South Asian Studies (Hindi)

As a minor in South Asian languages and cultures (SALC), you can expect to gain proficiency in Hindi while gaining familiarity with South Eastern history and civilizations. Whether you favor the study of language, literature, religion, history, or politics, you will find a way to deepen your appreciation of these complex and diverse societies and cultures. This minor is homed in the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies.

sample courses:

Beginning Hindi I

This course sequence is meant for those students who have had very little or no exposure to Hindi. The aim of this course is to achieve proficiency in spoken comprehension, and to enable the student to acquire the major language skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. A standard text, web-based materials, a reader prepared by the instructor, as well as audio materials are used, with equal emphasis on both spoken and written Hindi. Hindi. The language presented in the course is colloquial. The Hindi script will be taught as part of the same class.

Hinduism and the Hindu Right: Topics in South Asian Religions

Many observers are bewildered by the rise of the political Right in the U.S. and around the world, but not observers in India. The world's largest secular democracy since independence in 1947, India has witnessed the rising ascendancy of the Hindu Right since the early 1990s. In its wake, the Hindu Right has brought violence against minorities; curbs on free speech; and moves toward second-class citizenship for Indian Muslims. This course will track the history of the Hindu Right in India from its nineteenth century roots to the present. The struggle to come to grips with the Hindu Right is of immediate political relevance. And it raises big questions in the study of religion and secularism.