Gail Minault

This is an undergraduate seminar that will examine the causes and effects of the partition of British India in 1947 into the nation states of India and Pakistan.  The Partition rivals the Holocaust as one of the most horrific events of twentieth-century history.  Hundreds of thousands lost their lives, millions lost their homes, migrations of unimaginable magnitude took place. We will read historical accounts, but also literature—some autobiographical or biographical accounts, others fictional—that capture the sense of the times.  How does the partition of India compare to other partitions (Ireland, Palestine)?  Is partition a solution to major political and cultural problems, and if so which ones?  Does it avoid civil wars? Does it create more problems and conflicts than it solves?  These are philosophical as well as political questions, and they have not gone away, since the antagonisms that were supposed to be addressed by the partition persist, and since recent events in Bosnia and Iraq once again have presented us with questions about the wisdom, or not, or partitioning countries.

Grading:

Class participation, discussion, and reports – 30%;

Two short papers – 20% each;

Final research paper – 30%. 

Texts (subject to change)

Required:

Yasmeen Khan, The Great Partition

Gyanendra Pandey, Partition Remembered

Ritu Menon & Kamla Bhasin, Borders & Boundaries

Saadat Hasan Manto, Selected Stories

This course deals with the history, art and architecture, and religions of India during the period of Muslim rule, from the tenth to the eighteenth centuries.  We will look at the emigre culture of the Sultanate period (ca. 1000-1500), and the composite culture of the the Mughal period (ca. 1500-1800), paying particular attention to the interaction of Islam with Indian religions, the development of distinctive architectural and artistic forms of expression, and the ideology and form of political institutions.  Toward the end of the course, we will also look at the earliest contacts between Europe and India from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

            Requirements for the course include the assigned readings, 2 short papers, 2 map assignments, a mid-term, a slide quiz, and a take-home final essay.  Since quite a few of the lectures involve art historical materials, the midterm will involve some, and the slide quiz will be exclusively, slide identifications.  That means that class attendance is important, and that slide shows are not recreational.  Papers will be two book reports on the choice of books listed above.  See separate sheets for detailed map and paper assignments.  Due dates are summarized below. 

Grades are given on the plus and minus system.  Percentages for the grade:  papers: 20% & 25%; mid-term 20%; slide quiz 10%, final essay 25%.

The Partition of India in History and Literature

History 350L/ Asian Studies 361/ ISL 371 – Fall ‘10                        Gail Minault

GAR 2.128                                                                                      GAR 3.118           

MW 3-4:30

Textbooks

Required:
Yasmeen Khan, The Great Partition
Gyanendra Pandey, Partition Remembered
Ritu Menon & Kamla Bhasin, Borders & Boundaries
Saadat Hasan Manto, Selected Stories

Choose one of the following:
Ahmad Salim, ed., Lahore 1947
Urvashi Butalia, The Other Side of Silence

Choose one of the following:
Bapsi Sidhwa, Cracking India
S. Cowasjee & KS Duggal, eds., Orphans of the Storm
Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan

In addition to the textbooks, there will be readings on the e-reserves.  Password will be given out in class.

            This is an undergraduate seminar that will examine the causes and effects of the partition of British India in 1947 into the nation states of India and Pakistan.   The Partition rivals the Holocaust as one of the most horrific events of twentieth-century history.  Hundreds of thousands lost their lives, millions lost their homes, migrations of unimaginable magnitude took place.  It is important to understand the backgrounds and reason for the partition, but also to consider its effects on the lives of the people involved.  For that, historians need to use sources imaginatively.  The accounts of government documents and even eye-witnesses may not be enough; imaginative literature helps fill in the gaps in understanding the emotional impact of these events on people’s lives.  So we will read historical accounts, but also literature—some autobiographical or biographical accounts, others fictional—that capture the sense of the times.  I will also try to arrange some films, because cinema also helps capture both the horror and the momentousness of these events.

            We will also discuss the phenomenon of partition more generally.  How does the partition of India compare to other partitions (Ireland, Palestine)?  Is partition a solution to major political and cultural problems, and if so which ones?  Does it avoid civil wars?  Does it create more problems and conflicts than it solves?  These are philosophical as well as political questions, and they have not gone away, since the antagonisms that were supposed to be addressed by the partition persist, and since recent events in Bosnia and Iraq once again have presented us with questions about the wisdom, or not, or partitioning countries.   We will doubtless have lots to talk about

            That brings us to the requirements and procedures for the course.  This is a discussion and writing course, not a lecture course.  You are here to participate and to share your ideas on the readings.  I am here to act as a moderator of the discussions and as an editor and commentator on your papers, in order to help you write better.  You will give the occasional oral report, and help lead discussions in the class, and write several papers (details or separate sheet).  However, in order to insure that the class is fruitful for everyone, you must do the readings and turn up.  I will take attendance, and more than three absences over the course of the semester will lead to a reduced grade. Grading is on the plus and minus system.  Grade percentages:  Class participation, discussion, and reports - 30%; two short papers (on the selections listed above) – 20% each; final research paper – 30%.  The Hiostyr Dept’s statement on plagiarism/academic dishonesty is in the e-reserves for the course.  The university has an honor code.  Take it seriously.  Be wise; don’t plagiarize. 

