Overview

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The course on “Understanding South Asia” promises to provide interdisciplinary training that will allow learners to understand the complexities of the region in the 21st Century. The course is balanced through a combination of theoretical debates and empirical cases where learners will acquire knowledge of the history, culture, economy, literature, religion and politics. As this course focuses on South Asia as a region, it will facilitate better comparative work and thus a more nuanced understanding of developments in individual countries. It is an important course for the students of Humanities and social sciences from various disciplines, such political science, international relations, sociology, anthropology, religious studies and history. The objectives of the course are:• To introduce the learners with importance of South Asia as a region• To make learners aware about the colonial history and the debates on nationalism in South Asia• To understand the nation-building project and experiments of constitutional in South Asia• To engage with the serious question on the political economy of the region• To explore the causes and aftermaths of intra-state conflicts in the region• To understand the working of SAARC, its challenges and future prospectus

Syllabus

Week 1 1. Region and Regionalism: Conceptual Framework 2. South Asia as a Region 3. Geopolitical Importance of South Asia 4. South Asia: History, Culture and Politics

Week 2 5. Colonialism in South Asia: A Contestation 6. British Colonialism of the subcontinent : Impact on culture, economy & polity 7. Anti-Colonial Struggle: 1857 to 1947 8. Nation and Nationalism: Different versions in British India
Week 3 9. Decolonisation of South Asia: New States 10. Partition: Tragedy of South Asia 11. Constituent Assembly Debates in India: A Historical Review 12. Experiments of Democracy in Sri Lanka and Pakistan
Week 4 13. Nation-Building Project of India: Democracy and Development 14. Federal structure in Pakistan 15. Constitutionalism in Nepal and Burma : Success or Failure 16. Devolution and Distribution of Power in Sri Lanka
Week 5 17. Secularism: Debates in India 18. Caste Politics: Affirmative Policy in India 19. Rise of Communal Politics in South Asia 20. Language Politics: India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Week 6 21. Neo-liberal Political Economy: An Economic Profile of South Asia 22. Regional Disparity and Inequality: South Asian Experience 23.State of the South Asian Agriculture 24. Energy Security in South Asia
Week 7 25. Ethnic Conflicts in South Asia: Theoretical Perspective 26. Kashmir Conflict: Challenge to India 27. Baluchistan: Challenge to Pakistan 28. Tamil -Sinhala Conflict in Sri Lanka: A Historical Perspective
Week 8 29. India’s Challenge in the East: Manipur and Nagaland 30. Maoist Movement in Nepal 31. Chakma Minorities in Bangladesh 32.:Rohingyas in Burma : Minorities
Week 9 33. Social Movements in South Asia 34. Role of Civil Society in India and Pakistan 35. Women’s Movement in India 36. Debates of Feminism in South Asia
Week 10 37. SAARC: History, Emergence and Goals 38. SAARC and Regional Development in South Asia 39. Challenges to SAARC and its Future Prospects 40. SAARC vs EU: A Comparison
Week 11 41. India -Pakistan Relations and SAARC 42. South Asia and Changing World Politics 43. Nuclear Powers in South Asia : Balance of Power or Threat 44. South Asia and Global Economy
Week 12 45. Migration and Porous Border in South Asia 46. Forced Migration and Refugees in South Asia 47. Terrorism: A Challenge to South Asian states 48. Mechanism to Counter Terrorism in South Asia : a way forward