Subject Area: Asian Studies
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: Development Studies; History

This course aims to explore South Asia's present through its past, with special focus on India, reflecting its contemporary dominance in the region. The study of colonial India and the controversies surrounding history and historiography in the subcontinent are the special focus of the course. The course makes use of ‘Bollywood’ film, inasmuch as it reflects the social and historical environment in which it is produced and consumed, to illustrate lectures. The course aims to use, and encourage interaction with, recent, interesting and provocative writing, including daily newspapers as a means of understanding contemporary events through an historical lens. Topics aim to situate the region in a world history framework, and include: Late Mughal India; the British Raj; the colonial experience; the nationalist movement, including Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance; the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan, and a consideration of the early post-colonial nation. Students who have successfully completed this course will be able to understand and explain India’s prospects and predicaments in the 21st century, and will also develop a nuanced understanding of the region in general.