HIS3714FA: Gender and Colonialism in South Asia Fall 2011 Wednesdays: 7 pm -10 pm, AT Course Syllabus

Transcription

1 HIS3714FA: Gender and Colonialism in South Asia Fall 2011 Wednesdays: 7 pm -10 pm, AT 2021 Course Coordinator and Instructor: Dr. Pallavi Das Office: RB 3016 Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays: 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm pvdas@lakeheadu.ca Phone: Course Syllabus This course explores the history of colonial South Asia focusing on gender roles and gender relations from the mid-eighteenth century to In terms of geographical area we will focus on Colonial India covering the present-day states of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. While examining gender and history in colonial South Asia some of the themes that will be explored include race, education, family, law, nationalism and violence. In doing so we will look at not only how colonial rule impacted gender roles and relations in South Asia but also how colonial policies were shaped by existing gender relations in the sub-continent. Particular attention will be paid to the agency of women women s participation in both sustaining and opposing British rule in the Indian subcontinent. The course will end with the partition of the subcontinent and decolonization in 1947 and examine its impact on women. Required Texts and The required readings for this course are placed on reserve at the Paterson library and are also from e-journals that can be accessed through LU library s website. Course Format: Lectures and Discussions. The instructor will lecture in the first hour and half of the class. This will be followed by student presentations and class discussion in the second hour. There will be a ten-minute break between the lecture and the presentation/discussion part of the class. Course Evaluation and Marking Scheme: The final grade for this course will be based on Class Presentations (25%), Article Review (25%), Mid-Term Test (25%), Class Participation (15%) and Attendance (10%). Course Assignments/Tests Percentage of Total Due Date Presentation 25% In Class Mid-Term Test 25% In Class October 26 Article Review 25% In Class November 30 Class Participation 15% Attendance 10% Total 100% 1

2 Presentations: Presentations will begin in class on September 28 and continue throughout the term. You must have signed up for a presentation by September 21. Instructions: With a partner, sign up to do a presentation on one reading assigned (except readings marked with a *) for that week (see the sign-up sheet for available readings and dates). A sign-up sheet will be available in class on Sept 14 and 21. As you sign up I will update the sign-up sheet and put it on WebCT. You can also me and let me know which available date you want to do the presentation. Except on October 26, in each class there will be two presentations (on November 16 there will be three) one presentation by a pair of students on one of readings (2 and 3 only). Please do not do presentations on readings marked with a *. You have to do the presentation on the date and the reading you signed up for. Presentations must not be longer than twenty minutes each. You can split up the readings between your partner and yourself and do separate presentations if you want but the total time for the presentations (both together) should not exceed 20 minutes. Also, the presentations should not be less than 17 minutes. The presentation is meant to convey what you think is the significance of the reading to the rest of the class and act as an opening for further discussion. To help you think critically, you can think about the following questions: What is the historical context of the reading? What is the reading about? If there is a main argument in the reading, what is this? How convincing is the argument being made? Why do you think the author wrote this work? Has the reading made you think differently? How does the reading contribute to the weekly theme of the course? The presentation should also offer a brief summary of the main argument and give a background to the reading. Please submit a typed copy of your presentation to me either before or after the actual presentation with your name and student number written on it. Mid-Term Test: The mid-term test will be based on all the lectures and assigned readings up to and including those on October 19.You will answer short answer and essay questions on this test. Article Review : For this assignment you will write a six page review of Sinha, M Refashioning Mother India: Feminism and Nationalism in Late-Colonial India, Feminist Studies, vol. 26(3) Fall, pp Instructions (in the form of a handout or posted on WebCT) on how to write an article review and what I expect from students in a article review will be given about two weeks before the due date. Class Participation: It is your responsibility to come prepared to class with comments and questions on the readings. I encourage you to think critically about the readings, raise questions and comment on them during the presentation/discussion part of the class. 2

