ANTH 5321 Topics in Anthropology

Unity and Diversity in Indian Culture

ANTH 5321

SPRING 2013

MMW_707

Lecture: Thursday 2.30-4.15

Tutorial: Thursday 1.30-2.15
Thursday 4.30-5.15

MMW_707
MMW_706

Teacher: Minaz G. Master

Course Description
India constitutes a complex and diverse civilization. Indias population and its rapid
demographic and socioeconomic transformations do not accurately reflect the changing
circumstances of individuals and local communities. It is a country filled with social and cultural
markers that define and classify its populations into subpopulations based on language groups,
castes, tribal groups, religion, gender, and class which serve as indirect markers of social
identity. Of particular interest to anthropologists is the new Indian middle class that epitomizes
the countrys economic surge. This class is responsible for the rise in a disposable income which
has led to the expansion in the consumption market with a unique characteristic.
This course is an anthropological exploration of the social life in India. We will explore India
through the lens of popular culture, caste and class, the politics of religion, gender/sexuality,
nationalism and globalization. Students will be engaged in the contemporary theoretical debates
relating to the socio-cultural change in modern India, enabling them to appreciate the complex
nature of Indian culture and Indian nationality.
Each subject matter will incorporate the use of a pre-selected literature, film and/or
ethnographic text. Film is a powerful medium to understand the Indian society which is highly
influenced by this medium. Bollywood films depict critical social issues which play a powerful
role in creating and shaping identities, social orientations, political orientations and values.
Therefore the deployment of this medium will enable the students to appreciate Indian culture
through another dimension.
Course Objectives

To gain an understanding of the diversity of the region

Understand the evolution of Indian culture and civilization from pre-historic to postVedic era

To get a glimpse of Indias colonial history and its postcolonial implications

Demonstrate the unity inherent in Indias diversity and pluralism

Help the students understand the processes of socio-cultural change occurring in

modern India

Develop a critical understanding amongst the students of the role Bollywood films play
in the lives of the Indian population and issues arising thereof

Students are required by university policy to submit soft copies of all papers to VeriGuide. Check the
website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ for information on how to submit papers
through VeriGuide
Readings for the course are reserved in the University Library and journal articles are available through
the university e-resource.

Course Grading

Take-home midterm examination 3000 words (35% of your grade) Due March 14
Take-home final examination: 15-20 pages (50% of your grade) Due April 25
In class participation and tutorials (15% of your grade).

January 17: After Independence-Partition and its Implications

Assigned Readings:
Brasted H.V and Bridge Carl (1994) The Transfer of Power in South Asia: An Historiographical
Review in South Asia, XVII (1). Pp 93-114
Talbot, Ian (2009) Literature and the Human Drama of the 1947 Partition in: Jacobsen, Knut.
A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume I.
Identity. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 55-70.
Kabir, Ananya.Jahanara (2009) Gender, Memory, Trauma: Womens novels on the partition of
India in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in
Asian Studies. Volume I. Identity. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 73-89.
January 24: Religious Identity, Communal Violence and Social Change
Part 1: CASTE
Assigned Readings:

Ali, Sayed (2009) Collective and Elective Ethnicity in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian
Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume II. Society. London and New
York: Routledge. Pp313-318
Dirks, Nicholas (1990) "The original caste: Power, history and hierarchy in South Asia" in:
Marriott, McKim (ed). India through Hindu Categories. New York: Sage. Pp. 59-77.
Gupta, Dipankar (2005) Caste and Politics: Identity over System in Annual Review of
Anthropology. 34 (2005): pp409-27
Appadurai, Arjun. 1986. "Is Homo Hierarchicus?" American Ethnologist 13(4): 745-761.
Deliege, Robert (2009) The Myths of Origin of the Indian Untouchables in: Jacobsen, Knut. A.
(ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume II.
Identity. London and New York: Routledge. Pp263-281
Nayar, Pramod (2006) Bamas Karukku: Dalit autobiography as testimonio in Jacobsen, Knut.
A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume IV.
Identity. London and New York: Routledge. Pp149-162.

