Courses

Autumn Quarter 2024 Offerings

 

Autumn Quarter 2024

 

SALC 24000/34000 Language, Power, Identity: Urdu Controversy

M 3:00pm-5:50pm

Central to the cultural politics of nineteenth-century North India, the language debate over Hindi and Urdu has been viewed both as an instance of Hindu-Muslim elite competition over economic and political power and as an ideological process of identity formation in which language and script became charged cultural and political symbols. This course traces the history of the Hindi-Urdu controversy from its local beginnings in the North-Western Provinces of British India in the 1830s to the debates over the national language of India and Pakistan in the years leading up to Independence. We will explore the role of prominent figures and institutions in the divisive process in which Hindi came to be exclusively identified with Hindus, and Urdu with Muslims. Paying close attention to a variety of primary sources, we will discuss the cultural, political, and socioeconomic implications of the language debate in the context of Indian nationalism and Muslim separatism.

Instructor: Ulrike Stark

 

SALC 22705/32705 Oceanic Islam in the Age of Empire

MWF 9:30am-10:20am

This course explores Muslim lives within this palimpsest of networks, set against the horizon of the Indian Ocean world. Tracing Oceanic Islam, it covers a vast territory along the Indian Ocean rim, including Tanzania and Zanzibar on the Swahili Coast; Mecca and Aden in the Middle East; port cities in British India; and the Straits Settlements and the Dutch Indies in Southeast Asia. How did the unprecedented proliferation of linkages-enabled by seafaring steamboats-between distant Muslim societies and between Muslims and non-Muslims reshape the understanding of Islam, of Muslim identity, and the reality they inhabited? What happened to Islamic cosmopolitanism when it encountered new European ideas, lifestyles, and cultures? What can Oceanic Islam reveal in contrast to Land Islam? These are some of the questions we explore in this course combining textual and visual sources, culled from modern scholarship and primary literature..

Instructor: Taimur Reza

Winter Quarter 2025

SALC / CMST / CCCT /  20122, 30122; GNSE 20142/30142; HIST 26616/36616: From Bollywood to Made in Heaven

Instructor Rochona Majumdar -Th 11:00am-1:50pm (Screening time Mon 3:30pm-6:30pm)

From reality shows like Indian Matchmaking and Made in Heaven to the meme of the "Big Fat Indian Wedding" to the preoccupations of Bollywood films like DDLJ and Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani and crossover ones such as Monsoon Wedding, marriage is an obsession in South Asian culture. Focusing on Hindi cinema, this course will explore the socio-political dynamics of this cultural focus on marriage and couple formation. With examples ranging from classical Hindi films from the 1950s–60s to the star-studded melodramas of 1970s and 1980s and the “new Bollywood” era (post-1991), this cinema exhibited and analyzed the central dynamics of marriage: sexual compatibility, fidelity, reproductive futures, and so on. Debates around class, caste, diaspora, and sexuality are equally anchored in issues of marriage and couple formation. In this course, we ask why it is that marriage—its success and failure—has been so central to Indian on-screen identities. Even as screens multiply—on computers, cell phones, and in the multiplex—marriage continues to dominate. No prior knowledge of Indian languages is required, but you must enjoy watching and talking about movies and popular culture.

SALC 20100/ ANTH 204101 / HIST 10800 / MDVL 20100 / SOSC 23000 Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia I

Instructors: Andrew Ollett (Section 1), Titas De Sarkar (Section 2) - MW 1:30pm-2:50pm

This course introduces students to the literature, art, and thought of Southern Asia from 3000 BCE to 1530 CE. It includes the origins and development of several major world religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism) and the spread of languages of learning and culture (Sanskrit, Tamil, Pali and Persian) throughout much of Southern Asia. The course is organized both chronologically and by the regions where important developments took place, taking us from Afghanistan to Indonesia.

