Class meetings:
Xyzdays 00:00-00:00pm, classAddress
Instructor:
Pankaj Jain, Pankaj-Jain@UIowa.edu, 402, Gilmore Hall
Office hours: 10:00-12:00pm, Wednesdays or by appointment
Journey into India’s “discovery” by the western world from the times of Alexander to the recent visits by Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. We will study how Indic traditions received and in turn influenced the non-Indic cultures of various culture. Our first milestone in this journey will be Alexander’s arrival in western India before the Common Era. Next in our time line will be the encounters of Indians with Middle-Easterners in the medieval periods, followed by European missionaries and other colonial powers. Our final destination will be contemporary western scholarship about India and Hinduism. Bon Voyage!
Today, we live in a global economy. But economic interdependence is not by themselves sufficient to create a universal human community. For this we require a human consciousness of community, a sense of inter-cultural relationship. One of the ancient countries India has interacted with many different cultures over its history and this course traces some such examples. The objective is to develop an understanding of how cultural exchanges occurred in the past and what we can learn from such examples.
Weekly postings
Students will post to the course bulletin board (accessible through WebCT) a response to the weekly readings. Responses should be about one page in length. These submissions are a required part of the coursework. Content is more important than form; you should try to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes, but your postings are not expected to be polished essays. In referring to source material of any kind, you should make specific references using appropriate forms of citation.
A term paper of about fifteen pages is due at the final day of the course. Students are encouraged to collaborate with each other in developing topics and exploring resources, although the final papers must of course be written by individual students. Class participants will develop different broad areas ranging from any of the historic cultural encounters covered in the course. Each student will post to the course bulletin board a paper topic by the fourth week of the course, including an indication of the topic area in which it belongs, and will then post the first draft of the paper by the mid-term. These postings are in addition to the required weekly postings to the bulletin board.
Grades
Grades will be assigned as follows: Weekly 1-page reading responses (due before each class) and class participation (together, 20% of grade); mid-term examination (25% of grade); term-long paper (first draft due in week 7, 10%; final draft due week 14, 20% of grade); final examination (25% of grade).
· Texts
The following books are required for the course, and are available for purchase at University Book Store. Copies are also available on reserve at the Main Library.
· Other Required Readings
Certain materials will be handed out in class. These are indicated on the course syllabus with an asterisk (*)
· Additional Resources
Readings that may be helpful but are not required are listed with other readings for the weeks to which they most closely pertain, and are indicated with a triple asterisk (***).
Tuesday, September 3
·
Introduction
Tuesday, September 10
· Greek encounters: Megasthenese records, who visited the Court of Chandragupta Maurya (B.C.322-297)
Links: Ancient world contacts
Readings:
Tuesday, September 17
· Middle-eastern encounters
Readings:
Tuesday, September 24
· European missionary encounters
Links: Vasco Voyage
Readings:
Tuesday, October 1
· Orientalist Accounts
Reading:
Tuesday, October 8
· Colonizing India
Readings:
Tuesday, October 15
· Indology of late 19th and 20th century
Readings:
Tuesday, October 22
· India and USA
Readings: