2024-2025 Catalog

BANG 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Bangla (Bengali) I-II-III.

This sequence concentrates on developing skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing Bangla at the novice and intermediate low levels. It is designed both for scholars who want to do research on Bengal and for those who want to gain proficiency in elementary Bangla for communication purposes. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, attendance, homework assignments, projects, quizzes and final examination.

BANG 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Bangla (Bengali) I-II-III.

This sequence is a continuation of First-Year Bangla and aims at gaining intermediate high proficiency in the language. Students who have prior knowledge of elementary Bengali can join the course. The course concentrates equally on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. At the end of the course the learner is supposed to have a command of Bengali language and culture that allows him/her to communicate with native speakers with ease. He/she will have sufficient reading abilities to comprehend non-technical modern texts. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, homework assignments, projects, tests, and final examination.

BANG 28921. Bengali Lyric Poetry: textual criticism and translation. 100 Units.

In this reading course, we will read lyric poems from the Padakalpataru using the texts of the oldest manuscript of the anthology kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. We will prepare an electronic text of the anthology and translate a selection of poems. The class will meet for two hours every week.

Instructor(s): Thibaut d'Hubert     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 38921, BANG 38921, SALC 28921

HIND 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Hindi I-II-III.

This five-day-a-week sequence presents an introduction to the world’s second most spoken language through reading, writing, listening, memorizing, and speaking. We begin with the Devanagari script, and we then introduce the Urdu script in Winter Quarter.

HIND 15001. Elementary Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 15002. Elementary Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 15003. Intermediate Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 15004. Intermediate Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 15005. Advanced Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 15006. Advanced Hindi in India. 100 Units.

HIND 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Hindi I-II-III.

This intermediate Hindi sequence presupposes knowledge of the basic grammar of Hindi and requires substantial reading and translating of Hindi prose, alongside exposure to advanced Hindi grammar topics. Regular attention is given to conversation and composition. Texts in Hindi.

MARA 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Marathi I-II-III.

This sequence follows the textbook Marathi in Context (with its online supplement Marathi Online) in its focus on developing the basic skills—comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing—of Marathi language use. It covers all the fundamentals of Marathi grammar, but only as they are encountered in context, within a wide array of social and conversational “situations.”

MARA 15001. Elementary Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 15002. Elementary Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 15003. Intermediate Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 15004. Intermediate Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 15005. Advanced Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 15006. Advanced Marathi in India. 100 Units.

MARA 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Marathi I-II-III.

This sequence significantly extends both the breadth and the depth of the social and conversational situations introduced in the first year and includes numerous readings, largely from An Intermediate Marathi Reader. It covers all the grammar required for reading most kinds of modern Marathi prose texts.

SANS 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Sanskrit I-II-III.

The first half (about fifteen weeks) of this sequence is spent mastering the reading and writing of the Devanagari script and studying the grammar of the classical Sanskrit language. The remainder of the sequence is devoted to close analytical reading of simple Sanskrit texts, which are used to reinforce the grammatical study done in the first half of this course. The aim is to bring students to the point where they are comfortably able, with the help of a dictionary, to read simple, narrative Sanskrit. Texts in Sanskrit.

SANS 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Sanskrit I-II-III.

This sequence begins with a rapid review of grammar learned in the introductory course, followed by readings from a variety of Sanskrit texts. The goals are to consolidate grammatical knowledge, expand vocabulary, and gain confidence in reading different styles of Sanskrit independently.

SALC 10606. Beginning Translation Workshop. 100 Units.

Beginning Workshops are intended for students who may or may not have previous experience, but are interested in gaining experience in translation. See the course description for this particular workshop section in the notes below.

Instructor(s): Jason Grunebaum     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Open bid through my.uchicago.edu. Attendance on the first day is mandatory. To participate in this class, students should have intermediate proficiency in a foreign language.
Note(s): Beginning Translation Workshop: It’s been said that in an ideal world, all writers would be translators, and all translators would be writers. In addition to the joy of enlarging the conversation of literature by bringing new voices into another language, the practice of literary translation forces us as writers to examine the materials and tools of our craft. In this workshop, we will critique each other’s translations of prose, poetry, or drama into English, as well as explore various creative strategies and approaches to translation by a variety of practitioners that touch on various aspects of the "radical recontextualization" that constitute the decision-making work of literary translation. Through these processes, you will formulate your own strategies to both literary translation and creative writing. We will also have the opportunity to have conversations via Zoom with some of the translators we’ll be reading. Students should have at least an intermediate proficiency in a foreign language to take this workshop.
Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 30606, CRWR 30606, SALC 30706, CRWR 10606, GRMN 10606

SALC 20100-20200. Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia I-II.

This sequence introduces core themes in the formation of culture and society in South Asia from the early modern period until the present. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses must be taken in sequence.

SALC 20203. Caste and Race: The Politics of Radical Equality. 100 Units.

This course will explore the bodies of knowledge surrounding the politics and practices of caste in South Asia. We will study the emergence and development of radical social movements in the colonial and postcolonial periods that were opposed to caste oppression, along with scholarship that seeks to understand how such a form of social hierarchy and difference operates within regional and national communities. We will also examine how caste interacts with forms of identity such as class, gender, and religion. Caste has often been compared to race: we will study historical parallels as well as present scholarship and activism that aligns political struggles against caste and racial injustice in South Asia and the United States. Through close readings of primary sources and secondary literature in the fields of history, political science, anthropology and literature, the course will foreground the ubiquity of caste in everyday life in South Asia; the epistemologies that have developed to explain, understand and accommodate it; and finally the urgent, radical struggles that seek to annihilate it.

Instructor(s): Ahona Panda     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 30203, GNSE 22233, KNOW 20203, SOCI 20529, SOCI 30529, GLST 20203, GNSE 32233, KNOW 30203

SALC 20210. Making a Scene: Gender, Sexuality & Performance in Modern India. 100 Units.

This interdisciplinary course examines key topics, trajectories and analytical methods in the study of gender and sexuality, approaching them in the Global South context of modern and contemporary Indian society. As a postcolonial nation that recently decriminalized homosexuality (in 2018), yet where caste- and communally-motivated sexual violence is on the rise, the contemporary Indian context pushes us to reflect on how questions of gender and sexuality are animated, constituted and represented, especially within non-Euro/American frameworks. What theoretical concepts have universal purchase, and what is only ever legible in a local register? How do the forces of global capital and imperial power intervene in these processes? We will address these questions through the lens of performance, drawing on ethnographic, textual, visual and filmic sources from various Indian regions, communities and languages (in translation). We will journey through a range of sites and scenes, including courtesan cultures, queer nightlife, drag performances, classical arts, dramatic texts, political protests, and more. Through our eclectic readings and creative assignments, we will collectively question and expand our received notions of gendered and sexualized identities and difference. This is an introductory course, and no prior knowledge of Indian/South Asian cultures and languages is required.

Instructor(s): S. Sastry     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 27210, TAPS 20210

SALC 20513. Theater of Premodern South Asia. 100 Units.

This course will cover the history and poetics of the stage play in premodern South Asia, which was, according to the eighth-century theorist Vāmana, "the best among the types of literature." The play, according to many premodern critics, was uniquely capable of bringing about a profound aesthetic experience because of its integration of diverse forms of art - plot-driven narrative, poetry, acting, and music. We will read a variety of plays in translation, including works by Bhāsa, Kālidāsa, Bhavabhūti, and Murāri, as well as selections from technical literature such as the Treatise on Theater (Nāṭyaśāstram). We will also watch a number of modern performances. Besides discussing individual plays, we will cover the following topics in detail: the different genres of the stage play; the theory of plot construction; the theory of aesthetic experience (rasa); the languages of the theater; the role of music, dance, and gesture; theater and ritual; and the performance tradition of Kūṭiyāṭṭam.

Instructor(s): Andrew Ollett     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): No prior knowledge of South Asian languages is required. Students who can read Sanskrit, however, are strongly encouraged to take an accompanying reading course.
Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 20513, SALC 30513, TAPS 30513

SALC 20615. Dalit Autobiographies: A socio-cultural account of Dalit and Other Marginalized Communities. 100 Units.

