HIST 295 Topics in History

History of Modern India

India is a rising international, economic, and political power, but it is also a nation that is home to an ancient and fascinating culture. This course will trace the trajectory of Indian history in an exploration of what has shaped the emergence of modern India, while also exploring how this history has, itself, been shaped through political and cultural forces. In the course, we will follow historical events from the beginning of India's interaction with the West in the late 17th century, through the British colonial period from the 18th century, up until Indian independence in 1947, and then through to 2016, which finds Indian culture spread around the world and a powerful, modern India emerging on the world stage. We will engage with a wide variety of sources, including government documents, literature, films and music, in order to understand Indian representations of the past, as well as competing discourses about the nature of those representations. We will dissect colonial influences and depictions of Indian culture, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the different paths taken that have led to postcolonial India as it is now.