REL 286 INDIA'S IDENTITIES: RELIGION, CASTE AND GENDER IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH INDIA
This course emphasizes the diversity of contemporary Indian identities, devoting particular attention to religion, caste, and gender. This course brings students into a range of Indian religious spaces associated with Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish traditions and into direct contact with Indians from an array of caste backgrounds, education levels, and occupations, allowing them to develop an informed appreciation of the diversity of the world's largest democracy. Through directed study opportunities, lectures, and daily interactions with Indians who live and work in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, we will consider the nature of religious identity and practice; explore cultural expectations regarding gender (including arranged and other forms of marriage); assess the ways in which caste does and does not matter in contemporary society; and analyze how tradition and modernity interact in this rapidly changing nation.
Cross Listed Courses
GBL 286 IS
Prerequisite
Acceptance into program and completion of
GBL 186
Course Types
Civilization; Society; Experiential Learning Requirement; Women's, Gender, and Sexualities Studies Elective; Asian Studies Elective; Interreligious Studies Elective
Offered
Offered winter.
Notes
Application, acceptance and additional travel fee required. The course may also be counted as a Religious Studies elective and counts toward the Interreligious Studies, Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies and Asian Studies minors.