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HI3K6-30 India And The Problem of Postcolonial Democracy: A History Of Events

Department
History
Level
Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader
Aditya Sarkar
Credit value
30
Module duration
22 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

This module will seek to introduce students to the turbulent history of Indian democracy. It will explore “a history of events”, using six key moments in the history of post-Independence India as springboards for investigations of deep-rooted social, political and ideological tensions. The themes covered will be: the Communist Left and insurrectionary challenges to the Indian state; feminist mobilizations around the pervasiveness of sexual violence; anti-caste radicalism and the complex links between democracy and caste hierarchies; the rise of right-wing Hindu supremacism to its present hegemonic position in Indian life; and the authoritarian potentials of a formally democratic state. Each theme will be elaborated across a series of weeks, beginning with a dense narrative exploration of a discrete event, and broadening out subsequently to trace both the historical roots and the legacies of the events in question. These engagements will be designed to introduce students to the relationships between events, processes and contexts; as well as to the connections between micro-historical and macro-historical modes of analysis.

Module web page

Module aims

Students will be introduced to concepts, categories and debates surrounding a major democratic experience in the decolonized world (and, indeed, to the fraught history of “the world’s largest democracy”). They will be encouraged to think analytically about the intersections of history and political theory, and to think about democracy historically rather than normatively. By the end of the module, students should be in possession of a broader range of historical reference for thinking about problems of democracy, authoritarianism and populism; left and right; majoritarianism and minorities – all key questions both in historical and contemporary terms. They will also be introduced to diverse tranches of primary source material in a subject- area which has in fact only been very thinly mined by historians so far.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

  • Week 1: Introduction;
  • Weeks 2-3: Transitions from Colonialism;
  • Weeks 4-5: India as A Postcolonial Democracy;
  • Week 7: Authoritarian Populism - I: The Emergency, 1975-77;
  • Weeks 8-10: The Left In Postcolonial India;
  • Weeks 11-12: Gender And Feminist Movements;
  • Weeks 13-15: Caste And Democratic Politics;
  • Weeks 17-19: The Hindu Right and the Politics of Majoritarianism;
  • Week 20: Authoritarian Populism - II: The Present

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of a major democratic experience in the decolonized world, and the fraught history of “the world’s largest democracy”
  • Critically analyse and evaluate a broad range of sources relating to the history of democracy in India
  • Effectively communicate ideas, and make informed, coherent and persuasive arguments, relating to problems of democracy, authoritarianism and populism; left and right; majoritarianism and minorities
  • Critically review and consolidate theoretical, methodological, and historiographical ideas relating to the intersections of history and political theory, and to the history of democracy

Indicative reading list

  1. Ramachandra Guha: India After Gandhi: The History Of The World’s Largest Democracy (2007)
  2. Achin Vanaik: The Painful Transition: Bourgeois Democracy in India (1990)
  3. Sudipta Kaviraj: The Trajectories of The Indian State (2010)
  4. Sudipta Kaviraj: The Enchantment of Democracy And India (2011)
  5. Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam: Power And Contestation: India Since 1989 (2007)
  6. Achin Vanaik: The Furies of Indian Communalism (2017)
  7. K. Balagopal: Ear To The Ground: Selected Writings on Class And Caste (2011)
  8. Gail Omvedt: Dalits And The Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar And The Dalit Movement In Colonial India (1994)
  9. Praful Bidwai: The Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting The Indian Left (2015)
  10. Ajay Gudavarthy: Maoism, Democracy And Globalization
  11. Thomas Blom Hansen: The Saffron Wave: Democracy And Hindu Nationalism in Modern India (1999)
  12. Concerned Citizens Tribunal – 2002: An Inquiry Into The Carnage in Gujarat (2002)
  13. Nikita Sud: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and the State: A Biography of Gujarat (2012)
  14. Tapan Basu et al: Khaki Shorts And Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right (1993)
  15. Gyan Prakash: Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi And Democracy’s Turning Point (2018)
  16. Inukonda Thirumali: Against Dora And Nizam: People’s Movement in Telengana, 1939-1948 (2003)
  17. Ania Loomba: Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism and Feminism in India (2018)
  18. Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (eds.): Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History (1989)
  19. Radha Kumar: The History of Doing: An Illustrated Account of Movements for Women’s Rights and Feminism in India, 1800-1990 (1993)
  20. Nandita Gandhi and Nandita Shah: The Issues At Stake: Theory And Practice in the Contemporary Women’s Movement (1992)
  21. Mala Khullar (ed.): Writing The Women’s Movement: A Reader (2003)
  22. Nivedita Menon: Seeing Like A Feminist (2012)
  23. Bernard D’Mello: India After Naxalbari: Unfinished History (2018)
  24. Srila Roy: Remembering Revolution: Gender, Violence And Subjectivity in India’s Naxalbari Movement (2013)
  25. Christophe Jaffrelot: India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India (2003)
  26. Anupama Rao: The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern India (2009)
  27. Manoranjan Byapari: Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of A Dalit (2017)
  28. Sujatha Gidla: Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India (2017)
  29. Partha Chatterjee: The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World (2004)
  30. Partha Chatterjee: Lineages of Political Society: Studies in Postcolonial Democracy (2008)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.

Study time

Type Required
Seminars 18 sessions of 2 hours (12%)
Tutorials 4 sessions of 1 hour (1%)
Private study 260 hours (87%)
Total 300 hours

Private study description

History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Seminar contribution 10% No
Reassessment component
1000 word reflection Yes (extension)
Assessment component
1500 word essay 10% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
3000 word source based essay 40% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
3000 word essay 40% Yes (extension)
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Termly module feedback and responses by module leader.

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 3 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 3 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
  • Year 4 of UHIA-V101 Undergraduate History (with Year Abroad)

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 3 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
  • Year 4 of UHIA-V1V6 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with Year Abroad)
  • Year 3 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
  • Year 4 of UHIA-VM12 Undergraduate History and Politics (with Year Abroad)
  • Year 3 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
  • Year 4 of UHIA-VL14 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with Year Abroad)