods involved in doing ethnography and illuminate why scholars have for decades studied and represented Asia through ethnography. The methods of ethnography are never divorced from the motivations of the scholars, and thus it is crucial to probe critically and collectively what ethnography is (theory), how it is done (practice), and why is it worth doing generally and in Asian contexts in particular.

HISTORY 142

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

ANTHRO 330

Content varies. Some representative topics: peoples and cultures of the European part of the USSR, peoples and cultures of Soviet Asia, anthropology of space and time, anthropology and history, pastoralists and pastoral Nomads, American Indian folklore, etc.

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.