HIST258

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HIST258

Imperial India HIST258 FA

Fall 96 Availability (Last Updated on Thu Apr 17 05:01:13 EDT 1997 )

Section  Limit  Enrollment  Available
  01       40      0         40

Next Offered in 9798 FA

This course surveys the history of Mughal and British India, from about 1500 to 1900. The political frame is the genealogy of agrarian empire in southern Asia and its manifestation in India under the successive rule of central Asians (the Mughals) and Europeans (the British). Themes of particular interest to be revisited throughout the semester include caste and class; popular belief and religious orthodoxies; technology and social change; the sociology and culture of imperial rule; the structures and dynamics of Eurasian, Indian Ocean, and Indian commerce; the evolution of the imperial state; and peasant life and agricultural production. In addition to two comprehenesive social-historical syntheses, which will provide the narrative chronological framework for the course, students will read an absorbing variety of contemporary primary documents, including religious and bardic poetry, travel accounts, administrative reports, traditional political chronicles, courtly drama, and imperial fiction. The thrice-weekly meetings will combine lectures and class discussion of the readings.

MAJOR READINGS

(depending on availability)
J. Richards, THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
C.A. Bayly, INDIAN SOCIETY AND THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH
EMPIRE
SONGS OF THE SAINTS OF INDIA, ed. by J. Hawley and M.
Juergensmeyer
(and other readings to be announced)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

The grade for the course will be based upon three papers of varying length, and a mid-term and final examination.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS HIST

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-10-1997

About the Photo:

Mahatma Ghandi beside his spinning wheel, 1946

Reference:

Monk, Lorraine, PHOTOGRAPHS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1989

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