January 31: Religious Identity, Communal Violence and Social Change

Part 2: ANTI- CASTE MOVEMENTS
Assigned Readings:
Omvedt, Gail (2009) Ambedkar and After: The Dalit Movement in India in: Jacobsen, Knut. A.
(ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume I. Identity.
London and New York: Routledge. Pp 395-407.
Raheja, G. G. (1990) "Centrality, mutuality and hierarchy: Shifting aspects of inter-caste
relationships in North India" in: Marriott, McKim (ed). India through Hindu Categories. New
York: Sage.
Beltz, Johannes (2009) Contesting Caste, Hierarchy and Hinduism: Buddhist discursive
practices in Maharashtra in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society:
Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume III. Religion. London and New York: Routledge. Pp
356-369.
February 14: Religious Identity, Communal Violence and Social Change
Part 3: THE HINDU-MUSLIM CONFLICT
Assigned Readings:

Film: sections of the film Bombay (1995) directed by Mani Ratnam, produced by S. Sriram.
Metcalf, Barbara.D. (2009) Hindu Ethnonationalism, Muslim Jihad and Secularism: Muslims
in the political life of the Republic of India in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture
and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume III Religion. London and New York:
Routledge. Pp 71-90.
Gould, Harold (2009) The Babri Masjid and the Secular Contract in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed).
Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume III. Religion.
London and New York: Routledge. Pp 32-51.
Nandy, Ashis (1990) The Politics of Secularism and the Recovery of Religious Tolerance in Das,
Veena (ed). Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia, Delhi:
Oxford University Press. Pp 69-93.
February 21: Religious Identity, Communal Violence and Social Change
Part 4: THE NAXALITE AND MAOIST MOVEMENTS
Assigned Readings:
Gupta, Dipak.K. (2009) The Naxalites and the Maoist Movement in India: Birth, Demise and
Reincarnation in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical
Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume I. Identity. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 307-336.
February 28: National Identity and Globalization
Assigned Readings:
Film: Lagaan (Once Upon a Time in India), (2001) directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced
by Aamir Khan Productions. [On Reserve to be viewed before class]
Stadtler, Florian. (2005)Cultural Connections: "Lagaan" and Its Audience Responses in Third
World Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3, Connecting Cultures. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Pp. 517-524.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3993842
Chakraborty, Chandrima. Subaltern Studies, Bollywood and "Lagaan" in Economic and
Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 19 (May 10-16, 2003). Pp. 1879-1884
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4413550
Rajagopal, Arvind (1998). Advertising, Politics and the Sentimental Education of the Indian
Consumer in Visual Anthropology Review. 14 (2). Pp 14-31. Also available in Jacobsen, Knut. A.
(ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume IV.
Culture. London and New York: Routledge.
Wyatt, Andrew (2005). Building the Temples of Postmodern India: Economic constructions of
National Identity in Contemporary South Asia, 14 (4) (2005): pp 465-80.
March 7: Globalization and the Middle-Class

Assigned Readings:
Fernandes, Leela. (2009) Restructuring the New Middle Class in Liberalizing India in:
Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies.
Volume II. Society. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 27-54.
Mir, Ali, Mathew, Biju and Mir, Raza. (2009) The Codes of Migration: Contours of the global
software labor market in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical
Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume II. Society. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 151-176.
(Oct 30, 2010) Indians, Chinese to be 45% of world's middle class by 2030 Online News:
Economic Times, India Times. Page 1.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-10-30/news/27568679_1_middle-classchinese-nationals-global-growth
Shrinivasan, Rukmini. (May 6, 2010) India has no middle class? Online News: Economic,
Times, India Times. Page 1.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-05-06/news/27589025_1_middle-classdefinition-upper-limit
Bijapurkar, Rama. (Mar 30, 2009) Metaphor for new Indian middle class Online News:
Economic Times, India Times. Pp 1-2.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-03-30/news/27642532_1_middle-classmetaphor-shatabdi
Bedi, Rakesh. (Apr 12, 2012) With its dreadful hold on the rising Indians, Bollywood creating a
dictatorship of the middle class Online News: Economic Times, India Times. Page 1.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-12/news/31331277_1_bollywood-filmmiddle-class-doubts
March 14: Globalized Bollywood
Assigned Readings:
Film clippings highlighting this trend-20mins
Chawla, Taranjeet (2009) Brand Bollywood: Going Global in Malshe, Anuradha. (ed).
Business of Bollywood: The Changing Dimensions. The Icfai University Press. Pp 121-136.
Trivedi, Harish. (2009) From Bollywood to Hollywood: The globalization of Hindi Cinema in :
Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies.
Volume IV. Culture. London and New York: Routledge. Pp254-267
Rajadhyaksha, Ashish (2003) The Bollywoodization of the Indian Cinema: Cultural
nationalism in a global arena in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 4 (1) (2003) 25-39.
Manekar, Purnima (2004) Dangerous Desires: Television and erotics in the late twentieth
century India in The Journal of Asian Studies, 63(2) (2004) pp 403-31