SALC 40000: South Asia as a Unit of Study

Instructor: Whitney Cox - W 3:30pm-5:20pm

The central aim of this course will be to closely read and discuss read four recent monographs in the field, with an eye towards thinking through questions of their place in the history of the field and (as is inevitably the case a heterogeneous discipline like area studies) of the connections with other fields or bodies of scholarship. During the even weeks of the quarter we will read these four books in their entirety; in the odd-numbered weeks (except week 1), groups of the students, working in collaboration with the instructor, will generate and present a selection of articles that contextualize the preceding week's monograph both within and without South Asian studies. The course is therefore collaborative and somewhat experimental: the instructor will arrange to meet with the class participants collectively in the beginning of the Fall quarter to get them organized into groups for preparing these selections. These groups will be responsible for leading discussion for their sessions, while a different group will be responsible for presenting and leading discussion for each monograph. Everyone will thus participate in two group presentations, which will be part of the assessment. The remaining part of the grade will be determined by an end-of-quarter essay, based on either of these presentations

SALC 25400/35400 That Age-old Debate: Youth Cultures in Modern India

Instructor: Titas De Sarkar

In this course, we will aim to gain a deeper understanding of how certain key moments in postcolonial India – from innumerable student protests to an economic transition to globalization, and from the meteoric rise of Bollywood to the omnipresence of social media – have shaped the youth of the country and how young people in turn have been at the forefront of some of the major events and have created history on their own terms. We will ask what these experiences have done to concepts and notions of the youth. In other words, if youth is a construct like gender and caste then how was it constructed over the last seventy odd years? What were the desires and anxieties of the larger society that have shaped very distinctive trajectories for the youth in India? How were young people fashioning themselves and carving out their own social spaces? As we progress through the quarter, we will keep two guiding questions in mind – who all are considered to be the youth in postcolonial India? And – what are the lived experiences of young people during this time? The ever changing, seemingly arbitrary, and conflicting definitions of youth in government reports, commercial advertisements, or popular culture demands a thorough analysis of this significant and impact-making category inside out.

SALC 26200/36200 Writing, Reading, and Singing in Bengal, 8th to 19th AD

Instructor: Thibaut d'Hubert

The course offers an introduction to the literary traditions of Bengal (West Bengal in India, and Bangladesh). We will study the making of Bengal as a region of literary production through a selection of secondary literature and primary sources in translation. We will look at how literature and literacy have been defined in various contexts up to the colonial period and discuss what constituted the literary identity of Bengal's various linguistic traditions. We will approach the topics of reading practices and genres from the perspective of both material culture and the conceptual categories underlying literary genres and the linguistic economy of Bengal (scholastic and non-scholastic, classical and vernacular languages, individual reading and publicly performed texts, hinduyani and musalmani, etc. …). Even if Bengali language and literature stand at the center of this course, we will also discuss the literary traditions that predate the formation of Bengali literature and were part of the background of the making of Bengali texts (i.e. Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Arabic, Persian, Maithili, and Awadhi literature). The aim of the course is to introduce students to pre- and early-colonial Bengali literature in its conceptual, aesthetic, and historical dimensions. The course will address topics of interest for students in comparative literature, religious studies, history, linguistics, as well as medieval studies, book history, musicology or performance studies.

SALC 20123/30123: Orientalism
Instructor: Andrew Ollett - MWF 5:30pm-6:20pm
Description forthcoming.

Spring 2025

SALC 27904/SALC 43800: Wives, Widows, and Prostitutes: Indian Literature and the "Women's Question"

Instructor: Ulrike Stark - T TH 3:30pm-4:50pm

From the early 19th century onward, the debate on the status of Indian women was an integral part of the discourse on the state of civilization, Hindu tradition, and social reform in colonial India. This course will explore how Indian authors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries engaged with the so-called "women's question." Caught between middle-class conservatism and the urge for social reform, Hindi and Urdu writers addressed controversial issues such as female education, child marriage, widow remarriage, and prostitution in their fictional and discursive writings. We will explore the tensions of a literary and social agenda that advocated the 'uplift' of women as a necessary precondition for the progress of the nation, while also expressing patriarchal fears about women's rights and freedom. The course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Basic knowledge of Hindi and/or Urdu is preferable, but not required. We will read works by Nazir Ahmad, Premcand, Jainendra Kumar, Mirza Hadi Ruswa, and Mahadevi Varma in English translation, and also look at texts used in Indian female education at the time.