The Seminar will explore the rise of Dalit literature in Maharashtra, especially the autobiographies (self-narration) and its impact on the Marathi language and culture. Since Independence Dalit (formerly untouchable and marginalized caste groups) and other marginalized communities within Indian society have gained access to spheres of social, educational, and economic life they had historically been excluded from. In the 1960s and 1970s Maharashtra witnessed the rise of a powerful Dalit Movement spearheaded by a new generation of poets, novelists, and autobiographers. The inspirational force behind this was no doubt, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's powerful thoughts and his conversion to Buddhism along with thousands of Dalit followers. The seminar will focus on the distinctive lifeworld of Dalit Autographers, the diction and idioms used in their writing and the challenges of translating their work into English. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the vitality of language used by Dalit authors. They'll recognize Dalit autobiographies as a new genre or area of literature in India that corresponds to changes in the social, cultural, and political landscape. They'll witness how the first-person narratives of socially marginalized people shed a different light on South Asian Studies.

Instructor(s): Sujata Mahajan     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 30615

SALC 20702. Colonizations III: Decolonization, Revolution, Freedom. 100 Units.

The third quarter considers the processes and consequences of decolonization both in newly independent nations and former colonial powers. Through an engagement with postcolonial studies, we explore the problematics of freedom and sovereignty; anti-colonial movements, thinking and struggles; nation-making and nationalism; and the enduring legacies of colonialism.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Note(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 24003, ANTH 24003, CRES 24003, HIST 18303, SOSC 24003

SALC 20703. Writing Postcolonial History. 100 Units.

What has postcolonial theory meant to the writing of history? When did postcolonial history writing begin? This course addresses these and other related issues. Starting with the Subaltern Studies collective, we chart the career of postcolonial history writing in such varied fields as medieval studies, histories of colonialism, and gender studies.

Instructor(s): R. Majumdar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23302

SALC 20704. Postcolonial and Decolonial History and Theory. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to some key texts in post and decolonial theory. Our goals in this class are three-fold. First, to familiarize students with foundational thinkers who have inspired both decolonial and postcolonial work. We draw attention to the different ways in which their ideas have been deployed in subsequent post and decolonial scholarship. Second, we ask questions oriented towards comparison of postcolonial and decolonial approaches: What, if any, are the points of overlap between decolonial and postcolonial thought? How do both bodies of work critique and contest the legacies of empire? Third, we investigate the present and possible futures of decolonial and postcolonial thought.

Instructor(s): Rochona Majumdar & Lisa Wedeen     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Enrollment limit: 15
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26606, PLSC 20704, CDIN 20704, CCCT 20704

SALC 20800. Music of South Asia. 100 Units.

The course explores some of the music traditions that hail from South Asia-a region defined by the countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, and their diasporas. The course will study music and some of its inextricably linked forms of dance and theatre through the lens of ethnomusicology, where music is considered in its social and cultural contexts. Students will develop tools to listen, analyze, watch, and participate in South Asian forms of music-making, using case-study based inquiries as guides along the way.

Instructor(s): Anna Schultz
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 30800, MUSI 23706, MUSI 33706, RLST 27700

SALC 20901. Indian Philosophy I: Origins and Orientations. 100 Units.

This course introduces some of the early themes and textual traditions that set much of the agenda for the later development of Indian philosophy. Particular attention will be paid to the rivalry that was perhaps most generative throughout the history of Indian philosophy: that between the Hindu schools of thought rooted in the Vedas, and the Buddhists who so powerfully challenged them.

Instructor(s): Dan Arnold     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 30901, DVPR 30201, HREL 30200, RLST 24201

SALC 20902. Indian Philosophy II: The Classical Traditions. 100 Units.

This course follows the first module on Indian philosophy by exploring the debates between several classical "schools" or "viewpoints" (darśanas) of Indian philosophy. In addition to expanding upon the methods of systematized reasoning inaugurated by the Nyāya and Buddhist epistemological traditions, particular attention will be given to systems of scriptural hermeneutics -- Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta -- and their consequences for the philosophy of language, theories of cognitive error, and even poetics.

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan, Andrew Ollett      Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 24202, MDVL 24202, HREL 30300, DVPR 30302, SALC 30902

SALC 20910. Introduction to Jainism. 100 Units.

Jainism has long been on the margins of Religious Studies, little known beyond its otherworldly emphasis on extreme forms of asceticism, nonviolence, and vegetarianism. This course seeks to expand this popular understanding of Jainism by posing a question: What does it mean to be a Jain in the world when the Jain religion is fundamentally otherworldly in its orientation? By reading ethnographies and historical studies alongside primary sources, this course will introduce students to Jainism as an enduring lived religion whose meaning and practices have changed over time, across regions, between sectarian communities, and in conversation with Buddhism and Hinduism. By the end of the quarter, students can expect to understand Jainism as a minor religion with a major impact.

Instructor(s): Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 20994, RLST 20904

SALC 22202. Anthropology of Caste. 100 Units.

This seminar course explores anthropological approaches to caste. We will survey colonial ethnological accounts to structuralist, transactionalist, historical anthropological, and contemporary ethnographic accounts of forms of caste difference, identity, and violence in South and East Asia, with an eye to comparison to other forms of invidious social difference in other times and cultures.

Instructor(s): Constantine Nakassis
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22202, SALC 32202, ANTH 32202, CRES 21202

SALC 22330. Flooding the World: Creation and Restoration in the Levant, Mesopotamia, and India. 100 Units.

From Genesis to the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Rig Veda to modern novels like Geraldine McCaughrean's Not the End of the World (2004) and Jeanette Winterson's Boating for Beginners (1997), humans have repeatedly accounted for, imagined, and ironized civilizational collapse and restoration through stories of catastrophic floods. These texts, modern and ancient, are fraught with political, religious, and historical background. In this course, we will compare these texts, focusing on literary issues like narrative plot, the construction of characters, the literary devices used, and the role of the narrator in telling the story of the flood. We will attempt to ascertain why imaginings of a deluge are generative, while being attuned to the complex differences between the ancient narratives and their significantly different afterlives. Through sustained inquiry, we will both challenge notion of sacred exceptionalism even while confronting the enduring presence of this trope in the post-modern novel.

Instructor(s): Cathleen Chopra-McGowan     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 26030, RLST 22330, ENST 22330

SALC 22482. The Other Woman: Sexual Deviancy in South Asia. 100 Units.

The figure of the public, often sexually deviant, female in South Asia has existed and been imagined in myriad ways over the centuries, including as courtesans, temple workers, and royal mistresses. In the colonial period, multiple forms of supposed female deviancy began to be labeled with another term- "prostitute"-leading to the loss of social status and legal rights of many women. In this course, we will study the evolution of prostitution and female otherness in South Asian cultural and political history. We will explore how the female deviant shaped religious, social and political life; how notions of sex, sexuality and intimacy informed classical dance, music, literature and performing arts; and how sex work came to be defined and stigmatized by the colonial and postcolonial states in South Asia.

Instructor(s): Ahona Panda     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 32482, SALC 32482, GNSE 22482

SALC 22604. A Poem in Every House": Persian, Arabic, and Vernacular Poetry in North India and the Deccan. 100 Units.

gehe gehe kalau kāvyaṃ … In the Kali age, there is a poem in every house … Vidyāpati (ca. 1370-1460, Mithila), Kīrtilatā The Indian subcontinent is home to some of the most vibrant literary traditions in world history. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the main trends in the premodern (/pre-nineteenth century) literature of South Asia through a selection of poetic and theoretical texts translated from a variety of languages (Arabic, Bengali, Dakani, Hindi, Maithili, Marathi, Persian, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Urdu, etc.). We will discuss issues of literary historiography, the relations between orality and writing, and the shared aesthetic world of poetry, music, and visual arts. We will review the basic principles of Perso-Arabic and vernacular poetics through a selection of representative theoretical treatises and poems. We will also explore the linguistic ecology of the Subcontinent, the formation of vernacular literary traditions, multilingual literacy, and the role of literature in social interactions and community building in premodern South Asia. Every week the first half of the class will be devoted to the historical context and conceptual background of the texts we will read in the second half. Attention will be given to the original languages in which those texts were composed as well as the modes of performance of the poems and songs we will read together.

Instructor(s): T. D'Hubert     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): No prior knowledge of South Asian languages is required. The course is the perfect complement to the Introduction to South Asian Civilizations sequence (SALC 20100-20200). Beyond its focus on South Asia, students interested in classics, poetics, rhetoric, musicology, theater studies, and comparative literature will find plenty of food for thought in the readings, lectures, and class discussions. For students interested in languages, it is an ideal way to have a lively introduction to the linguistic variety of South Asia.
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 22604, SALC 32605

SALC 22710. Introduction to Rajasthani Literature. 100 Units.