            I enjoy meeting my students personally and urge you to visit my office during office hours at least once during the semester, especially to discuss your research project for the final paper.   My office is GAR 3.118; phone # 475-7214; email: gminault@mail.utexas.edu .  Office hours: MW 1:30-3, or F 1:30-3 by appointment.

Summary of due dates:

            Wednesday, Sept. 22: 1^st book report
            Wednesday Oct. 13: Research topic due
            Monday, Oct. 25: 2^nd book report

            Monday Nov. 1: Preliminary research bibliographies due.

            Nov. 15, 17, 22, & 29 – Oral class presentations of research projects

Monday, December 6: Research paper due

Please note that assignments handed in late will be penalized (see paper assignment sheet for details).  I accept medical excuses, but only if you notify me of them by the due date of the assignment, with documentation.  For students with disabilities:  Please request appropriate academic accommodation from the Division of Diversity Services for Students with Disabilities, 471-6259.  Do so early in the semester, so that appropriate measures can be taken before major assignments are due. 

Reading assignments

August 25 - Introduction to the Course

Aug. 30 – Partition: Historical Background

Read:  Yasmeen Khan, The Great Partition, pp. 1-39.
Gyanendra Pandey, Remembering Partition, pp. 1-20.

Discussion leader: ______________

Sept. 1 – Partition: Historical Background II

Read:  Khan, Great Partition, pp. 40-62.
Pandey, Remembering Partition, pp. 21-44.
TG Fraser, Partition in Ireland, India, & Palestine, pp. 1-19 (e-res).
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, “Freedom’s Dawn,” tr. by VG Kiernan (handout)

Discussion leader: _______________

Sept. 6 – Labor Day Holiday

Sept. 8 – Partition Considered – The Role of the Leader

Read:  Khan, Great Partition,  pp. 63-103.

Fraser, Partition…, pp. 68-92 (e-res).
Mushirul Hasan, ed., India’s Partition, pp. 44-58, 159-95 (e-res).
Excerpt from Jinnah’s speech of Aug. 11, 1947, Sources of Indian Tradition, vol. 2, pp. 384-87 (e-res).

Discussion leader: ________________

Sept. 13 – Partition Considered II – High Politics and the View from the Street

Read:   Khan, Great Partition, pp. 104-42.

Fraser, Partition…, pp. 92-129 (e-res).
Hasan, India’s Partition, pp. 101-31, 390-95 (e-res).

Discussion Leader: _______________

Sept. 15 – Questions of History - The Portrayal of Violence

Read:  Khan, Gt. Partition,  pp. 143-66.

Pandey, Remembering Partition, pp. 45-66.

Manto, Stories, pp.  

Discusssion leader: ______________

Sept. 20 – Questions of History II – The Evidence of Memory

Read:   Khan, pp. 167-85.

Pandey, pp. 67-91.

Manto, Stories, pp.   

Discusssion leader: _______________

Sept. 22 – lst Paper due (Lahore 1947 or Other Side of Silence)

Read: Manto, Stories, pp.

Continuation of Monday’s discussion.

Sept. 27 – Questions of History III – The Search for Narrative

Read:  Khan, pp. 186-210.

David Gilmartin, “Partition, Pakistan, and South Asian History: In Search of a Narrative,” Jl. of Asian Studies, 57: 4 (Nov. 1998), 1068-95 (e-res).

Discussion leader: _______________

Sept. 29 – Questions of History IV – The Strength of Literature

Read: Ian Talbot, “Literature and the Human Drama of the 1947 Partition,” South Asian Studies, 18 (1995), pp. 37-56 (e-res).
Jason Francisco, “In the Heat of Fratricide…,”Annl. of Urdu Studies, 11 (1996), pp. 227-50 (e-res.).

Discussion leader: _______________

Oct. 4 – Mass Mobilization

Read for this week: Mushirul Hasan, India’s Partition, pp. 132-58 (e-res).
Ian Talbot, Freedom’s Cry, pp. 23-58 (e-res).
Pandey, Remembering Partition, pp. 92-120.
Minault, “Urdu Political Poetry…,” Modern Asian Studies, 8: 4 (1974), pp. 459-71 (e-res).

Discussion leader: ________________

Oct. 6 – Continuation of Monday’s discussion

Discussion leader: ______________

Oct. 11 – Punjab and Delhi

Read for this week: Hasan, India’s Partition, pp. 196-229.
Pandey, pp. 121-51.