3 Course Policies: 1. Lectures and Class Policy: Students are expected to attend lectures and participate in class discussions every week. Be punctual to the lectures. If you arrive after the class has begun, please enter noiselessly so that the class is not disturbed. There will be material discussed in the lecture that is not on the assigned readings but there will be questions from the lectures in the mid-term test. Thus it is important that you make every effort to attend every lecture. 2. Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty is a serious offence. It involves the improper use of material in essays or other written assignments. It can occur through carelessness and negligence when a student is preparing an essay; or it can be a result of intentional deceit. In either case, the penalties for plagiarism are severe. To find out more on what constitutes plagiarism please see University Regulations IX under the current Calendar. Plagiarism in any form will be dealt with in accordance with Lakehead University s Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures approved by Senate and the Board of Governors at Please note that the submission of the same essay or assignment (or substantially the same essay) in two different courses is treated as a serious academic offence. 3. Late Submission Policy: Assignments should be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. The penalty for late submission of assignments is 2% per day (including weekends) up to a total of 5 days (10%), after which time late work will not be accepted unless by prior agreement. Extensions will be granted only in cases of documented illnesses, family emergencies, or personal problems. Late submissions (i.e. hard copy) should be submitted to the Secretary in the History Office RB3014 who will date it and forward it to me. Please do not put late assignments in the slots outside my office or push it under my office door. Late submissions (i.e. electronic copy) should in addition be ed to me on the date of submission of the hard copy. 4. Policy: Please use your LU and not WebCT mail for all correspondence with the instructor. I will reply to inquiries from students within 2 days. Each message must include in the Subject line the course number and a concise and clear statement of purpose otherwise it is likely to be deleted, along with spam messages and messages potentially containing viruses. Please do not send attachments unless it is a late submission of an assignment. 5. Missed Mid-Term Test: Students who miss the Mid-term test will be assigned a mark of zero for that test unless they satisfy the following conditions: a. Students who miss a term test for reasons entirely beyond their control may, within one week of the missed test, submit to the instructor a written request for special consideration explaining the reason for missing the test, and attaching appropriate documentation, such as a medical certificate. b. The documentation has to be submitted within a week of the Mid-term test. If the above conditions are met then the instructor will schedule a makeup test for the student. 6. Marking Policy: Any appeals for remarking or changing of grades have to be made within 7 days of the return of marked assignments. 7. WebCT: It is your responsibility to go to the course website regularly for any announcements, handouts or for any other course related matter that may be posted by the instructor from time to time. 3

4 Course Schedule September 14: Introduction Sign-up for presentations begins. September 21: Gender Historiography of Colonial South Asia *1. Scott, J.W Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis, The American Historical Review 91(5): *2. Sinha, M Giving Masculinity a History: Some Contributions from the Historiography of Colonial India, Gender & History 11 (3): Film: Victorian Uncovered Part 1 Last date to sign-up for presentations No Presentations September 28: Early colonial rule Race, gender and family *1. Ghosh, D Good patriarchs, uncommon families, Sex and the Family in Colonial India: The Making of an Empire Cambridge University Press Chapter on Reserve 2. Ghosh, D Household Crimes and Domestic Order: Keeping the Peace in Colonial Calcutta, c c. 1840, Modern Asian Studies, 38 (3): Ghosh, D Who Counts as 'Native?' Gender, Race, and Subjectivity in Colonial India, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History - Volume 6, Number 3, Winter October 5: Social Reforms *1. Mani, L Contentious traditions: The debate on Sati in colonial India, in K. Sangari and S. Vaid, ed. Recasting Women: Essays on Colonial History Kali for Women Press Chapter On Reserve 2. Caroll, L Law, custom and statutory social reform: the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856, in Women and social reform in modern India : a reader (eds) Sumit Sarkar & Tanika Sarkar, Indiana University Press Book on Reserve 3. Bannerji, H Age of Consent and Hegemonic Social Reform, Gender and Imperialism ed. Clare Midgley, Manchester University Press Book On Reserve October 12: The 1857 Revolt and Gender constructions *1. Tuson, P Mutiny narratives and the imperial feminine: European women's accounts of the Rebellion in India in 1857, Women s Studies International Forum 21 (3): Procida, M Re-Writing the Mutiny, Married to the Empire: Gender, Politics and Imperialism in India, , Manchester University Press Book on Reserve 3. Blunt, A. Embodying war: British women and domestic defilement in the Indian Mutiny, , Journal of Historical Geography (July 2000), 26 (3), pg Film: Victorians Uncovered Part 2 4