SALC 20200 / SALC 30200 / ANTH 24102 / HIST 10900 / SOSC 23100: Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia II

Instructors: Dipesh Chakrabarty (Section 1), Titas De Sarkar (Section 2) - MW 1:30pm-2:50pm

This course will focus on major issues and developments in the political, social, and cultural history of modern South Asia. Picking up where the first course in this sequence left off, we will look at the onset of European colonial rule in the subcontinent and the transformations engendered by this encounter. Tracking reformist and nationalist movements along vectors of caste and gender, the course will culminate in the long processes of decolonization from the mid-twentieth century onwards that resulted in the formation of new nation-states. Focusing on people, ideas, and movements, the aim of this course is to critically scrutinize the idea of South Asian Civilizations to ask what lessons, if any, it offers for the twenty-first century.

SALC 26075 / ARCH 26075 / SIGN 26075: South Asian Sensoriums

Instructor Tyler Williams

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.

SALC 20401: The Mahābhārata

Instructor: Whitney Cox

The Mahābhārata is conventionally said to be fifteen times the length of the Bible, or eight times the combined texts of the Homeric epics and, as Wendy Doniger once quipped, "a hundred times more interesting". No other work of the Indic narrative imagination is as capacious; arguably no work of the imagination anywhere, ever. The most important monument of early Indian civilization, it is an amalgam of heroic poetry, visionary speculation, hairsplitting philosophical analysis, austere legal disputation, animal fables, and dirty jokes. In this course, we will read (in translation) the monumental Sanskrit epic, as well as some of its many mediations—whether in vernacular literary renditions, centuries of sculptural and pictorial representations, or contemporary film and comic adaptations— with an eye to how we might consider this work as both a fundamental text for the understanding of South Asia and a vital part of the global cultural commons. No knowledge of South Asia or of any Indian language is presumed; the course will be a combination of lectures, small group discussions, and collective efforts at understanding this inexhaustible work.

SALC 37905: History Wars in Colonial and Post-Colonial South Asia

Instructor: Dipesh Chakrabarty - T 3:30pm-6:20pm

Description forthcoming.

 

 

 

SANS 10100 First-Year Sanskrit I

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.

2022-23 Autumn

BANG 10100 First-Year Bangla (Bengali) I

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.

2022-23 Autumn

TBTN 10100 First-Year Tibetan I

This course is intended to provide elementary training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Standard Tibetan to those with no prior knowledge of Tibetan. It will introduce pronunciation, a core vocabulary, and fundamental structures that will enable students to perform basic communication in Tibetan. Students will learn to read short notes, messages, and hotel bills. The Communicative functions include: introducing self and others; describing people, objects, places, and events; telling times, talking on the phone, describing seasons and weather, specifying modes of transportation, and asking about directions. This course will also introduce the Tibetan writing system and help students build up a foundation in writing short notes and messages. 

 

2022-23 Autumn

TAML 10100 First-Year Tamil I

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.

MARA 10100 First-Year Marathi I

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."

2022-23 Autumn

HIND 10100 First-Year Hindi I

This five-day-a-week introductory sequence presents a dynamic, fun, and lively introduction to the world’s second most spoken language through intensive conversation, reading, writing, and listening. No prior Hindi knowledge necessary.

2022-23 Autumn

URDU 10100 First-Year Urdu I

Spoken by over thirty-five million people in South Asia, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which facilitates learning to read and write several other South Asian languages. This three-quarter sequence covers basic grammar and vocabulary. 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. By the end of three quarters students have covered all the major grammatical structures of the language. We also emphasize aural and oral skills (i.e., listening, pronunciation, speaking). These courses must be taken in sequence, since the script is introduced in the Autumn quarter. Students should also be aware that they need to contact the instructor ahead of time to discuss scheduling if they are planning to take this course.

Staff
2022-23 Autumn

BANG 20100 Second-Year Bangla (Bengali) I

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.

2022-23 Autumn

SANS 20100 Second-Year Sanskrit I

The intermediate-level Sanskrit sequence will equip students to apply the core grammar concepts that they learned in the introductory course to selected narrative, poetic, dramatic, philosophical, and scholastic texts in Sanskrit. In-class activities and selected assignments that develop skills in writing, speaking, listening, and vocabulary retention will support students' success in reading the text(s) at hand. Students will expand their abilities to apply grammar concepts by bringing increased attention to syntax and morphology. Students will be able to identify major poetic meters. Students will begin to build the skills that they will need to make use of Sanskrit commentarial works. As a whole, the sequence in Intermediate Sanskrit will prepare students to read and analyze Sanskrit texts in a range of literary styles at the advanced level, and to do so with confidence.