            Vazira Zamindar, The Long Partition, pp. 19-44; 45-76 (e-res).

Discussion leader: _________________

Oct. 13 – Continuation of Monday’s discussion

Discussion leader: __________________

Note: Research topics for final papers due.

Oct. 18 – Bengal

Read for this week: Hasan, pp. 254-73, (e-res).
Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Remembered Villages: Representations of Hindu-Bengali Memories in the Aftermath of the Partition,” South Asia, 18 (1995), pp. 109-29 (e-res).

Discussion leader: _________________

Oct. 20 – Continuation of Monday’s discussion

Optional:  Hasan, pp. 274-317 (e-res).
Discussion leader: __________________

Oct. 25 – 2^nd Paper due (novels, short stories) – see separate sheet
Film: “Khamosh Pani,” plus discussion

Oct. 27 – Partition and Women I

Read:  Ritu Menon & Kamla Bhasin, Borders and Boundaries, pp. x-64.

Discussion leader: _________________

Nov. 1 – Partition and Women II

Read:  Pandey, pp. 152-74.

Discussion leader: _________________

Note: Preliminary bibliographies due for research papers; think about signing up for your oral presentation.

Nov. 3 – Partition and Women III
Read: Menon & Bhasin, pp. 66-165.
Discussion leader: _________________

Nov. 8 - Partition and Women IV

Read:  Menon & Bhasin, pp. 168-260.

Discussion leader: _________________

Nov. 10 – Community Identity

Read: Pandey, pp. 175-205.

Discussion leader: ________________

Nov. 15, 17, 22, & 29 – Student presentations of research projects

            Sign ups: 11/15___________________________

Nov. 24 – No class – Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov. 27, 29, and Dec. 4 – Student presentations of research projects

            Sign ups:  11/17: _______________________________________

                             11/22: ________________________________________
                 11/29: _________________________________________

Dec. 1 – Class dinner party at my house

            Time TBA

NB: Final research papers will be due, Monday, Dec.6, by 5 PM at my office (GAR 3.118) or the History Dept. main office (GAR 1.104).

This course contains a Writing and a Global Cultures Flag.

Women in South Asian Societies

His 350L/ANS 361/WGS 340/ISL 371
Gail Minault
MW 3:00-4:30
GAR 2. 128

Textbooks

Required:
Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India

Kumkum Sangari & Sudesh Vaid, eds., Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History

Ritu Menon & Kamla Bhasin, Borders and Boundaries

Syeda Hameed, ed., They Hang: 12 Women in My Portrait Gallery

One of the following:
Sara Suleri, Meatless Days
Meena Alexander, Fault Lines (new edn.)

Women in South Asian Societies is an interdisciplinary seminar that will deal with the history, social and political roles, and contemporary problems of women in South Asia. We will study the changes that have occurred in women's lives as a result of historical forces in the 19th and 20th centuries: colonialism, social and religious reform movements, and the roles of women in the movement for independence from colonial rule and partition. We will also attempt to assess the status and roles of women in contemporary South Asian societies, with special emphasis on women's struggles for economic and legal rights, and the problem of violence toward women. Secondary readings will be supplemented occasionally with the testimony of women themselves. Indeed, many of the books for the course combine a variety of sources, and we will have ample discussion concerning the different viewpoints represented.

Requirements for the course include the required readings, which we will discuss in class, and several writing assignments of different lengths (see below). For each class there will be readings from the texts and occasional supplemental readings, either in the form of handouts, or on e-reserve. For each class, a student will be designated discussion leader. The discussions leaders will pose questions, call on people, try to get the quiet ones to speak up, and summarize the points discussed. S/he will then write up a (brilliant and pithy) short report on the readings and the discussion, to be handed in one week later. If you are the designated leader, it goes without saying that you must_ come to class that day. I expect those _not_ designated leaders for the day (a) to have done the readings and (b) to participate in the discussion. Non-discussants will also write up short response papers every week on the readings. See a separate sheet for details on the writing assignments and discussion techniques.

The writing assignments include a book report of approx. 6 pp. on one of the choice of autobiographies listed above, due *Oct. 5*; and a research paper of approx. 15 pp. that will be due on *Dec. 4*. The latter can be on any topic covered in the class that appeals to you or about which you would like to know more. I would like to know your topic by *Oct. 28* so that we can discuss bibliography, and then have your preliminary bibliography by *Nov. 4*. Each student will have to present her research topic in class during the last few weeks of the course. For fuller details on the writing assignments, see a separate sheet. Percentages for the grade: class participation 10%, discussion  leading and report 15%, response papers (collectively) 15 %, book report 20%, research paper, including oral presentation 40%.