This course will introduce students to the language, genres, and history of literature in the region now known as Rajasthan. Students will gain basic philological skills related to the grammar and vocabulary of the literary languages known as diṅgal and piṅgal and the paleography and codicology of written sources in those languages (stone inscriptions and paper manuscripts), as well as receive a general overview of the various literary traditions of the region. We will read excerpts from works representing different genres; this survey will thus be general rather than comprehensive. We will discuss questions such as the following: what constitutes a 'language', literary or otherwise, in precolonial South Asia? What distinguishes a 'region' as a geographical and cultural entity? What constitutes a literary genre or 'tradition'?

Instructor(s): Tyler Williams     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 32710

SALC 22810. Hinduism of the Living and the Dead. 100 Units.

An introduction to Hinduism through the lens of everyday life, including popular shrines, roadside religion, ghost stories, digital representation, and traditions of the South Asian diaspora.

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22810

SALC 22812. Introduction to Hinduism. 100 Units.

What is Hinduism? Variously described as a world religion, a way of life, the basis of a national culture, and more, this course will consider how a multiplicity of traditions has become a singular "Hinduism" and, critically, what is left out. Beginning with the Vedic period in the first-millennium B.C.E and moving to our present day, we will track how complex historical interactions between Buddhists, Jains, Muslims-and eventually the British-produced the modern category of Hinduism. Students will become familiar with central religious tenets (including dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa), sectarian traditions such as Vaiṣṇavism, Śavism, and Śaktism, and religious literature ranging from epic to devotional poetry. As we will see, Hinduism is a flexible and elastic term that names a shifting religious identity and community.

Instructor(s): Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Gateway course for RLST majors/minors.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22812

SALC 23133. Queering Visual Culture in Modern India. 100 Units.

This course will examine the process of queering visual cultures in modern India, whereby it interrogates how popular visual cultures (primarily film and advertisements) have upheld normative regimes of gender/sexuality as well as how they have subverted, and 'queered' these regimes. It also asks how expressions of gender and sexuality have been shaped by the contingent and contentious politics of postcolonial India. This course will map three kinds of gender/sexuality visualities in Indian popular culture-ideal woman/femininity, men and masculinities, and queer identity and sexuality. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which films intervene in and shape histories of gendered representation, notably with regard to the figure of the courtesan or 'tawa'if' as mediated through blockbuster films. Similarly, we will look at how specific political and social moments construct particular gendered or sexualized representations. These include: the figure of the "mother" during India's nation-building years (1950s); the trope of the "angry young man" set against the country's emergency-era politics and massive unemployment (1970s); and the sexualized male hero, as expressed by the superstar Shah Rukh Khan in his films and adverts (2000s). For the final part of the course, we will consider queer visualities, and explore how gay and trans characters and identities have been represented in a more contemporary sense.

Instructor(s): Borah, Jenisha     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Concepts course for GNSE majors.
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 21133, MAAD 13133, GNSE 23133

SALC 23221. Music in the Indian Ocean. 100 Units.

In this course, we gather sound and music to afford new ways to understand the history and culture of a geographical region. Instead of an area study, we concern ourselves with listening to sound worlds, local and global. We balance the reading of primary and secondary sources-the writings of travelers and practitioners alongside theoretical treatises and modern ethnomusicological scholarship-with the different listening practices, especially collections and assemblages of recorded sound and film. Each student will develop her or his own means of entering different sound worlds. Accordingly, students with varying degrees of musical background will be able to navigate the Indian Ocean World in ways suitable to their own backgrounds and interests. Students from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Divinity are welcome. Both College students and graduate students may register for the course, with the only distinction being in the scope of the final project.

Instructor(s): Phil Bohlman     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 33221, MUSI 23221, MUSI 33221, RLST 28221, RLVC 33221

SALC 23321. Bollywood Beats: Music and Sound in Popular Hindi Cinema. 100 Units.

This course explores the music and sound of popular Hindi cinema from aesthetic, social, cultural, economic, historical, and political perspectives. Students will be introduced to the musical conventions and practices of the genre, and to changes in Bollywood musical style over the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. We will watch select films with keen attention to music's imbrication with cinematic visuality, narrative, technology, and dance, and with consideration of issues like emplacement, gender, caste, religion, capitalism, nationalism, and transnationalism. Bollywood is a cosmopolitan music, drawing from and contributing to a range of regional and international music practices; we also venture into some of those streams.

Instructor(s): Anna Schultz     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 33321, CMST 33321, SALC 33321, CMST 23321, MUSI 23321

SALC 24002. Colonizations II: Imperial Expansion, Anti-Imperialism, and Nation in Asia. 100 Units.

This quarter covers the histories of modern European and Japanese colonialism in South and East Asia and the Pacific. Themes examined include the logics and dynamics of imperial expansion and rule; Orientalist discourses; uprisings and anti-imperial movements; the rise of nationalisms; and paths to decolonization in the region.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Note(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 24002, RDIN 24002, SOSC 24002, ANTH 24002, HIST 18302

SALC 24441. Theravada Buddhism: History and Philosophy. 100 Units.

This course studies the history and philosophy of Theravada Buddhism in India and other Southeast Asia countries. We first introduce the life of the Buddha and his major teachings within the context of the social and cultural environments in which Buddhism emerged about 2500 years ago. Having thus grasped some fundamental knowledge on Buddhism based on Pali texts, we then embark on examining its philosophical and historical developments from primitive Buddhism to sectarian Buddhism, and to the ramification of Theravada Buddhism in various countries such as Sri Lanka and Thai Land throughout its long history. Towards the end of the quarter, the class briefly discusses the revival of Theravada Buddhism in Indian in connection with the arising of Protestant Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the early 20th century. It is hoped that students having completed this course will be equipped with sufficient knowledge on general history, major philosophy and outstanding cultural tradition of Theravada Buddhism.

Instructor(s): Yu Xue     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 34441, SALC 34441, RLST 20441

SALC 24600. Buddhist Meditation: Tradition, Transformation, Modernization. 100 Units.

From the Satipaṭṭhāna sutta of the Pāli canon to the "mindfulness" boom of recent years, Buddhism and meditation often appear inseparable. The aim of this seminar is to historicize and critically question this seemingly natural intimacy, for while it certainly cannot be denied that the various Buddhist traditions have always had on offer a plethora of techniques for mental (and physical) cultivation, it is far from clear how or even if all these could be subsumed under the in its current usage relatively recent category of "meditation". Drawing on Buddhist meditation literature from various traditions, historical periods, and literary genre, in this seminar we will take up a twofold question: First, how has the encounter with Buddhist techniques of cultivation shaped the modern understanding of "meditation", and second, up to which extend, and at what cost, has this very modern understanding conversely conditioned us to see Buddhism as a "meditative religion" par excellence?

Instructor(s): Stephan Licha     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 24609, EALC 34600, RLST 24600, SALC 34600, HIST 24122, HIST 34122, HREL 34600

SALC 25310. Extinction, Disaster, Dystopia: Environment and Ecology in the Indian Subcontinent. 100 Units.

This course aims to provide students an overview of key environmental and ecological issues in the Indian subcontinent. How have the unique precolonial, colonial, regional and national histories of this region shaped the peculiar nature of environmental issues? We will consider three major concepts-"extinction", "disaster" and "dystopia" to see how they can be used to frame issues of environmental and ecological concern. Each concept will act as a framing device for issues such as conservation and preservation of wildlife, erasure of adivasi (first dwellers) ways of life, environmental justice, water scarcity and climate change. The course will aim to develop students' ability to assess the specificity of these concepts in different disciplines. For example: What methods and sources will an environmental historian use to write about wildlife? How does this differ from the approach an ecologist or literary writer might take? Students will analyze various media: both literary and visual, such as autobiographies of shikaris (hunters), graphic novels, photographs, documentary films, ethnographic accounts and environmental history.

Instructor(s): Joya John     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26806, ENGL 22434, GLST 25310, CRES 25310

SALC 25316. Making a Home in the Colonial City: Insights from Literature, Films, and History. 100 Units.

The proposed course is an invitation to students to imagine the life-worlds, experiences, and spaces of the colonized populations of South Asia, particularly, from the perspective of city-dwellers. The objective of the course is three-fold: thematic, methodological, and epistemological. First, to introduce students to debates in colonial modernity using the narrative of the rise of modern cities in colonial India. Second, to equip students to handle different kinds of primary material in order to understand the interconnections between colonialism, urban space, and indigenous responses. Finally, to open up the exciting field of colonial and postcolonial studies to anyone interested in South Asia, its literature, its films, its history, and its people.