March 21: Localized Modernity

Assigned Readings:
Deep K. Datta, Ray (May 14, 2009) Tradition of Modernity Online Newspaper: Times of India.
Pp 1-2
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-05-14/edit-page/28192033_1_modernideas-indians-tradition
Nyazi, Taberez. Ahmed (November 2010) Cultural Imperialism or Vernacular Modernity?:
Hindi newspapers in a globalizing India in Media Culture & Society. Sage vol.32. no 6. Pp 907924
Snodgrass, Jeffrey. G. (Apr 29, 2008) Casting Kings: Bards and Indian Modernity in American
Anthropologist, Volume 110, Issue 1, pp. 146-147
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. (2009) Open Space/Public Place: Garbage, Modernity and India in:
Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies.
Volume IV. Culture. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 59-73
March 28: Gender, Sexuality and Performance
Assigned Readings:
Film clippings highlighting the gender dynamics in India-20 mins
Kaur, Ravinder. (2008) Dispensable Daughters and Bachelor Sons: Sex discrimination in north
India in Economic and Political Weekly, pp 109-114
Agrawal, Anuja. (October 2011). Gendered Bodies: The case of the Third Gender in India in
Contributions to Indian Sociology, 45 (3)
Reddy, Gayatri. (2009) Men who would be Kings: Celibacy, emasculation, and the reproduction of hijras in contemporary Indian politics in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern
Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume II. Society. London and
New York: Routledge. Pp 402-422
Oza, Rupal. (2009) Showcasing India: Gender, geography and globalization in: Jacobsen,
Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume
IV. Culture. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 390-409
Osella, Filippo and Osella, Caroline (2000) Migration, Money and Masculinity in Kerala in
The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 6(1) (2000) pp 117-33
April 11: Marriage, a Sacred or a Social Contract: Issues of Patriarchy
Assigned Readings:
Film: Monsoon Wedding (2001) directed by Mira Nair and produced by Caroline Baron, Mira
Nair 114 mins [On reserve to be viewed before class]

Film clipping shedding light on the topic-20mins

Parry, Jonathan. P. (2009) Ankalus Errant Wife: Sex, marriage and industry in contemporary
Chhattisgarh in: Jacobsen, Knut. A. (ed). Modern Indian Culture and Society: Critical
Concepts in Asian Studies. Volume II. Society. London and New York: Routledge. Pp 351-371.
Nanda, Serena. (1992) Arranging a Marriage in India in Philip DeVita, (ed). The Naked
Anthropologist: Tales from Around the World. Wadsworth Publishing. Pp. 137-143.
Mines, Mattison . (September 1998). Conceptualizing the Person: Hierarchical Society and
Individual Autonomy in India in American Anthropologist, Vol. 90. No.3. Pp 568-579.
April 18: The Sacred and the Profane in Indian Art
Assigned Readings:
Coomaraswamy, Ananda. K (1975) The Aims of Indian Art in Studies in Comparative Religion
Vol. 9, No 1
Available Online:
http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/public/articles/The_Aims_of_Indian_Art.aspx
Joshi, Kireet. (2011) Philosophy of Indian Art, Popular Media. Pp 1-34
Available online:
http://kireetjoshiarchives.com/indian_culture/philosophy_indian-art/
April 25: The Future of Indian Culture: Spirituality versus Materiality
Assigned Readings:
Joshi, Kireet (201o). Indian Identity and Cultural Continuity, Popular Media.
Available online:
http://kireetjoshiarchives.com/indian_culture/indian_identity_cultural/