Listed in: Asian Languages and Civilizations, as ASLC-271 | History, as HIST-271
Dwaipayan Sen (Section 01)
(Offered as HIST 271 [AS] and ASLC 271 [SA].) This course explores how caste was politicized over the course of colonial and post-colonial periods in India. It focuses on the emergence and development of various movements opposed to caste-based inequality and injustice, as well as the ongoing search for social justice. The course reviews scholarly debates about understanding this form of identification and social hierarchy, and examines the complex ways in which caste articulates with other social phenomena, like gender, class, religion, and nationality. It lays emphasis on the writings and work of key anti-caste thinkers and activists, in particular, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the preeminent leader of the Dalits, and a key figure in drafting the Constitution of India. Based on close readings of various kinds of primary sources, as well as an engagement with secondary literature in history, political science, sociology, anthropology and literary studies, the course follows the story of the struggle to “annihilate” caste. Two class meetings per week.
Fall semester. Professor Sen.
Section 01
Tu 02:30 PM - 03:50 PM BARR 102
Th 02:30 PM - 03:50 PM BARR 102
This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age (The New Cambridge History of India) | Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001 | Bayly, Susan | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. | Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001 | Dirks, Nicholas B. | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India | Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009 | Rao, Anupama | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.