Instructor(s): Sanjukta Poddar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 25316, GNSE 25316

SALC 25317. Traditions of Islamicate Learning In Mughal India. 100 Units.

An introduction to the contexts, methods, and aims of Islamic education in late-Mughal South Asia in the decades immediately prior to European colonisation. Our central focus is an 18th century 'curriculum': a list of books that were read by a student of a famous madrasa in late-Mughal Delhi. Although madrasas are now widely considered to be places of strictly 'religious' education, our curriculum reveals the wide range of disciplines a student was expected to know. As well as subjects like Qurʾānic commentary and Islamic jurisprudence, students learned Arabic and Persian grammar, ethical texts, Sufism, Hellenistic philosophy, logic, medicine, martial arts, mathematics and geometry, poetry, accounting and secretarial skills, astronomy, as well as alchemical and occult sciences. We will learn with our Mughal-era student, moving through the disciplines that he studied - progressing from the introductory aspects of his education to more advanced subjects. As we go, we will read a wide range of Arabic and Persian primary sources in translation. We will consider what it meant to learn, the contexts in which learning took place, as well as the modes of ethical comportment that education entailed. We will also consider the changing nature of the madrasa curriculum against the background of the volatile political and social climate of 18th century Mughal South Asia. We will also examine the reformist ideas that were challenging classical educational paradigms in this period.

Instructor(s): Daniel Morgan     Terms Offered: Autumn

SALC 25318. Literary Radicalism and the Global South: Perspectives from South Asia. 100 Units.

What does it mean to speak of literary radicalism? What are the hallmarks of a radical literature? And how does any such body of radical literature relate to the crucial question of empire, while also seeking to not be limited by that address? This course will explore the theme of literary radicalism through perspectives arising from South Asia. Over the twentieth century the subcontinent has been shaped through a wide variety of social and political movements: from anticolonial struggles to communist organising, feminist struggles, anti-caste mobilisation, indigenous protest and more, with their histories intertwining in different ways. We will start with a consideration of some texts on literary radicalism from other parts of the global South by authors such as Julia de Burgos and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, and then move through a detailed discussion of South Asian texts every week to examine particular aspects of literary style and history. We will study texts from a variety of subcontinental languages (in translation, unless originally in English), and across different forms - poetry, short fiction, children's literature, novels, a memoir, a graphic novel and a documentary film on a poet.

Instructor(s): Abhishek Bhattacharyya     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): No prior training in South Asia or literature courses is a requirement.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 25318

SALC 25319. Reading Indian Pasts: Early Texts and Modern Readers in South Asia. 100 Units.

How do different readers read the same text differently? How have intellectuals in South Asia interpreted, and continue to interpret, their textual pasts? This course will explore questions related to the receptions of premodern South Asian texts, engaging students in debates in intellectual history and histories of reception, with a focus on questions of periodization, social categories, and constructions of identity in premodern South Asia. How, for example, have modern readers interpreted questions of caste and gender in early South Asian texts? How did premodern readers interpret their own textual pasts, and what are the tools by which we, as modern readers, may understand these negotiations? What are the stakes in and consequences of reading these debates in our own times? We will explore these and other questions through both primary and secondary materials. The course will enable students to explore broad conceptual questions related to histories of reading and debates in South Asian reception and intellectual history. Additionally, students will read sections of premodern texts, in translation, which have enjoyed significant lives outside their own times and contexts, alongside different interpretations of these texts. Students will work towards gaining conceptual tools to examine both premodern and modern texts as well as the many frameworks of interpretation that emerged out of them. No prior knowledge of South Asian topics is required.

Instructor(s): A.Ravishankar     Terms Offered: TBD
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 25319

SALC 25320. Debate, Dissent, Deviate: Literary Modernities in South Asia. 100 Units.

This class introduces students to the modernist movement in post-independence South Asia. Modernism will be understood here as a radical experimental movement in literature, film, photography and other arts, primarily aimed at critiquing mainstream narratives of history and culture.  Given its wide scope, we will analyze a variety of texts over the ten-week duration of the class. These include novels, short stories, manifestos, essays, photographs, and films. The chronological span of the class is from the 1930s to the 1970s. Our aim will be to understand the diverse meanings of modernism as we go through our weekly readings. Was it a global phenomenon that was adopted blindly by postcolonial artists? Or were there specifically South Asian innovations that enable us to think about the local story as formative of global modernism? What bearings do such speculations have on genre, gender, and medium, as well as on politics? I will help situate the readings of each week in their specific literary and political contexts. Students will be able to evaluate, experiment with, and analyze various forms of modernist literary expressions emerging out of South Asia. This class will provide them with critical tools to interpret, assess, compare, and contrast cultural histories of non-Western locations and peoples, with an eye for literary radicalism. No prior knowledge of any South Asian history or language is necessary.

Instructor(s): S. Dasgupta     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 25320, CRES 25320, KNOW 25320, SALC 35320, GLST 25132, GNSE 25320

SALC 25321. Time and its discontents: thinking and experiencing time in South Asia through the ages. 100 Units.

Time is fundamental to all ideas about the past and our projections to the future, yet our measures and conceptions of it change constantly. We will explore key concepts and themes around the temporal cultures of medieval and modern South Asia and how ideas and everyday experiences of time and history have taken shape in the intellectual exchange between South Asia and the West. What can a bored monk writing in medieval India teach us about our hurried digital life? What was the relationship between past and present in premodern South Asia? What can we learn about colonialism and capitalism studying work schedules of clerks in colonial India? Was medieval South Asia prior a land without history? From medieval to modern and from Mahābhārata to Marx, we will closely read a wide range of texts and other media hailing from both South Asia and the West. Students will analyze secondary and primary sources (in translation): religious works, manuals for time keeping, as well as texts describing personal experiences of time, like novels, diaries, etc. Students will develop critical tools for comparing and interpreting the life-worlds of non-Western regions. Our goal is to think of South Asia as an important site where our current concepts and propositions about time and history were developed. No prior knowledge of South Asian languages or history is necessary. This online class will offer both synchronous and asynchronous components. See the syllabus at https://bit.ly/3gTLHbX

Instructor(s): E. Acosta     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): While the course relies heavily in South Asian world-views, a previous acquaintance with the histories and mythologies stemming from this part of the word is not necessary. This course will be of interest to students of different backgrounds. The approach is interdisciplinary, ranging from history, anthropology, religious studies, etc.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26615, RLST 25321

SALC 25322. Enlightenment Modernity and Colonial South Asia. 100 Units.

In Kant's words, the work of public reasoning was the condition for "man's exit from self-imposed immaturity." In the colony, however, the critique of existing society as insufficiently reasonable came to be caught up in the justification of Britain's "liberal" colonial project, and the obligation to Reason autonomously was embroiled in the case for empire. The Indian pursuit of enlightened reason was deeply aware of its uncomfortable proximity to empire, yet intellectuals of a variety of stripes advanced claims of "enlightenment. Would the appeal to Reason bring about a new moral world or a derivatively imitative landscape? Could the Enlightenment be so truly universal that the colonized could claim it without disowning their past? What relationship would the moral resources of India's past share with the task social critique for a new generation of radical intellectuals? In order to address the promise and perils of colonial Enlightenment and its most controversial debates, this course will focus on a variety of primary and secondary sources. We will look at arguments penned by a range of Indian and British thinkers and at how the rich historiography of India's 19th century may be placed in productive dialogue with the normative theory produced by Europe's "Enlightenment." Turning to the history of 19th century India will help us complicate the history of the Enlightenment as a whole, and contribute to help draft a new and broader answer: what is "Enlightenment?"

Instructor(s): T. Newbold     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26811, KNOW 25322

SALC 25323. Tolerance and Intolerance in South Asia. 100 Units.

