HIU34550: Colonial South Asia: Imperialism, Resistance, Identity, and Nationalism
This module on colonial South Asia will run chronologically and thematically. It offers a survey of South Asia history from the early nineteenth century to 1947, covering the various roles of the East India Company in India from trade to conquest, the consolidation of the British Raj after the 1857 ‘rebellion’, and modes of colonial governance as well as collaboration, anti-colonial resistance, and articulations of nationalism by various Indian groups across South Asia.
- Module Coordinator:
- Hussain
- Duration:
- Michaelmas Term
- Contact Hours:
- 2 hours per week
- Weighting:
- 10 ECTS
- Assessment:
- 2000-2500 word essay (40%) and 3000-3500 word essay (60%)
We will consider colonial surveying, medical and public health interventions, issues of gender and the law, the role of caste in Indian society to explore how Indian and British actors fought over, debated, collaborated, and negotiated terms of governance and, later, independence in India. The module will end by following studying anti-colonial and independence movements and the conflicting debates about what an Independent India would look like which culminated in the partitioning of Punjab and Bengal and the creation of Pakistan.