Terms offered: Fall 2011, Fall 2010
This course seeks to interrogate the highly contentious and controversial issue of Hindu and Muslim religious nationalism (otherwise known as "communalism") in South Asia. In so doing, we will interrogate the historical trajectory and development of religious nationalism from the colonial period through to the present. We will examine issues relating to the rise of (non-religious) nationalism outside of South Asia; Hindu and Muslim relations in the pre-colonial period; colonial attempts to construct South Asia's past along religious lines; the dialectical interplay of early Hindu and Muslim religious nationalism; the interplay between secular and religious nationalism; different intellectual attempts to articulate notions of bounded religious communities; the success of religious nationalism in contemporary South Asia; and the implications of religious nationalism for the future of South Asia.
Religious Nationalism in South Asia: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019
This graduate seminar focuses on reading a wide spectrum of Indian Buddhist texts in the Sanskrit (or Pali) original introducing the students to different genres, and different aspects of Indian Buddhism. The students taking the course for two units (rather than four) will be expected to prepare thoroughly every week for the reading of Buddhist texts in the original. They will also be expected to read all related secondary literature that is assigned to supplement the study of the primary source material. In contrast to the students taking the course for four units, they will not be expected to write a term paper or to prepare special presentations for class.
Readings in Indian Buddhist Texts: Read More [+]