5 October 19: European women in Colonial South Asia *1. Sinha, M Chathams, Pitts and Gladstones in Petticoats: The politics of Gender and Race in the Ibert Bill Controversy, , in Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance ed. N. Chaudhuri and M. Strobel, Indiana University Press Book on Reserve 2. Forbes, G In Search of the Pure Heathen : Missionary women in nineteenth century India, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 17, 26 April. 3. Sen, I Between power and 'purdah': The White woman in British India, , Indian Economic & Social History Review 34(3): Film: Victorians Uncovered -3 October 26: Gender and nationalism/national consciousness *1. Chatterjee, P The Nation and its Women, in The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Post-Colonial Histories, Oxford University Press Book on Reserve *2. Sarkar, T Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Domesticity and Nationalism in Nineteenth Century Bengal, Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Community, Religion and Cultural Nationalism, Indiana University Press Chapter on reserve Mid-term Test No Presentations November 2: Women and the Indian National Movement *1. Ray, B The Freedom Movement and Feminist Consciousness in Bengal, , From the Seams of History: Essays on Indian Women ed. Bharati Ray. Chapter on reserve 2. Thapar-Bjorkert, S. and Ryan, L Mother India/Mother Ireland: Comparative gendered dialogues of colonialism and nationalism in the early 20th century, Women s Studies International Forum 25 (3): Thapar, S Women as Activists; Women as Symbols: A Study of the Indian Nationalist Movement, Feminist Review, No. 44, (Summer), pp November 9: Gender and Minority Groups *1. Sarkar, M Muslim Women and the Politics of (In)visibility in Late Colonial Bengal, Journal of Historical Sociology 14 (2), Gupta, C Hindu women, Muslim Men, Sexuality, Obscenity, Community: Women, Muslims, and the Hindu Public in Colonial India. Palgrave Publishers. Chapter on Reserve 3. Lambert-Hurley, S Fostering sisterhood - Muslim women and the All-India Ladies' Association, Journal of Women s History 16 (2):

6 November 16: Gender, Colonial Education and Medicine *1. Savage, D.W Missionaries and the Development of a Colonial Ideology of Female Education in India, Gender & History 9 (2), Powell A. A. and A. I. Nayeem, Redesigning the Zenana: Domestic Education in Eastern Bengal in the Early Twentieth Century, Rhetoric and Reality: Gender and the Colonial Experience in South Asia ed. A. A. Powell and S. Lambert-Hurley Oxford University Press Chapter on Reserve 3. Bannerji, Himani Mothers and Teachers: Gender and Class in Educational Proposals for and by Women in Colonial Bengal, Journal of Historical Sociology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-30, March 4. Lal, M The politics of gender and medicine in colonial india - the countess-ofdufferins fund, , Bulletin of the history of medicine, vol. 68( 1 ): November 23: Gender, Property, Work and Law *1. Sreenivas M Conjugality and capital: Gender, families, and property under colonial law in India, Journal of Asian Studies 63 (4): Haggis, J Ironies of emancipation: Changing configurations of women s work in the mission of sisterhood to Indian women, Feminist Review, 65 (Summer): Sen, S Will the land not be tilled: Women s work in the rural Economy, in Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry Cambridge University Press Chapter on Reserve November 30: Gender and Nationalism in late colonial India and Decolonization *1. Silverman, D. C Nationalism and Feminism in Late Colonial India: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment, , Modern Asian Studies, 27(4): Tusan M.E Writing Stri Dharma: International feminism, Nationalist Politics, and Women's Press Advocacy in late Colonial India, Women s History Review 12 (4): Butalia, U Legacies of Departure: Decolonization, Nation-making, and Gender, Gender and Empire ed. P. Levine, Oxford University Press Chapter on Reserve Article Review due in class 6