*Attendance*: I will take attendance in this class, and any more than *three* absences will be cause for lowering your grade. Seminars thrive on discussion and the only way to have good discussions is for everyone to turn up and participate. On the other hand, if you come down with swine flu, stay home. Get a note from the Student Health Center or your doctor to receive a medical excuse.

I hope that, from our discussions in class, we will get to know one another, but I also enjoy meeting my students personally and urge you to visit my office at least once during the semester. My office is Garrison 3.118, and my office hours are MW 1:30-3, or by appointment on Fridays, 1:30-3. Office phone 475-7214. Please do not call me at home, email instead: gminault@mail.utexas.edu

Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Aug. 26 - Introduction to the Course

Aug. 31 - Indian Women in Myth, Epic, and Religious Thought
Read: Kumkum Roy, "The King's Household: Structure and Space in the Shastric Tradition," from Sangari & Chakravarti, eds. From Myths to Markets. pp. 18-38 (e-reserve).
Tales of Ancient India, excerpts (hand out, also e-reserves).

Sept. 2 & 9 - Indian Women in the Traditional Indian Family (Urban)

*Note*: Sept. 7 - Labor Day Holiday

Read for 9/2: Sangari & Vaid, "Introduction;" to Sangari & Vaid, Recasting, pp. 1-25.
Tanika Sarkar, "A Book of Her Own, A Life of Her Own," from Sangari & Chakravarti, Myths to Markets, pp. 85-124 (e-reserve).

For 9/9: Gail Minault, Secluded Scholars, ch. I, pp. 14-57 (e-reserve).
Sept. 14-16 - Indian Women in the Traditional Indian Family (Rural)

Film on 9/14: "Dadi's Family." Discussion of film

Read for 9/16: Prem Chowdhry, "Customs in a Peasant Economy," in Sangari & Vaid, pp. 302-37 (see next p. for more).
Helen Gideon, "A Baby is Born in the Punjab," Amn. Anthropologist, 64/6 (Dec. 1962): 1220-1234. (e-reserve).
Doranne Jacobson, "Purdah: Life Behind the Veil," Natl. Geographic, 152/2 (Aug. 1977): 270-286 (e-reserve).

Sept. 21-23 - Women in 19th Century India: Colonial Debates over Women's Status and Reform

Read for 9/21: Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, pp. 1-31.

for 9/23: Lata Mani, "Contentious Traditions," in Sangari and Vaid, Recasting, pp. 88-126, and
Ram Mohan Roy, "In Defense of Hindu Women" (e-reserve).

Sept. 28-30 - Women in Colonial India: Debates over Education

Read for 9/28: Forbes, Women, pp. 32-63.
Sumanta Banerjee, "Marginalization of Women's Popular Culture in 19th Century Bengal," Recasting, pp. 127-179.

Read for 9/30: Gail Minault, Secluded Scholars, pp. 58-104 (e-reserve).

Oct. 5-7 - Women and the Press: Writings for and by Women

*1st paper due Oct. 5 *(see separate sheet for details).

Read for 10/5: Vir Talwar, "Feminist Consciousness in Women's Journals in
Hindi,"Recasting, pp. 204-232.

Read for 10/7: Minault, Secluded, pp. 105-157 (e-reserve).

Oct. 12-14 - Early Women's Movements

Read for 10/12: Forbes, Women, pp. 64-120.
Partha Chatterjee, "The Nationalist Resolution of the Women's Question," Recasting, pp. 233-53.

Read for 10/14: Minault, Secluded, pp. 215-266 (e-reserve).

Oct. 19-21 - Women and Nationalism

Read for 10/19: Forbes, Women, pp. 121-56, 189-222.

Read for 10/21: Minault, pp. 267-308 (e-reserve).

Oct. 26-28 - Women, Independence and Partition

*Note:* Research topics due Oct. 28.

Read for 10/26: Forbes, Women, pp. 223-254.

Readfor 10/28: Ritu Menon & Kamla Bhasin, Borders and Boundaries, pp. 3-165.

Nov. 2-4 - Working Women in Colonial and Post-Colonial India

*Note*: Preliminary bibliographies due Nov. 4

Read for 11/2: Forbes, Women, pp. 157-88.
Nirmala Banerjee, "Working Women in Colonial Bengal," in Recasting, pp. 269-301.

Read for 11/4: Vasanta Kanabiran & K. Lalitha, "That Magic Time," in Recasting, pp. 180-203.

Nov. 9-11 - Women and Violence

Read for 11/9: Menon & Bhasin, Borders, pp. 168-260.

Read for 11/11: Hameed, They Hang.

Nov. 16-18, 23, 25, and 30: Students' presentations of research projects; final
discussion and evaluation.

Dec. 2: Class party at my home (12/2); time TBA.

*Research papers due, Dec. 4.