Professor Vijay Pinch [email = wpinch; phone = 2399]
Monday and Wednesday, 2:40-4:00
Seminar meets in FISK 421
Office hours: Tues, 2:00 to 3:30, or by appointment
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) is widely regarded as the leader of India's struggle for independence from British rule. His adherence to a code of non-violence (ahimsa) and sexual renunciation (brahmacharya), and his philosophy of truth-in-action (satyagraha), led many to regard him as "mahatma," or "great soul." In this sophomore seminar we will examine the life and times of Gandhi, to seek to better understand him as family man, community organiser, national leader, and mahatma. We will measure recent analytical accounts of his life against his own thoughts and deeds, and the thoughts and deeds of those around him.
This course is a sophomore seminar in the history department, and as such is designed to introduce students to the nature of historical evidence and its application in the construction of historical argument. The reading assignments, short papers, presentations, research outline, and the final research essay are all geared toward furthering the seminar's main disciplinary goal of introducing students to the nuts and bolts of being a historian. For those of you interested in the theoretical conundra facing historians in the 21st century, you may look forward to HIST 362, Issues in Contemporary Historiography.
The semester is divided into four parts. Part one (weeks 1 and 2) introduces students to the complex social, economic, and political reality that was late nineteenth, early twentieth-century India. We will get this introduction through lectures, video documentary, and The Essential Writings of Subhas Chandra Bose. In addition to being a major opponent of Gandhi, Bose believed in the appropriateness of violence in politics and was the leader of the rebel "Indian National Army" composed primarily of Indian POWs captured by the Japanese in Singapore in 1942. We will also visit and tour parts of Olin Library, on 12 September, and meet Alan Nathanson, Reference Librarian.
In part two (weeks 3 and 4) we will read three very different works by Gandhi: his Autobiography, his political tract Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule), and his recollections of Satyagraha in South Africa. These will serve as an introduction to Gandhi's thought and action. By week 4 students are expected to have settled on a research topic. At the end of week 4, one paragraph descriptions of those topics are due (see syllabus below).
Part three (weeks 5, 6, 7, and 8) moves us into more recent accounts of Gandhi, by Erik Erikson, Ashis Nandy, Shahid Amin, and, most famously, Richard Attenborough. In weeks 5 through 7 students should submit a one-page reflection on the nature of the author's sources and how he uses them. Erikson is due Oct 10, Nandy Oct 17, Amin Oct 22 -- all in class.
There is no class in week 9. Students will use the free week to advance their research projects and to meet with the instructor for additional guidance. On Friday, 9 Nov, 4 p.m., final research proposal/outlines are due (see syllabus below). We will also be using a web-based "blackboard" for online dissemination of research topics, so that students may learn from and offer suggestions for their colleagues' research project proposal/outlines. The blackboard is also a place where students and the instructor can post announcements.
Part four (weeks 10-13) is reserved for student research project presentations and discussion. Each week we will consider the projects of four students. Readings for each, consisting of approximately thirty pages of primary source material and ten pages of theoretical/secondary source material, will be put on reserve. The presentations will be structured as follows: Each student project will be assigned a student respondent in advance. That respondent will actually begin the presentation by articulating briefly what s/he sees as the main arguments of the work in question, followed by a thoughtful critique. The critique should focus on the structure of the outline, the appropriateness of the research question(s) and the approach to resolve it (or them), and the relevance of primary and secondary sources. The respondent should also raise his/her own questions and make useful suggestions. Total time given to the respondent is ten minutes. The student researcher whose work is being dissected is then given ten minutes to respond, after which the floor is open to general discussion for twenty minutes. The respondent's performance will be graded.
The final paper, to be 30 pages in length (the length does not include the required bibliography), or about 8000 words, must be typed and double-spaced, with one inch margins. The footnote (not endnote) references and a full bibliography of works cited must conform to Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). This book is widely available in Olin Library, Atticus, and online. For more on style, click here. (Thanks to Paul Halsall of UNF for this and other websites.) The paper is due Friday, Dec 8, 4 p.m.
The grade for the course is to be based on the following calculation:
The following required texts are available at Atticus:
Syllabus schedule
| WEEK 0 | ||
| Sep 5 | Introductions | |
| WEEK 1 | ||
| Sep 10 | India and Britain | EW, 1-81
HASA, VII.A.1 to VII.A.6 |
| Sep 12 | Doing
historical research
[meet at Olin Library, lobby] |
Becoming
a Historian: some reflections
Why Become a Historian? The Past Under Siege? [debate] The Primary Source Questioning the Primary Source |
| WEEK 2 | ||
| Sep 17 | Indian nationalism, 1920-1939 | EW, 82-236
HASA: VII.B.1 to VII.B.3, VIII.A.2, VIII.C.1 to VIII.C.4 |
| Sep 19 | World War II, Independence, Partition | EW, 237-327 |
| WEEK 3 | ||
| Sep 24 | Experimenting with Truth | SET, 1-369 |
| Sep 26 | Gandhi on Gandhi | SET, remainder (370-505) |
| WEEK 4 | ||
| Oct 1 | Satyagraha in South Africa | SSA, entire |
| Oct 3 | Hind Swaraj | HS, entire |
| Oct 4, Thursday | Research topics due | Students should have settled on a research topic for their final paper. Topics should be chosen with the guidance of the instructor. One paragraph descriptions of topics, indicating the main primary sources to be used, are due in History Department at 4 p.m. |
| WEEK 5 | ||
| Oct 8 | Research topics: discussion and scheduling | Read Erikson in the meantime |
| Oct 10 | Erikson: Pathological Gandhi | GT, entire |
| WEEK 6 | ||
| Oct 15 | Fall Break - no class | |
| Oct 17 | Dalton: Gandhian Gandhi | MG, entire |
| WEEK 7 | ||
| Oct 22 | Amin: Subaltern Gandhi | EMM, entire |
| Oct 24 | Killing Gandhi | Nandy, "Assassination" |
| WEEK 8 | ||
| Oct 29 | Viewing of Gandhi, the blockbuster | AHR forum, Dec 1988 [via JStore]
MJuergensmeyer, JAS [via JStore] |
| Oct 31 | History and film: problems/possibilities | Commentary article and letters, TBA
Film articles/reviews on Gandhi, TBA |
| WEEK 9 | ||
| Nov 5-7 | No class: individual meetings on topics. On Friday, 9 Nov, 4 p.m., students will submit revised research proposals, indicating the research question(s), relevant historiographical issues/works, and a prose outline of the proposed essay (5 pages altogether). Appended to this should be a one page bibliography showing the main primary and secondary sources. 5 pages. See Kate Turabian, Manual for Writers, for correct notational format. Click here for general stylistic help. Submit hard copy to Pinch; submit an online version to our web blackboard. | |
| WEEKS 10-13 | ||
| Nov 12 - Dec 5 | Topics and readings for remainder of semester to be based on student research projects. Each week we will focus on 4 student projects (2 projects per day). For each project a student respondent will begin by offering a critical appraisal and raise questions for discussion. | Students will make common readings available. Each student should choose one primary source, approx. 30 pages, and one reading that reflects and/or influences the historical approach, 10-20 pages. |
| WEEK 14 | ||
| Dec 10, Monday | Conclusions | Final paper due, 10 a.m., history office |