2022-23 Autumn

TBTN 20100 Second-Year Tibetan I

This intermediate sequence covers reading and writing in classical Tibetan as a tool for advanced research. The lessons include reading and translation of various genres of Tibetan literature including narrative prose, anthology verses, and texts on religious fundamentals. Those interested in modern Tibetan language will be accommodated separately using the text "Fluent Tibetan vol 2-3" with the emphasis on second-level pronunciation, grammar, and syntax integrated into the use of spoken and modern literary forms with the target goal of intermediate level. 

2022-23 Autumn

MARA 20100 Second-Year Marathi I

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.

2022-23 Autumn

HIND 20100 Second-Year Hindi I

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.

2022-23 Autumn

URDU 20100 Second-Year Urdu I

First year Urdu or comparable level of language skills. This sequence is a continuation of URDU 10100-10200-10300. There is increased emphasis on vocabulary building and reading progressively complex texts. Depending on ability levels and interests of the students, readings can include selections from various original sources.

Please contact staff for a placement exam.

Staff
2022-23 Autumn

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

(MUSI 23322, TAPS 20215, MAAD 10325 )

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.

Cancelled for Aut 22

2022-23 Autumn

SALC 28701 Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Contribution in Colonial and Post-colonial India

(SALC 38701)

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?

2022-23 Autumn

SANS 10200 First-Year Sanskrit II

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

2022-23 Winter

HIND 10200 First-Year Hindi II

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.

2022-23 Winter

TBTN 10200 First-Year Tibetan II

This course is in continuation to TBTN:10100-01 and a pre-requisite for TBTN:10300, intended to continue elementary training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Standard Tibetan. Students at this stage will be able to understand information from sentence-length speech, one utterance at a time, in basic personal and social contexts. This course will also introduce some short reading text and help students participate more effectively in classroom activities. 

2022-23 Winter

URDU 10200 First-Year Urdu II

Spoken by over thirty-five million people in South Asia, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which facilitates learning to read and write several other South Asian languages. This three-quarter sequence covers basic grammar and vocabulary. 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. By the end of three quarters students have covered all the major grammatical structures of the language. We also emphasize aural and oral skills (i.e., listening, pronunciation, speaking). These courses must be taken in sequence, since the script is introduced in the Autumn quarter. Students should also be aware that they need to contact the instructor ahead of time to discuss scheduling if they are planning to take this course. Not offered Win 23

Staff
2022-23 Winter

TAML 10200 First-Year Tamil II

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. The basic pedagogical materials are accessible at https://tamilcourse.uchicago.edu/.

MARA 10200 First-Year Marathi II

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."

2022-23 Winter

BANG 10200 First-Year Bangla (Bengali) II

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.

2022-23 Winter

HIND 20200 Second-Year Hindi II

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.

2022-23 Winter

SANS 20200 Second-Year Sanskrit II

(HREL 36000 / SALC 48400)

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. The winter quarter will be a reading of the Mahabharata.

2022-23 Winter

BANG 20200 Second-Year Bangla (Bengali) II

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.

2022-23 Winter

MARA 20200 Second-Year Marathi II

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.

2022-23 Winter

TBTN 20200 Second-Year Tibetan II

This intermediate sequence covers reading and writing in classical Tibetan as a tool for advanced research. The lessons include reading and translation of various genres of Tibetan literature and translation including narrative prose from – the words of my perfect teacher, Gesar Epic, history of Bon tradition, and Dunhuang manuscripts. Those interested in modern Tibetan language will be accommodated separately with the text “Fluent Tibetan vol 3” with the emphasis on grammar and syntax integrated into the use of spoken and modern literary forms with the target goal of intermediate level. 

2022-23 Winter

URDU 20200 Second-Year Urdu II

First year Urdu or comparable level of language skills. This sequence is a continuation of URDU 10100-10200-10300. There is increased emphasis on vocabulary building and reading progressively complex texts. Depending on ability levels and interests of the students, readings can include selections from various original sources. 

Please contact staff for a placement exam. 

 

Not offered W23

Staff
2022-23 Winter

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

(HIST 25621, RLST 27392)

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.

2022-23 Winter

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

(HIST 26615/RLST 25321)

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

2022-23 Spring

BANG 10300 First-Year Bangla (Bengali) 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.

