ASN 3000 Popular Culture and Modernity in South Asia: Anthropological Insights

This course is designed as an introduction to everyday life and popular culture in South Asia, a region that includes the nation-states of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives. The course examines key anthropological concepts and debates from South Asian material to inquire into the nature of modernity. Some of the themes that are addressed include changing institutions of family and kinship, castes and communities, urban spaces and global cities, religions in practice, the media revolution and youth, the challenges to modernity emerging from the violence of development, gender/sexuality, caste, globalization, and communalism.
Credits: 3.0