Spring 2009

ANT 324L • Globalization & Indian Society

Course Description

India has been in US news quite a lot in recent years. The increased visibility is around various questions of "emerging market," outsourcing, WTO, terrorism, social movements, and democracy. This course is an exploration of the concept of globalization as seen through the complex cultural and political geography of contemporary India. However, instead of trying to be exhaustive, the aim is to develop a theoretical framework for thinking about democracy in India in the context of globalization. Particularly, the modalities and meanings of popular politics will be forefronted in this class, with the consequent need to think about the nature of resistance and domination. This will be done through both serious academic readings and non-academic genres like films and fiction. Through this approach, the aim of the course is ultimately to raise broad questions regarding how we position ourselves in the world that we label as the era of globalization.

Texts

Bose, Sugata. Modern South Asia. Chatterjee, Partha. The Politics of the Governed. Ghosh, Amitav. The Calcutta Chromosome. Khilnani, Sunil. The Idea of India. Mathew, Biju. Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City Mehta, Suketu. Maximum Bombay. All Books will be available through the COOP. Some readings will be available through Blackboard and all of them will be available through the Reserve facilities of the PCL.

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