2022-23 Spring

URDU 10300 First-Year Urdu III

Spoken by over thirty-five million people in South Asia, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which facilitates learning to read and write several other South Asian languages. This three-quarter sequence covers basic grammar and vocabulary. 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. By the end of three quarters students have covered all the major grammatical structures of the language. We also emphasize aural and oral skills (i.e., listening, pronunciation, speaking). These courses must be taken in sequence, since the script is introduced in the Autumn quarter. Students should also be aware that they need to contact the instructor ahead of time to discuss scheduling if they are planning to take this course.

Please contact staff for a placement exam.  Not offered in Spr 23

2022-23 Spring

SANS 10300 First-Year Sanskrit 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

2022-23 Spring

HIND 10300 First-Year Hindi 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.

2022-23 Spring

TBTN 10300 First-Year Tibetan III

This course is in continuation to TBTN:10200 and a pre-requisite for TBTN:20100 intended to continue training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Standard Tibetan. Students at this stage will be able to understand information from a series of short sentences. This course will continue to build upon providing more interaction in the class with topics ranging from travel brochures to understanding airport announcements. This course will also use some reading of Modern literary works, and folktales, and help students participate more effectively in the classroom open-ended activities.   

 

2022-23 Spring

TAML 10300 First-Year Tamil 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. The basic pedagogical materials are accessible at https://tamilcourse.uchicago.edu/.

2022-23 Spring

MARA 10300 First-Year Marathi 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."

2022-23 Spring

SALC 20200 Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia II

(ANTH 24102 / HIST 10900 / SOSC 23100)

The second quarter analyzes the colonial period (i.e., reform movements, the rise of nationalism, communalism, caste, and other identity movements) up to the independence and partition of India.

2022-23 Spring

MARA 20300 Second-Year Marathi 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.

2022-23 Spring

TBTN 20300 Second-Year Tibetan III

This intermediate sequence covers reading and writing in classical Tibetan as a tool for advanced research. The lessons include reading and translation of various genres of Tibetan literature and translation including; Buddhist dialectics and scholastics, texts on religious fundamentals, Philosophy and doctrine, The Description of Lankapuram from Ramanaya etc. Those interested in modern Tibetan language will be accommodated separately with the text “Advanced Tibetan by Thuptan Jinpa” with the emphasis on grammar and syntax of spoken and modern literary forms. Students will also read contemporary Tibetan writings along the Tibetophone materials.

 

2022-23 Spring

HIND 20300 Second-Year Hindi 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.

2022-23 Spring

URDU 20300 Second-Year Urdu III

This sequence is a continuation of URDU 10100-10200-10300. There is increased emphasis on vocabulary building and reading progressively more complex texts. Depending on ability levels and interests of the students, readings can include selections from various original sources. Not offered Spr 23

2022-23 Spring

BANG 20300 Second-Year Bangla (Bengali) 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.

2022-23 Spring

SANS 20300 Second-Year Sanskrit 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. The winter quarter will be a reading of the Mahabharata.

2022-23 Spring

SALC 26075 South Asian Sensoriums

(ARCH 26075 / SIGN 26075)

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.

2022-23 Spring

SANS 30100 Third-Year Sanskrit I

Reading selections introduce major Sanskrit genres, including verse and prose narrative, lyric poetry, drama, and the intellectual discourse of religion, philosophy, and the sciences. Analysis of the language and style employed in commentarial texts and practice in reading such texts is also emphasized.

Anand Venkatkrishnan
2022-23 Autumn

HIND 30100 Third-Year Hindi I

Readings from Hindi literary and journalistic texts and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in listening comprehension, composition and speech.

2022-23 Autumn

URDU 30100 Third-Year Urdu I

TBD

Staff
2022-23 Autumn

TBTN 30100 Third-Year Tibetan I

The third- and fourth-year sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction consists in guided readings, with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

Christian Wedemeyer
2022-23 Autumn

MARA 30100 Third-Year Marathi I

Readings from An Advanced Marathi Reader and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in composition and speech.

