300-400 level courses are on special topics and are more advanced. They often presuppose some basic knowledge in the field and should be more difficult courses than courses at the 1-199 levels. The department is trying to insure that some 400 level courses, although substantially more difficult, are also small in size; they thus may be suitable for graduate students.
HIST 383 Language, Race, and Ethnicity in South Asia: History and the Politics of Culture
Mitchell
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
SEM
How has India maintained itself as a nation containing 1/6 of the world's population by recognizing 22 official languages and scores of mother tongues? Why have other South Asian countries broken into conflict over linguistic differences? This course examines the shaping of ethnic, racial, and linguistic categories of identity in modern South Asia, and explores the socio-political movements that have emerged in conjunction with these categories. Topics include colonial administrative practices such as the decennial censuses and the Linguistic Survey of India; the rise of regional linguistic movements; the relationships between language, ethnicity, and the writing of history in the context of ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka; the Dravidian, Non-Brahmin, Adi-Dravida, and anti-Hindi movements in southern India; the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh; and recent debates over the origins of the Aryans.