Few places in the world are as embroiled in the problem of diversity as South Asia, where sectarian violence-fought mainly along religious lines, but also along caste, gender, and linguistic lines-is at the center of political maneuvering. South Asia offers important lessons in how people manage to live together despite histories of mutual strife and conflict about communities and castes. Focusing on the period of British colonial rule, this class explores different instances and ideologies of toleration and conflict. How were South Asian discourses of toleration by such leaders as Gandhi and Nehru different from their European counterparts (e.g., John Locke and John Rawls)? How did their ideologies differ from those articulated by their minority peers such as Ambedkar, Azad, and Madani? We will analyze constitutive precepts, namely secularism, syncretism, toleration. Our attention here will be on the universal connotations of these ideas and their South Asian expression. Fifth week onward, we will turn our attention to select thinkers: Gandhi, Ambedkar, Azad, Madani. Our focus here will be on the ways that each intellectual negotiated the thorny issues of toleration, difference, ethnicity, and belonging. All the thinkers covered in this class had an active presence in nationalist era politics. Finally, we will read historical accounts of some of the most frequent causes of intolerance, namely cow slaughter, music played before the mosque, and desecration of sacred objects.

Instructor(s): T. Reza     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): All reading materials will be available in English. No prior knowledge of South Asian history or South Asian languages is required.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 25323, RLST 25323, HIST 26812, KNOW 25323

SALC 25324. Against Caste and Race: A Parallel History of Resistance in India and in the United States. 100 Units.

The present moment represents a critical juncture in the history of movements against race-based discrimination in the United States, and caste-based oppression in India and in the Indian diaspora across the world. Since 2021, several educational institutions and corporations in the US have recognized caste as a protected category. Against this background, the course invites students to pay attention to caste as an emergent and recent form of discrimination in the US, and evaluate it against the oldest, race. The course will provide students with an overview of the major intellectual trajectories of the two movements and identify notable moments of synchronicity and solidarity between them. To this end, students will read seminal works by anti-caste and anti-race intellectuals and activists. Together, we will seek to understand the affective experiences at stake by watching films, listening to podcasts, and reading poetry and fiction. The focus will be on the analysis of innovative strategies of resistance offered against caste and race, and modes through which the discriminated claimed selfhood and emerged as subjects. Students will also examine how race and caste privileges that operate at an everyday level are directly linked with histories of discrimination and perpetuate structural exploitation. Finally, we will have a chance to compare the emergence of Critical Caste Studies as a new disciplinary approach alongside the rise of Critical Race Studies.

Instructor(s): Sanjukta Poddar     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 22211, HIST 26814, CRES 22211

SALC 25325. Setting Sound Standards: Music, Media, and Censorship in South Asia. 100 Units.

This course aims to introduce students to various musical and performance traditions in South Asia and their evolution within regimes of institutional, legal and media censorship. The course aims to understand how media environments and cultures of censorship are in some ways fundamental to shaping performance cultures in South Asia in the twentieth century. How do traditions of musical performance entrenched in the politics of caste, communalism, religion, sexuality and gender interact with regimes of censorship and new media? How do the latter remake and unmake said traditions? Be it the mid-century ban on film music by All India Radio to reflect the aspirations of a newly-emerging nation or the appropriation and urbanization of 'folk' musical practices within the recording studios in Nepal by upper-caste, upper-class male performers- censorship and media infrastructures have been integral to the current ontologies of diverse musical genres in South Asia. Through the analysis of a variety of primary and secondary texts on performance and musical aesthetics, media and music ethnographies, reception and production histories as well as critical listening/viewing exercises, this course seeks to complicate mainstream Euro-American narratives that tend to posit media-modernities as global and uniform. We will seek to understand how South Asian musical cultures and sound practices enter into a creative interplay with musical discourses and media-materialities emerging in the West.

Instructor(s): Ronit Ghosh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): MAAD 10325, MUSI 23322, TAPS 20215

SALC 25326. Global Connections before Globalization: Sufis and Seafarers across the Indian Ocean. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to the history of the Indian Ocean as a connected space in the centuries preceding widespread colonialism (ca. 1200-1600). In recent years, scholars have highlighted the Indian Ocean as a critical economic region in the 19th and 20th centuries. But before the industrial revolution and the invention of the steam engine, people from a variety of social backgrounds established contact with each other across Indian Ocean spaces. They formed religious communities, introduced new commodities and goods across space, or were forcibly enslaved and brought across the ocean against their will. By focusing on primary sources and first-person accounts-travelogues, letters, memoirs, and histories-we will explore the question of what we can learn about Indian Ocean worlds before globalization through consideration of individual lives. What picture do we get of a world on the brink of major social, political, and technological changes from reading about individuals' experiences? How can they decenter modern conceptions of space and periodization? In the course, we will pay special attention to the formation of religious networks, religious interactions, and histories of enslavement across the Indian Ocean.

Instructor(s): Zoë W. High     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 25621, RLST 27392

SALC 25327. Modernity and Islam in South Asia: Piety, Poetry and Politics. 100 Units.

What did the experience of modernity and colonialism look like for Islamic South Asia? How did South Asian Muslims, especially in North India, respond to the many challenges and opportunities modernity brought in its wake? This course explores how custodians of Islamic religious and poetic traditions responded to colonial modernity. We also introduce some key ideas of postcolonial studies, and apply as well as think critically about them in the light of the Indo-Islamic case-study. We begin the course by exploring the possible meanings of modernity and colonialism, before diving deeper into Indo-Islamic modernity using two broad and highly intertwined themes: religion, encompassing subthemes of science, rationality, and progress, and literature, especially poetry and the fate of the Persian and Urdu ghazal tradition, occasionally making comparisons with other pre-colonial genres in other Indian languages. We will look at the creation of new genres and new kinds of poetry in Persian and Urdu that emerge both to answer the call of modernity and sometimes to reject and attack it.

Instructor(s): Shariq Khan     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26703

SALC 25601. The Bhagavad Gita: Contested Readings of a World Classic. 100 Units.

Few religious classics have been as variously interpreted as the Bhagavad Gītā, which is surely among the most often-translated works in the world. A text of long-standing importance in Hindu traditions, the Bhagavad Gītā has had an especially interesting career in modernity, having been of great significance not only for M. K. Gandhi, but also for the likes of Thoreau and Eliot, not to mention the many less widely appreciated interpreters for whom the text's martial setting has been of central significance. After taking some steps to situate this great Sanskrit text in the context of its early Indian history, this course will explore a representative range of its available interpretations. Along the way, it is hoped that we will learn something not only about the Bhagavad Gītā, but also about the very ideas of interpretation and understanding.

Instructor(s): Dan Arnold     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 24251

SALC 25705. The last century of Persian in India (c. 1770-1850): Persian literary culture and its transformation. 100 Units.

In this seminar we will read original texts and familiarize students with archival research on Persian materials from the colonial period, looking at examples in original manuscripts and lithographed editions. Despite being rarely considered by historians of Persian cultural history and historians of British India, this period saw a fascinating profusion of writings, composed in particular by Hindu and Muslim scribes commissioned by British officers. Throughout the course we will emphasize the crucial role of Persian and Persian-writing Indian literati for the early colonial state administration and intelligence. Besides looking at works produced in a colonial context, we will examine the transformation of prose writing amongst Persianate literati in North Indian cities.

Instructor(s): Jean Arzoumanov     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 35705, NEHC 25705, SALC 35705

SALC 25706. Problems in the Study of Gender and Sexuality: Inequality. 100 Units.

This course analyzes inequality and the overt and covert violence that results from it. These inequalities are often grounded in gender and sex but also result from a complex intersection of gender, sex, and other identities. Inequality is what produces the experience of differential citizenship, a topic that exercises scholars the world over. In particular, those interested in issues of feminism, community, and ethnicity have studied why women (some women more than others) or particular social groups such as gay or trans groups, experience disenfranchisement more than their counterparts, even when, officially, many cultures/ nation states grant their members/citizens formal legal equality. Many of the examples around which this course is framed emerge out of South Asia, but our analyses will be structured through an engagement with theoretical texts that address issues of gendered oppression and discrimination in other parts of the world. Readings will include historical, anthropological, literary texts. Key themes of the course include: debates on parite in France and differential citizenship for religious minorities in India; caste based violence in India studied comparatively with debates on violence against aboriginal in Australia and Canada; rape and human rights; the politics of homosexuality; violence around popular and high culture; the panic around "family values". This course is part of the College Course Cluster program, Inequality.

Instructor(s): Rochona Majumdar     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 31106, GNSE 11006

SALC 25900. South Asia Before the Buddha. 100 Units.

