Topical Seminar in Asian Humanities (492-0-20)
Topic
Manuscripts & Research-Focused Readings
Instructors
Pema Bhum
Meeting Info
Online: Mon, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
AY24 Critical and comparative caste studies is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field. This is a graduate-level, reading intensive course in which we will collectively investigate both classic and emerging scholarship on caste in South Asia and around the world from a number of different disciplinary perspectives (literature, history, media, performance, anthropology, religious studies etc.). The organization of the class will be democratic and syllabus will be built collectively: everyone will contribute texts and/or critical questions from their own fields of expertise and inquiry and together we will shape the intellectual journey of the course. Books may include: Aniket Jaaware, "Practicing Caste: On Touching and Not Touching" (Fordham UP 2018), Nico Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India (Fordham UP 2017), Shailaja Paik, The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (Stanford UP 2022), and Joel Lee, Deceptive Majority: Dalits, Hinduism, and Underground Religion (Cambridge UP 2021).
Learning Objectives
In this course we will become familiar with the dynamic interdisciplinary field of critical and comparative caste studies. Reading and discussing both classic and cueing-edge new scholarship, we will understand global caste from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. Students will each craft a research paper from the perspective of their own disciplinary fields of inquiry and expertise.
Teaching Method
Discussion
Evaluation Method
Evaluation will be based on engagement with the course materials and class participation, including regular reading responses and leading discussion. There will be a final research paper.
Class Materials (Required)
Aniket Jaaware, "Practicing Caste: On Touching and Not Touching" (Fordham UP 2018) ISBN 0823282260 Nico Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India (Fordham UP 2017) ISBN 0674979727 Shailaja Paik, The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (Stanford UP 2022) ISBN 1503634086 Joel Lee, Deceptive Majority: Dalits, Hinduism, and Underground Religion (Cambridge UP 2021) ISBN 1108826660
Class Attributes
Course Meets Online
Synchronous:Class meets remotely at scheduled time