2022-23 Autumn

BANG 30100 Third-Year Bangla (Bengali) I

When joining this course the student is expected to demonstrate the ability to narrate in all time frames of the language. The student should be able to provide a simple though articulate discourse on familiar topics and subjects directly related to the his/her interests. He/She will learn to provide a full account of events and to use appropriately complex sentences in Bangla. We will also focus on some aspects of the technical language pertaining to various domains. The student will be invited to discuss orally on written material studied in class and at home, and he/she will have to produce two to three pages long essays on a given topic. Systematic introductions to a variety of registers and literary idioms (19th century Sadhu Bhasha, dialects, etc.) will also be provided. By the end of the spring quarter the student will have the necessary tools to expand significantly his/her abilities in order to reach the superior level.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

2022-23 Autumn

SALC 20100 /30100 Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia I

(ANTH 24101 / HIST 10800 / MDVL 20100 / SOSC 23000)

The first quarter focuses on Islam in South Asia, Hindu-Muslim interaction, Mughal political and literary traditions, and South Asia’s early encounters with Europe.

2022-23 Winter

MARA 30200 Third-Year Marathi II

Readings from An Advanced Marathi Reader and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in composition and speech.

2022-23 Winter

URDU 30200 Third-Year Urdu II

Staff
2022-23 Winter

TBTN 30200 Third-Year Tibetan II

The third- and fourth-year sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction consists in guided readings, with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Winter

BANG 30200 Third-Year Bangla (Bengali) II

When joining this course the student is expected to demonstrate the ability to narrate in all time frames of the language. The student should be able to provide a simple though articulate discourse on familiar topics and subjects directly related to the his/her interests. He/She will learn to provide a full account of events and to use appropriately complex sentences in Bangla. We will also focus on some aspects of the technical language pertaining to various domains. The student will be invited to discuss orally on written material studied in class and at home, and he/she will have to produce two to three pages long essays on a given topic. Systematic introductions to a variety of registers and literary idioms (19th century Sadhu Bhasha, dialects, etc.) will also be provided. By the end of the spring quarter the student will have the necessary tools to expand significantly his/her abilities in order to reach the superior level.

2022-23 Winter

HIND 30200 Third-Year Hindi II

Readings from Hindi literary and journalistic texts and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in listening comprehension, composition and speech.

2022-23 Winter

BANG 30300 Third-Year Bangla (Bengali) III

When joining this course the student is expected to demonstrate the ability to narrate in all time frames of the language. The student should be able to provide a simple though articulate discourse on familiar topics and subjects directly related to the his/her interests. He/She will learn to provide a full account of events and to use appropriately complex sentences in Bangla. We will also focus on some aspects of the technical language pertaining to various domains. The student will be invited to discuss orally on written material studied in class and at home, and he/she will have to produce two to three pages long essays on a given topic. Systematic introductions to a variety of registers and literary idioms (19th century Sadhu Bhasha, dialects, etc.) will also be provided. By the end of the spring quarter the student will have the necessary tools to expand significantly his/her abilities in order to reach the superior level.

2022-23 Spring

MARA 30300 Third-Year Marathi III

Readings from An Advanced Marathi Reader and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in composition and speech.

2022-23 Spring

TBTN 30300 Third-Year Tibetan III

The third- and fourth-year sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction consists in guided readings, with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Spring

HIND 30300 Third-Year Hindi III

Readings from Hindi literary and journalistic texts and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in listening comprehension, composition and speech.

2022-23 Spring

SALC 22604 /32605 “A Poem in Every House”: Persian, Arabic, and Vernacular Poetry in North India and the Deccan

(MDVL 22604)

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.

2022-23 Autumn

SALC 22710 /32710 Introduction to Rajasthani Literature

(32710)

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’?

2022-23 Spring

SALC 40000 South Asia as a Unit of Study

The central aim of this course will be to closely read and discuss read four recent monographs in the field, with an eye towards thinking through questions of their place in the history of the field and (as is inevitably the case a heterogeneous discipline like area studies) of the connections with other fields or bodies of scholarship. During the even weeks of the quarter we will read these four books in their entirety; in the odd-numbered weeks (except week 1), groups of the students, working in collaboration with the instructor, will generate and present a selection of articles that contextualize the preceding week's monograph both within and without South Asian studies. The course is therefore collaborative and somewhat experimental: the instructor will arrange to meet with the class participants collectively in the beginning of the Fall quarter to get them organized into groups for preparing these selections. These groups will be responsible for leading discussion for their sessions, while a different group will be responsible for presenting and leading discussion for each monograph. Everyone will thus participate in two group presentations, which will be part of the assessment. The remaining part of the grade will be determined by an end-of-quarter essay, based on either of these presentations.