South Asia has a rich historical record, from the very beginnings of our species to the present, and yet the earlier part of this record is surprisingly little-known outside specialist circles. This course provides a broad overview of South Asian archaeology and early history, from the beginnings of agricultural production to the expansion of states and empires in the early days of textual records. We cover critical anthropological processes such as the origins and expansion of agriculture, the development of one of the world's first urban societies-the Harappan or Indus civilization-the growth and institutionalization of social inequalities, and changing contexts of social and religious life. While the course actually extends a bit beyond the time of the Buddha, its major focus is on the periods up to and including the Early Historic. No prior experience of either South Asia or archaeology is assumed; indeed, we will think quite a bit about the nature of evidence and about how we know about the more distant past.

Instructor(s): K. Morrison     Terms Offered: Spring

SALC 26013. Drinking with God: An Introduction to Sufism. 100 Units.

Who is the 13th-century Muslim mystic Jalaluddin Rumi - and why is he so popular on Instagram? Can inebriation lead to divine revelation? Who are the friends of God, and how did they develop fantastic superpowers? How have mystical practices sought to both abandon the world and radically transform it? In this class, we will explore these questions through the study of Sufism - a diverse set of Islamic mystical traditions - from its formative period in the early decades of Islam to the present day. Through poetry, philosophy, music, esoteric sciences, politics, and devotional practices, we will analyze Sufism as a global phenomenon that, while demonstrating remarkable adaptation to local cultural contexts, firmly locates itself within the Islamic tradition. This course will also include a visit to a local Sufi circle in Chicago.

Instructor(s): Francesca Chubb-Confer     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26013

SALC 26075. South Asian Sensoriums. 100 Units.

What is a 'sense'? How do we attune, coordinate, and interpret our senses and the information that we receive through them? How do we structure and shape the world around us for and through the senses? We will address these questions by diving into the multi-sensory worlds of South Asia-a region that includes the present states of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka-and learning how peoples of the region have theorized and employed the senses to understand and shape their aesthetic, social, and religious worlds. We will taste spices, smell fragrances, listen to music and street sounds, 'visit' temples, mosques, and museums, read literary, philosophical, and religious texts, and view works of visual and sculptural art in order to better understand which aspects of sensory experience are indeed 'universal' and which are conditioned by history and culture.

Instructor(s): Tyler Williams     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SIGN 26075, ARCH 26075

SALC 26113. Queer South Asia. 100 Units.

This course explores representations of queerness, same-sex love, sexualities and debates around them by introducing students to a variety of literary texts translated from South Asian languages as well as films, geographically ranging from India and Pakistan to Sri Lanka. We will also read scholarship that will help us place the production and reception of these primary sources in historical, political, cultural and religious contexts. In particular, we will examine questions of history and continuity (recurrent themes and images); form and genre (differences of representation in mythological narratives, poetry, biography, fiction, erotic/legal/medical treatises); the relationship of gender to sexuality (differences and similarities between representations of male-male and female-female relations); queerness as a site for exploring other differences, such as caste or religious difference; and questions of cross-cultural and transnational dialogue and cultural specificity.

Instructor(s): Nisha Kommattam     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 26113, CRES 26115, HMRT 26113, GNSE 23145

SALC 26170. Why Do Animals Talk? Beastly Worlds in South Asian Literature. 100 Units.

Comprised of a diverse set of languages covering a disparate set of regions, South Asian literatures share a deep investment in the figure of the animal. Whether imagined through the genre of political advice, in narrative tellings of the past lives of the Buddha, or simply as characters in an expanded continuum of life, animals serve as important literary devices to reflect on human beings as well as autonomous subjects bound up with humans with their own distinct emotional and spiritual lives. Drawing particularly from the Sanskrit tradition among others, this course will introduce students to a broad survey of animal literature in South Asia alongside more recent scholarship in Animal Studies. By the end of the course, students can expect to have a myriad of answers to the question: why do animals talk?

Instructor(s): Sarah Pierce Taylor     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26170, ENST 26170

SALC 26260. Buddhism in Early Theravada Literature. 100 Units.

A critical examination of important canonical (Buddhavacana--attributed to the Buddha) and non-canonical Pali literature central to the religious "imaginaire" of Theravada Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Literary texts include Vinayapitaka (Book of Monastic Discipline), Dhammapada (didactic verses attributed to the Buddha), Mahaparinibbana Sutta (sermon recounting the final 3 months of the Buddha's career), Vessantara Jataka (epic narrative of the Buddha's next-to-last rebirth as a king), the Edicts of Asoka (proclamations of the 3rd c. BCE Indian emperor), Anagatavamsa Desana (prophecy of the future Buddha Metteyya), Mahavamsa (the monastic "Great Chronicle" recounting the history of Buddhism) and royal inscriptions and paintings from the late-medieval period.

Instructor(s): John Holt     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 36703, HREL 36260, RLST 26260, SALC 36260

SALC 26265. Comparative Study of Humanistic Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism. 100 Units.

This course is designed for students who would like to explore further social philosophy and implication of Humanistic Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism, the two mainstreams of Buddhist development in modern world. We first examine historical background for the arising of Humanistic Buddhism from Mahayana tradition in China and Buddhist revivalism or Protestant Buddhism, the forerunner of Engaged Buddhism in Sri Lanka almost simultaneously at the beginning of 20th century, and their subsequent developments respectively. Having then briefly reviewed some prominent figures such as Taixu (1898-1947), Dhammapala (1864-1933), and their major advocates, we undertake thorough comparative studies of the two Buddhisms by exploring several topics, including modern education and science, environment and ecology, human rights and feminism, politics and violence, suffering and happiness, and others. While discussing these topics, we also examine how Buddhism has transformed itself from the religion of other world to that of this world, how Buddhists have reinterpreted Buddhism in order to fit the idea and practice of modernity, an how new cultures have thus been recreated to cater for the needs of contemporary life both in the East and West. Toward the end of the quarter, discussion may be extended to compare other new religious movements so that students may have a broader vision on religions and their social advocates in contemporary world.

Instructor(s): Yu Xue     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Some knowledge on the general history and basic philosophy of Buddhism.
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 36265, SALC 36265, RLST 26265

SALC 26501. Global Health, Environment, and Indigenous Futures. 100 Units.

The global coronavirus pandemic has made evident the significance of ecological (im)balances for the well-being of societies. The relationship between structural inequalities, changing environments and health, especially for historically and socio-economically marginalized communities, is now well established. At the same time, a growing body of literature links the material conditions of marginalized communities-for instance, spaces of dwelling and conditions of labor-to health status, globally. Based on a set of interdisciplinary literature arranged through anthropological theories, this course will critically engage with notions of health and well-being for indigenous communities, tracing injustices that stem histories of racial, caste- and ethnicity-based, and environmental exclusions. The readings are organized around one central question: What does it mean to be indigenous in a changing planet where social, political, and economic systems are marked by enduring legacies of systemic violence? This graduate and undergraduate level course will introduce contexts within which structural exclusions lead to ill-health and loss of well-being among indigenous communities across the globe. The aim is to develop critical thinking on the political economy and political ecologies of indigenous health as imbricated with issues of social, economic, and environmental justice.

Instructor(s): Sanghamitra Das
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 30700, CHDV 30750, CEGU 20700, RDIN 20700, ANTH 20700, SALC 32704, CEGU 30700, ANTH 30700, CHDV 20700

SALC 26600. Asian Identities: 1890-1945. 100 Units.

Equivalent Course(s): HIST 16600

SALC 26702. Why comment? Early modern commentarial literature. 100 Units.

What is the purpose of a commentary? What do commentaries in different languages, and on different types of texts, 'do'? This course will take the example of commentarial literature from early modern South Asia-- primarily but not exclusively northern India--to explore the different contexts, projects, and intellectual milieus in which commentaries were composed, circulated, and performed. Primary readings will be in English, Sanskrit, and Hindi, and include commentaries (and their accompanying root texts;) we will also read a selection of modern scholarly writings on commentarial literature to survey different approaches to working with commentarial works.

Instructor(s): Tyler Williams     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 36702

SALC 26802. Epic Religion: From the Ramayana to Game of Thrones. 100 Units.

What can epic literature and media teach us about religion? In this introductory seminar, students explore answers to this question, focusing on the ways epics dramatize the human relationship to divinity. We read the epics through the relationships of its central characters-humans, heroes, and gods. By following the winding quests and gory battles of these narratives, students examine how epics present various forms of human-divine relationships-transactional, intimate, inspirational, and manipulative. We employ a comparative approach to the genre; our readings originate in different world regions and historical periods-from ancient India and Greece to West Africa, England, and the contemporary US. We will read these texts closely and examine how they reflect particular views of the human condition within religious worldviews. Considering the contexts of post-colonization, nationalism, and globalization, we analyze how mass media-comic books, TV series, films, and social media-shape and spread those views to new popular audiences.

