IAH 211B: Area Studies: Asia

Focus: Society and Culture of India
Location India
Instructor Keri Dutkiewicz, Ph. D.
Course Syllabus

This course investigates issues of identity and belonging in India, with a particular focus on the ways religion, gender, social class and the family shape individual identity. Structured as a multidisciplinary exploration with a strong emphasis on literature, drama, art and religion within a historical context, this course challenges students to make connections between an academic study of Indian culture and their direct experience of this culture through the study abroad component of the course. Specifically, we examine the ways intersecting obligations to family, gender roles, and socio-religious moral codes inform individual and community beliefs and actions. For example, how do Hindu ideas about karma, dharma, and reincarnation shape individual attitudes towards violence?

By relating our study of the visual arts, performing arts, literature, and architecture to the larger historical and religious cultural context of India, this course will give students an increased understanding of Indian culture and the complexities of the globally interdependent economy in which they will live and work. The immersive personal learning opportunities of study abroad coupled with classroom learning will work together to open students? hearts as well as their minds to the importance of embracing diversity by seeking to understand and respect divergent cultural views.