India is the largest democracy in the world, with a vivid past, a challenging present, and a promising future. This course surveys the rise of national consciousness and the evolution of democracy in India, beginning with localized expressions of patriotism in the nineteenth century, and concluding with a look at regional separatisms and Hindu radicalism in the 1980s and ‘90s. Along the way we examine military rebellion and middle-class terrorism; the evolution of nationalism and professional politics; the question of violence, and the contributions of by M. K. Gandhi, M. A. Jinnah, Subhas Chandra Bose, and others; the role of women in nationalism and nation-building, and the effects of the nationalist movement and economic development on women and feminist politics; the evolution of Hindu and Muslim politics, and the partition of the subcontinent in 1947; the transformation of a freedom movement into political freedom, and the mechanics of Indian democracy and statism; and the rise of separatist and majoritarian political organizations and the rhetoric they have employed.
Readings will include memoir, speeches, contemporary fiction, polemic, and historical analysis. We will also view a variety of documentary video and feature film (in video format). The grade will be based on two papers, and a mid-term and final examination.
Though the course builds on HIST 258 (Imperial India) in a variety of ways, HIST 258 is not a prerequisite for HIST 259. Students are encouraged to take both; but they are not linked as ampersand courses (credit for one does not depend on credit for the other).
Readings will be drawn from the following: [depending upon availability]