Instructor(s): Andrew Kunze     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26802, GLST 26802, CMLT 26802

SALC 26805. The History of Capitalism in India. 100 Units.

This course explores the trajectory of capitalism in India from the colonial period to the present, with a particular focus on the twentieth century. How should we understand colonial India's place in the global history of capitalism? What was the relationship between postcolonial economic planning and changing class politics in the decades after independence in 1947? Finally, has India begun to converge upon a global paradigm of neoliberalism since the 1980s? As part of this course, we will read classic texts of Indian political economy, analyzing how both the theory and practice of capitalism in the region challenge Western-centered histories.

Instructor(s): E. Chatterjee     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): No prior knowledge of South Asian languages is required, though some familiarity with Indian history would be an asset.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26805, SALC 36805, HIST 36805

SALC 27301. Buddhism in South Asia. 100 Units.

Buddhism has been an important presence in South Asian religion and culture since its origins in northern India some 2500 years ago. In this course, we will survey the history of ideas and practices in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism from its earliest traces to the present. (C)

Instructor(s): C. Wedemeyer     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 27302

SALC 27305. Haj to Utopia: Race, Religion, and Revolution in South Asian America. 100 Units.

With the election of Kamala Harris to the office of Vice President in the 2020 election, it would appear that Americans of South Asian descent find themselves nearer than ever to the center of U.S. political power. But what if one narrated the history of South Asian Americans not according to their inevitable embrace of imperialist politics, economic and cultural capital, but as fraught subjects of a settler colonial regime? What are the alternative futures, of life, love, and liberation, imagined by transnational revolutionaries? How does the politics of immigrant identity operate at the nexus of race and caste? How does religion index race in the eyes of the surveillance state? How do South Asian histories of migration prefigure the mass displacements, border enforcements, and unequal labor conditions that have defined the politics of globalization in the 21st century?

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 27305, HIST 26813, GLST 27305, CRES 27305, RLST 27305

SALC 27440. Buddha Then and Now: Transformations from Amaravati to Anuradhapura. 100 Units.

The Buddhist sculptures in Amaravati are arguably the earliest to influence the early Buddhist art of the other parts of the sub-continent as well as south and southeast Asia. The course begins with the discussion of the context in which the Buddha images were made in Amaravati and the factors including Buddhist doctrinal developments that contributed to the spread of these images to various parts of Sri Lanka. Then it traces the course and function of Buddhist iconography in Sri Lanka until into the 21st century to assess the role of geopolitical factors. The positionality and portrayals of the images of Buddha are also considered and analyzed. The course traces the trajectories that transformed the image of the Buddha from a symbol of peace to jingoist assertiveness. Through the study of the images of the Buddha, the aim is to comprehend the ways Buddhism has changed over centuries from an inclusive posture which helped it sustain and spread to different parts of the world only later to become exclusionary.

Instructor(s): Sree Padma Holt     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLVC 37440, RLST 27440, SALC 37440, ARTH 37440, HREL 37440, ARTH 27440, HIST 36704

SALC 27490. Art as Buddhism in Ancient India: Explorations in the Stupa of Amaravati and Other Monuments. 100 Units.

This course will examine the visual construction of early Buddhism in India, focusing in particular on stūpas and especially on the art of the great stūpa (mahachaitya) at Amarāvatī in Andhra Pradesh. We will examine questions of Buddhology, of the diversity and range of conversations within early Buddhism, leading to the rise of the Mahāyāna, in relation to the visualization of Buddhist theory and narrative in the extensive and extraordinary decorations of the major sites. The course will introduce those taking it to the rich visual, material and epigraphic culture of the Buddhist stūpas as well as the vibrant textual world of Indian Buddhist writing - from stories to suttas to commentaries. Students will have the opportunity to develop their own final papers in relation to this material or comparatively with other material in which they also retain an interest (not necessarily only Buddhist).

Instructor(s): Jaś Elsner     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): The course will be taught over 5 weeks in the Spring Quarter on an intensive schedule. This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 37490, ARTH 27490, RLST 27490, RLVC 37490, HREL 37490, SALC 37490

SALC 27701. Mughal India: Tradition & Transition. 100 Units.

The focus of this course is on the period of Mughal rule during the late sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, especially on selected issues that have been at the center of historiographical debate in the past decades.

Instructor(s): M. Alam     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Advanced standing or consent of instructor. Prior knowledge of appropriate history and secondary literature required.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26602, NEHC 30570, HIST 36602, SALC 37701, NEHC 20570

SALC 27703. Music and Love in South Asia. 100 Units.

This course explores the relationship between the musical arts and forms of love in South Asian history. We will trace the complex and ambivalent contours of love in several genres including premodern poetry, stage performance, and Bollywood movies. We will examine issues such as poetics and theology, opposition to orthodox social conventions, the intensity of emotion expressed through multiple senses, the social sites of forbidden love, women and gender as poets and performers, and the intersection of sexuality and spirituality.

Instructor(s): Anand Venkatkrishnan; Anna Schultz     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLVC 37702, HREL 37702, SALC 37703, RLST 27702

SALC 28002. Can Women Think? The Female Intellectual in South Asia. 100 Units.

How have South Asian women crafted lives for themselves as intellectuals, regardless of their social worlds? This introductory class will examine the figure of the woman-scholar in South Asia from antiquity to the twentieth century. How have South Asian women been seen, or have seen themselves, as intellectuals? We will study how women have provided critical reflections on society, identified normative problems, and argued for their rightful place in public life. This course will think of the specificity of South Asia and the global South in order to understand the relationship between women, authority and authorship, gender and cultural production, the problems of historical memory, and will challenge the notion of a unified collective of women intellectuals by considering caste, class and religious differences. We will study more than just feminist thought and scholarship. By reflecting on the active process and performance of thinking, we will question the historical and cultural conditions in South Asia which make thinking possible for women.

Instructor(s): Ahona Panda     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 38003, GNSE 28003, SALC 38002

SALC 28013. Love, Desire, and Sexuality in Islamic Texts and Contexts. 100 Units.

What separates love from lust? How do our erotic desires and sexual practices intersect with our beliefs? This interdisciplinary class explores these questions in conversation with foundational thinkers from the Islamic tradition alongside insights from feminist and queer theory. We will delve into questions on the relationship between romantic, familial, and divine love; gender, sexuality, and the body; and Orientalism and the politics of reading desire cross-culturally. Exploring a diverse set of primary sources that range from the Qur'ān to Rūmī's Masnāvī to contemporary Bollywood, we will encounter different representations of love, desire, and sexuality in religious and philosophical discourses, literary representations, and visual media. We will examine not only how these representations reflect different historical norms, but also how and to what extent texts and images can inform or impact the norms of their contexts as well. No prerequisite knowledge of the topics or time periods discussed is needed, and students will have the opportunity over the course of the class to develop a project that relates our content to their own interests.

Instructor(s): Allison Kanner-Botan     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts as a Concepts course for GNSE majors.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23135, NEHC 29018, CMLT 28013, MDVL 28013, RLST 28013

SALC 28219. Understanding Buddhism Through Meditation. 100 Units.

This course studies succinct theories and systematic practices of Buddhist meditation based on both Theravada and Mahayana texts and traditions; it is divided into 4 parts: 1. Theories and practices of meditation in Pali texts and Theravada tradition-we examine idea and practice of Samadha and Vipassana mainly based on the Satipatthana Sutta and Visuddhimagga; 2. Chinese Texts and Zen Buddhism-The Great Concentration and Contemplation, and the Platform Sutra, two of the most important texts in Chinese Buddhism will be read and discussed; 3. Scientific studies and understanding of Buddhist meditation, and dialogue between Buddhist meditation and science-we read and discuss research papers and experimental reports on mediation practice by modern scholars through neuroscience and psychotherapy in the West. A special attention is paid to the discussion on the Western derivatives of Buddhist meditation for different purposes other than the final enlightenment of Buddhism, and on arising of variety of meditation practices such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Loving-Kindness Meditation, Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, Compassion Cultivation Training; and 4. Meditation session-the course instructor or meditation masters will provide instructions for students to practice meditation based on theories and methods discussed in the class and through readings.

Instructor(s): Yu Xue     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Some basic knowledge of Buddhism recommended.
Note(s): This course meets the CS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HREL 38219, RLST 28219, SALC 38219

SALC 28403. Text and World in Medieval India. 100 Units.