2022-23 Spring

HIND 40100 Fourth-Year Hindi I

Readings from Hindi literary and journalistic texts and a wide array of other sources depending on student interests, with continuing grammar review and practice in listening comprehension, composition and speech.

2022-23 Autumn

SANS 40100 Fourth-Year Sanskrit I

The goal of this sequence is to provide students with strong reading expertise in a wide range of Sanskrit texts in literature (poems and plays, verse and prose) and the scientific and philosophical discourses (e.g., grammar, logic, poetic theory, Buddhist thought), and commentarial literature on both.

Anand Venkatkrishnan
2022-23 Autumn

BANG 40100 Fourth-Year Bangla (Bengali) I

Students attending this course must be able to produce an articulate discourse on subjects related to history and literary criticism. They should also have a good command of Bengali grammar. The course is mainly devoted to the study of selected modern and premodern Bangla texts (narrative literature, devotional and courtly poetry, treatises) in their historical contexts. We propose various readings in the historiography of Bangla literature, philology, traditional performance of Bangla poetry, etc... Besides, material from all periods will be studied according to the student's scholarly interests.

Meeting times will be arranged after discussing with students.

Staff
2022-23 Autumn

SALC 40106 Research Themes in South Asian Studies: Textual Transformations - From Manuscript to Print

(HIST 46606)

This course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of book history and print culture studies, a relatively recent and vibrant field of inquiry in South Asian Studies. The course will explore some of the main theoretical approaches, themes, and methodologies of the history of the book in comparative perspective, and discuss the specific conditions and challenges facing scholars of book history in South Asia. Topics include orality and literacy, technologies of scribal and print production, the sociology of texts, authorship and authority, the print “revolution” and knowledge formation under colonial rule, material cultures of the book, the economy of the book trade, popular print, and readership and consumption. We will also engage with texts as material artifacts and look at the changing contexts, techniques, and practices of book production in the transition from manuscript to print. This graduate course is open to advanced undergraduates (instructor consent required).

2022-23 Autumn

URDU 40200 Fourth-Year Urdu II

TBD

Staff
2022-23 Winter

SANS 40200 Fourth-Year Sanskrit II

TBD

2022-23 Winter

TBTN 40200 Fourth-Year Tibetan II

The third- and fourth-year sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction consists in guided readings, with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Winter

TBTN 40300 Fourth-Year Tibetan III

The third- and fourth-year sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction consists in guided readings, with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Spring

BANG 40300 Fourth-Year Bangla III

Students attending this course must be able to produce an articulate discourse on subjects related to history and literary criticism. They should also have a good command of Bengali grammar. The course is mainly devoted to the study of selected modern and premodern Bangla texts (narrative literature, devotional and courtly poetry, treatises) in their historical contexts. We propose various readings in the historiography of Bangla literature, philology, traditional performance of Bangla poetry, etc... Besides, material from all periods will be studied according to the student's scholarly interests.

2022-23 Spring

TBTN 47900 Readings: Advanced Tibetan I

Readings: Advanced Tibetan is for students who have successfully completed third year and fourth year or equivalent with placement test. The sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction includes guided readings with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

Christian Wedemeyer
2022-23 Autumn

SANS 47900 Rdgs: Advanced Sanskrit I

TBD

Anand Venkatkrishnan
2022-23 Autumn

URDU 47900 Readings: Advanced Urdu I

This course is for students who have successfully completed third- and fourth-year Urdu. It is typically tailored to student needs in terms of the selection of texts to be addressed and discussed. Depending on their interest, students may choose to read Urdu texts from any time period, country or genre. Prior consent of instructor is required.

2022-23 Autumn

URDU 47901 Readings: Advanced Urdu II

This course is for students who have successfully completed third- and fourth-year Urdu. It is typically tailored to student needs in terms of the selection of texts to be addressed and discussed. Depending on their interest, students may choose to read Urdu texts from any time period, country or genre. Prior consent of instructor is required.

