Professor Chester
Hellems 225
Office Hours: T 1:30-2:30, W 1-2, and by appointment
chester@colorado.edu

HISTORY 6628
READINGS IN SOUTH ASIAN HISTORY

Introducing major themes in South Asian history, this course offers an overview of the Mughal and modern eras.  Students will read works relating to religion, gender, colonialism, nationalism, and literature.  After submitting a paper prospectus, making an in-class presentation about their paper topic, and writing one short book review, students will write a historiographical paper.  The writing, reading, and presentation workload will be heavy.  Prior knowledge of South Asian history will be helpful but is not required.

REQUIRED TEXTS (available at CU bookstore)
Sugata Bose, A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006)
----- and Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1997)
Bernard Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1996)
William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal (New York: Vintage, 2008)
Nicholas Dirks, Castes of Mind (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001)
Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, eds., Selected Subaltern Studies (New York: Oxford UP, 1988)
Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Thomas Metcalf, Imperial Connections: India in the Indian Ocean Arena, 1860-1920 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)
John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)
Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (New York: Penguin, 1980)

E-RESERVES
Durba Ghosh, “Terrorism in Bengal: political violence in the interwar years,” in Decentring Empire: Britain, India and the Transcolonial World, edited by Durba Ghosh and Dane    Kennedy (New Delhi, Orient Longman, 2006)
Kevin Grant,  “The transcolonial world of hunger strikes and political fasts, c. 1909-1935” in Decentring Empire
P.R. Kumaraswamy, “India and the Holocaust,” Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies (2000): 117-125
Weldon C. Matthews, “Pan-Islam or Arab Nationalism? The Meaning of the 1931 Jerusalem Islamic Conference Reconsidered,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 35    (February 2003): 1-22.
Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism," American Historical Review 99 (1994): 1475-1490.
Stephen Slemon, “The Scramble for Post-colonialism,” in Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin, eds., The Post-colonial Studies Reader (London: Routledge, 1995): 45-52.

ASSIGNMENTS
PAPER PROSPECTUS (3-5 pages)— DUE WEEK FIVE
Identify an area of South Asian historiography that you will explore in your final paper.  We will discuss appropriate paper topics in class.  Specify the question or questions you will attempt to answer.  Include a preliminary bibliography of relevant texts.  You will present your prospectus in class (pass/fail).

DISCUSSION—WEEKS SIX-THIRTEEN
Student groups will lead class discussion of that week’s reading, with an emphasis on analyzing arguments and evaluating teaching value.

BOOK REVIEW—DUE WEEK TEN
Identify a secondary account you will use in writing your final paper.  Write a 600-800 word book review, following standard format for Journal of Asian Studies reviews.

PAPER PRESENTATION—WEEK FIFTEEN
Present your paper and respond to audience questions as you would at a professional conference.  This exercise is pass-fail.

FINAL PAPER (15-25 pages)—DUE WEEK SIXTEEN
Examine the literature relevant to your chosen topic in South Asian history and identify gaps in the existing historiography.

GRADING
Grades will be determined on the basis of prospectus (15%); prospectus presentation (5%); books review (20%); final paper (30%); paper presentation (5%); discussion leadership (5%), and class participation (20%).  Students who do not participate regularly in class discussion will receive a final grade no higher than B+.  If you need an extension, discuss it with me in advance.  Late work will be penalized.

CU DISABILITY SERVICES
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter to me from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, or <www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices/index.html>.

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the professional responsibility to treat all students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which they and their students express opinions.  Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender variance, and nationalities.  Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records.  See polices at <www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html> and at <www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code>.

HONOR CODE
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Additional information on the Honor Code can be found at <www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html>.

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism will not be tolerated.  As a violation of the CU Honor Code and the university’s policy on Academic Integrity, it is punishable by dismissal from the university.  I will refer incidents of plagiarism to the Honor Code Council.  We will discuss proper citation in class, but you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the meanings of plagiarism; “Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgement,” published by Dartmouth College, is an excellent resource, available online at <www.dartmouth.edu/~sources>.

RELIGIOUS OBLIGATIONS AND CLASS CONFLICTS
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. If you have a potential class conflict because of religious observance, you must inform me of that conflict at least two weeks in advance.  See policy details at <www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html>.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. It can involve intimidation, threats, coercion, or promises, or create an environment that is hostile or offensive. Harassment may occur between members of the same or opposite gender and between any combination of members in the campus community: students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the classroom, the workplace, or a residence hall. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes she or he has been sexually harassed should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed can be obtained at <www.colorado.edu/sexualharassment>.

COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK ONE (Jan 13): Introduction to South Asian History
 
WEEK TWO (Jan 20): The Mughal Period (Click here for a dynamic map of Mughal expansion)
Richards

WEEK THREE (Jan 27): The Indian Ocean Region
Bose

WEEK FOUR (Feb 3): Modern South Asia
Bose and Jalal

WEEK FIVE (Feb 10): Religion
Paper prospectus due in class.
Dalrymple

WEEK SIX (Feb 17): Colonialism I
Cohn

WEEK SEVEN (Feb 24): Colonialism II
Dirks

WEEK EIGHT (Mar 3): Transnational Approaches I
Metcalf, Imperial Connections

WEEK NINE (Mar 10): Transnational Approaches II
Ghosh; Grant; Kumaraswamy; Matthews

WEEK TEN (Mar 17): Gender
Book review due in class.
Forbes

WEEK ELEVEN: Spring Break

WEEK TWELVE (Mar 31): Subaltern Studies
Guha and Spivak
 
WEEK THIRTEEN (Apr 7): Literature and History
Rushdie

WEEK FOURTEEN (Apr 14): Post-Colonial Studies
Prakash, Sleman

WEEK FIFTEEN (Apr 21): Paper Presentations
No reading; work on your papers.

WEEK SIXTEEN (Apr 28): South Asia Today; Course Wrap-up
Final paper due at the beginning of class.
Read a major South Asian newspaper this week, considering the place of history in contemporary South Asia.