This course is intended as a graduate seminar (undergraduates are welcome to attend, too) concentrating on the cultural and intellectual history of medieval southern Asia. For the purposes of the course, 'medieval' is roughly delimited by the half-millennium 700-1200 CE; 'southern Asia' refers mostly to the Indian subcontinent, with collateral attention paid to mainland and insular Southeast Asia. The recurrent focus will be on the reciprocal connections between texts-as physical artifacts, concretizations of cultural knowledge, articulations of traditions of wisdom, and realizations of intentional projects-and the social and physical world of their emergence and circulation. The class meetings will be divided between thematic and regional topics. Themes include the royal court, the nature of religious plurality, literary intertextuality, and the nature and efficacy of linguistic reference; regional concentrations include the Tamil country, Pāla-Sena Bengal, Angkor, central Java, and Kashmir.

Instructor(s): Whitney Cox     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 48403

SALC 28701. Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Contribution in Colonial and Post-colonial India. 100 Units.

The course examines the life, work, and career of Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982) in colonial and postcolonial India. We read Bhave - who was widely touted as M.K. Gandhi's 'spiritual' successor - as developing a significant response to the cardinal questions and concerns of his time: building a national community free from stratification, exploitation, and communal strife while abiding by the values of non-violence (ahiṃsā) and truth (satya). Drawing upon Gandhi's ingenious mobilisation of the term, Bhave found his answer in the ideal of sarvodaya (universal upliftment) and laboured, throughout his long and illustrious life, to make it into an instrument of thought and action. This course will offer a multi-dimensional view of Vinoba's ideas and socio-political initiatives - including, but not limited to the well-known Bhoodan Movement (1951). We think about Bhave as a political thinker and actor while also paying due attention to some of his other, equally significant contributions. These would comprise his writings on education/pedagogy, ecological conservation, and India's religious philosophies and languages. Bhave's erudite and experimental wisdom in reinterpreting the revered Bhagavadgītā will receive special attention. We end by raising some questions of relevance. Are Vinoba Bhave's principles pertinent in the twenty-first century? Can they be reshaped according to our more global needs and made to speak to the many predicaments of a deeply destructive present?

Instructor(s): Sujata Mahajan      Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Undergraduate & graduate students across disciplines are eligible to enroll. All class meetings are mandatory. No prior knowledge of India/South Asia or a South Asian language is required.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 38701

SALC 28921. Bengali Lyric Poetry: textual criticism and translation. 100 Units.

In this reading course, we will read lyric poems from the Padakalpataru using the texts of the oldest manuscript of the anthology kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. We will prepare an electronic text of the anthology and translate a selection of poems. The class will meet for two hours every week.

Instructor(s): Thibaut d'Hubert     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 38921, BANG 38921, BANG 28921

SALC 29002. Tibet: Culture, Art, and History. 100 Units.

This class will introduce students to Tibetan civilization from pre-modernity to the present with an emphasis on literature, society, visual arts, and history. Attention will be paid to Tibet's relations with neighboring polities in South, East, and Central Asia, as well as distinctive indigenous practices. The course will cover a range of Tibetan cultural forms, highlighting pre-modern sciences of medicine, logic, and meditation, as well as contemporary developments in Tibetan modernity and the diaspora communities. Course materials will include primary sources in translation (e.g. Dunhuang manuscripts and other literature), contemporary scholarship, as well as audio-visual materials. In addition to informed participation in course meetings/discussions, including regular, timely completion of reading assignments, students are expected to write two short (5-7pg) papers. Students will have the opportunity to work on any topics of Tibetan culture, art and history of their choosing for the final assignment.

Instructor(s): K. Ngodup     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): All course readings will be available on electronic reserve via Canvas.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 39002

SALC 29021. Reading Indo-Persian harmonized prose: Bahār-i dānish. 100 Units.

In this course, we will read excerpts from one of the most popular collections of stories written in harmonized (aka ornate) prose in Mughal India: ʿInāyatallāh's Bahār-i dānish. We will use several editions of the texts as well as commentaries and translations and focus on grammar, rhetoric, and the various strategies one may use to render Persian harmonized prose into English.

Instructor(s): Thibaut d'Hubert     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PERS 29021, SALC 39021, PERS 39021

SALC 29800-29801-29802. BA Paper I-II-III.

Students register for this sequence for two quarters. One quarter is for directed reading; and the second quarter is for writing and submission of the BA paper, which can be credited toward the SALC major requirements.

SALC 29900. Informal Course: South Asia. 100 Units.

TBD

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.

TAML 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Tamil I-II-III.

The grammar of modern Tamil, in its manifestation both in colloquial and formal styles, and a good amount of vocabulary needed for referring to the immediate environment and using in day today transactions will be acquired. The four language skills acquired will be at different levels of proficiency with listening and speaking at the top followed by reading of formal texts and ending with basic writing skills in the formal style. The gradual progression in listening will be from teacher–student to speaker-speaker; in speaking it will be from articulation of sounds and intonation to expressing personal needs and interests, performing practical tasks, narrating experience and expressing emotions; in reading it will be from alphabet and spelling in the two styles to sign boards, controlled texts, factual news stories, interpretive reports and jokes; in writing from conversion of colloquial style into conventional style to personal letters, paraphrasing and translation of sentences. The tools used are classroom conversations, conversational tapes, videos, graded print materials, select materials from the print media including tales, which are complemented by exercises and quizzes.

TAML 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Tamil I-II-III.

This sequence is structured in a similar fashion as in the first year to develop the higher order of the four language skills. All materials, aural and visual, will be uncontrolled and unedited. The student will be introduced to web sources and dictionaries for self-reference and to using Unicode for writing. The student also will be exposed to dialects to have a taste of them. At the end of the course, the student will be able to converse in Tamil about specific topics of interest, to understand programs in the visual media including lyrics, to ask questions in field work situations, to read and understand texts on current events in newspapers and magazines, to understand and appreciate modern fiction and poetry, to read and understand public communications such as pamphlets, invitations, announcements, advertisements, and public speeches, and to write short essays and reports. If there is interest, web pages will be added to printed pages for reading and email and chat groups will be added for practicing writing.

TBTN 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Tibetan I-II-III.

The Tibetan language, with a history going back more than one thousand years, is one of Asia’s major literary languages. At the present time, it is the first language of close to seven million people in Tibet, as well as in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The textbook is The Manual of Standard Tibetan by Nicolas Tournade and Sangda Dorje. This introductory sequence covers the script and pronunciation, the grammar of the modern Lhasa dialect, as well as basic reading and speaking skills.

TBTN 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Tibetan I-II-III.

This intermediate sequence covers second-level pronunciation and grammar of the modern Lhasa dialect, as well as intermediate-level reading and speaking skills.

URDU 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Urdu I-II-III.

These courses must be taken in sequence. This three-quarter sequence covers basic grammar and vocabulary. Spoken by thirty-five million people in South Asia, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. Our text is C. M. Naim’s Introductory Urdu, Volumes I and II. Students learn to read and write the Urdu script, as well as to compose/write in Urdu. We also emphasize aural and oral skills (i.e., listening, pronunciation, speaking). These courses must be taken in sequence. Prospective students should contact the instructor, Elena Bashir.

URDU 20100-20200-20300. Second-Year Urdu I-II-III.

This sequence is a continuation of URDU 10100-10200-10300. There is increased emphasis on vocabulary building. Depending on ability levels and interests of the students, readings can include selections from various original sources. Prospective students should contact the instructor, Elena Bashir.

UZBK 10103. Elementary Uzbek-3. 100 Units.

TBD

UZBK 10501. Intro to Turkic Languages I. 100 Units.

The first quarter of a two-section course in which Elementary Kazakh and Elementary Uzbek will be offered as one class, with the option for students to study one or the other, or both simultaneously.

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): TURK 10501, KAZK 10501

UZBK 10502. Introduction to Turkic Languages II. 100 Units.

The second quarter of a two-section course in which Elementary Kazakh and Elementary Uzbek will be offered as one class, with the option for students to study one or the other, or both simultaneously.

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): TURK 10501
Equivalent Course(s): TURK 10502, KAZK 10502

UZBK 29700. Independent Study: Uzbek. 100 Units.

Independent Study: Uzbek - Continuation of Introduction to Turkic Languages

Instructor(s): Kagan Arik     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): TURK 10502