Staff
2022-23 Winter

TBTN 47901 Readings: Advanced Tibetan II

Readings: Advanced Tibetan is for students who have successfully completed third year and fourth year or equivalent with placement test. The sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction includes guided readings with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Winter

SANS 47901 Rdgs: Advanced Sanskrit II

TBD

2022-23 Winter

SANS 47902 Readings: Advanced Sanskrit-III

(DVPR 41500)

An advanced Sanskrit reading course focusing on the development of skills in either classical belles lettres (kāvya) or scholastic, commentarial prose (śāstra). In the former, emphasis is on the ability to re-arrange complex poetic forms into digestible prose word order. In the latter, students learn both the stylistic conventions of scholastic Sanskrit and the technical vocabulary of the relevant intellectual discipline.

2022-23 Spring

TBTN 47902 Readings: Advanced Tibetan III

(HREL 52402 / SALC 48316)

Readings: Advanced Tibetan is for students who have successfully completed the third year and a fourth-year or equivalent with a placement test. The sequence is meant to expose students to a range of genres in Tibetan literature, including religious, historical, philosophical, scientific, and literary works. Instruction includes guided readings with continuing grammar review, practice in speaking, and application of philological methods.

2022-23 Spring

URDU 47902 Readings: Advanced Urdu III

This course is for students who have successfully completed third- and fourth-year Urdu. It is typically tailored to student needs in terms of the selection of texts to be addressed and discussed. Depending on their interest, students may choose to read Urdu texts from any time period, country or genre. Prior consent of instructor is required.

2022-23 Spring

BANG 47902 Readings: Advanced Bangla III

This course is for students who have successfully completed third and fourth year Bangla. It is divided between classes dealing with the current research themes of the instructor, and the study of material directly related to the research interests of the students. The focus is on methodology and the use of Bangla as a research language.

Staff
2022-23 Spring

SALC 47903 Writing, Reading, and Singing in Bengal, 8th to 19th AD

(BANG 47903, NEHC 47903)

The course offers an introduction to the literary traditions of Bengal (today’s West Bengal in India, and Bangladesh). We will study the making of Bengal as a region of literary production through a selection of secondary and primary sources in translation. We will look at how literature and literacy have been defined in various contexts up to the colonial period and discuss what constituted the literary identity of Bengal’s various linguistic traditions. We will approach the topics of reading practices and genres from the perspective of both material culture (script and scribal practices, manuscript formats, etc.) and the conceptual categories underlying literary genres and the linguistic economy of Bengal (scholastic and non-scholastic, classical and vernacular languages, individual reading and publicly performed texts, hinduyani and musalmani). Even if Bengali language and literature stand at the center of this course, we will also discuss the literary traditions that predate the formation of Bengali literature and were part of the background of the making of Bengali texts (Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, Arabic, Persian, Maithili, and Awadhi literature). The aim of the course is to introduce students to precolonial Bengali literature in its conceptual, aesthetic, and historical dimensions. The course will address topics of interest for students in comparative literature, religious studies, history, linguistics, medieval studies, book history, musicology or performance studies.

2022-23 Autumn

SALC 48603 Talking Birds and Cunning Jackals: A Survey of Indo-Persian Prose

(NEHC 48603 / PERS 48693)

South Asia was a major source of narrative matter for the development of literary prose in the Islamicate world. For instance, literary prose in Arabic, but also in Persian (and Castilian) were fashioned through successive renderings of the Sanskrit Pan͂catantra. Later, in the post-Timurid period, South Asian Persianate literati, and munshis in particular, contributed to elevate the status of Persian prose to that of poetry.

This course offers a survey of a variety of Indo-Persian prose texts such as tales, premodern translations of Indian romances and epics (Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, Pan͂catantra, Mādhavānala Kāmakandalā, etc …), letters, anecdotes from chronicles, tadhkira literature, autobiographical writings, treatises, and encyclopedic works. The readings are organized thematically and by degree of stylistic elaboration. We will first read plain prose texts that will introduce the students to key elements of the Persianate understanding of Indic culture. In this first section of the course, we will mostly read narrative texts (chronicles, translations of Sanskrit and Hindavi works, and dāstāns). We will then turn to epistolography, biographies, and autobiographical writings. Finally, we will read technical and non-technical texts dealing with various aspects of Indo-Persian courtly culture and aesthetics (philosophy, mysticism, grammar, poetry, or musicology). Each text will be introduced and framed by discussions on relevant secondary literature in English and Persian.

2022-23 Spring