This list contains courses explicitly on a South Asian topic and courses with an international or relevant thematic focus taught by South Asia Center affiliated faculty. Always double-check the UW Time Schedule for the most current course information.
ART H 209: Photography’s Histories in India
Instructor: Akshaya Tankha
5 credits (A&H, W) | SLN 10506
Course Description
Dominant accounts of the history of photography invariably center Europe, positioning the Global South as a site of its outward spread. This course challenges this narrative by highlighting how colonial rule and surveillance made South Asia central to the development of photography. Explore photography’s role in regional processes of decolonization, its place in the history of postcolonial modernism and popular culture, and recent developments in photography’s exhibitionary and published forms in contemporary South Asia.
ART H 314: Modern and Contemporary Art in India
Instructor: Akshaya Tankha
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 10522
Course Description
Surveys the visual arts of India from the late colonial through the postcolonial period. Topics include impact of colonialism, anti-colonial nationalist claims for art, shifting status of oil paintings, emergence of a national style, new art movements in urban centers, and art in the service of forge postcolonial identities and alliances.
ASIAN 207: Namaste: Language Politics and South Asia
Instructor: Sravanthi Kollu
5 credits (A&H or SSc) | SLN 10546
Course Description
Explore South Asia through the politics of language in this introductory course. Whether you are curious about the region, have been greeted with a ‘namaste’ at your local yoga class, or grew up around South Asian languages, this course invites you to bring your curiosity and questions. We will put these in conversation with essays, poetry and academic texts by South Asian and diasporic authors to explore language’s links to postcolonial literature, history and identity. Across three modules on representation, colonialism, and speech and accent, we will study how debates about language have shaped the region and its diaspora.
ASIAN 223: Buddhist Literature
Instructor: Joseph Marino
5 credits (A&H or SSc) | SLN 10549
Course Description
Introduction to Buddhist literature in India, China, and Japan including biographies, poetry, narratives, ritual manuals, doctrinal treatises, and historical accounts. Attention also given to issues of textual composition, transmission, authorship, audience, context, and function. Taught in English.
BIO A 450: Biodemography
Instructor: Darryl Holman
5 credits (SSc or Nsc) | SLN 11237
Course Description
Introduction to theory, methods, and literature of biodemography. Examines biological mechanisms underlying patterns of aging, mortality, fertility, and population growth and decline. Includes readings from anthropology, sociology, demography, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, and epidemiology. Covers prehistoric, historic, and modern human populations, and non-human model systems.
COM 383: Qualitative Communication Research Methods
Instructor: Anis Rahman
5 credits (SSc) | SLN 12596
Course Description
Introduces students to a range of qualitative research methods for analyzing communication. Students design and execute a qualitative communication research project.
GWSS 305: Gender and Feminism in an International Context
Instructor: TBD
5 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN22186
Course Description
Critical feminisms from global theoretical perspectives. Introduces how gender is constructed through global power relations and operates differently across scales including the body, city, nation, and globe. Examines how gender intersects with other social phenomena including race, class, and nationality. Explores how women are situated and represented differently.
GH 593: Rethinking Global Health
Instructor: Deepa Rao
1 credit | SLN 15114
Course Description
Focuses on building a global health Master of Public Health cohort with a sense of camaraderie, confidence, and communication skills to participate effectively in future work in global health. Topics covered include social injustice, inequity, and a deep examination of our roles as public health professionals within the field of global health. We use an open forum for exchange of viewpoints. Students are considered co-developers of the course.
GWSS 556: Decolonial Feminist Theory and Practice
Instructor: Cricket Keating
5 credits | SLN 22241
Course Description
Examines relationships among colonialism, imperialism, and occupation and racial, gender, and sexual hierarchies. Students focus on successful struggles for justice, freedom, and sovereignty. Develops skills to understand approaches to research and the politics of knowledge production.
HSTAS 402: History of Medieval and Mughal India
Instructor: Purnima Dhavan
5 credits (SSc) | SLN 15639
Course Description
Medieval India; emphasis on forms of political organizations and economic life, social organizations, and cultural developments.
JSIS B 329/CHID 329/LABOR 329: Introduction to Capitalism
Instructor: Sunila Kale
5 credits (SSc) | SLN 16203, 12390, 16293
Course Description
Defines and differentiates between capital and capitalism. Examines the evolution of the global capitalist system and the framework shaping our world today. Analyzes historical and contemporary links between capitalism’s development and social and political processes. Covers events from the late nineteenth century to the present, emphasizing perspectives from history, economics, sociology, anthropology, and literature.
JSIS B 330: International Political Economy
Instructor: Debamanyu Das
5 credits (SSc, W) | SLN 16204
Course Description
Explores how political systems shape trade, finance, and development, and how economic trends affect global politics. Studies globalization, debt crises, international trade and finance, trade wars, and how politics and economics connect globally. Dives into how global economic decisions are made and their impact on countries in both the Global North and South.
JSIS 511: Research Design And Methods For International Studies
Instructor: Scott B. Radnitz
5 credits | SLN 16137
Course Description
Review of the approaches to posing and answering research questions in the disciplines affiliated with international studies. Explores epistemological approaches and associated methodologies to prepare students to effectively read across the literature of international studies, develop their own research design based on a research question, and write a research proposal.
MUSIC 259/MELC 269: Music Cultures of the Silk Road
Instructor: Talant Mawkanuli
5 credits (DIV, A&H or SSc) | SLN 17967, 17587
Course Description
Explores music cultures of the Silk Road lands of Central Eurasia, China, and the Middle East from anthropological perspectives. Examines the interconnections between music and culture, and the political ramifications and the sociohistorical contexts of colonization, imperialism, and sovereignty on the production of musical expressions. Topics include culture, ethnicity, diversity of musical expression, literature, religion, and colonialism.
POLS 403: Advanced Seminar in International Relations
Instructor: James Kim
5 credits (SSc) | SLN 19544
Course Description
Examination of contemporary developments in the field of international relations. Content varies according to the nature of developments and research interests of the instructor.
SOC 508: Logic of Social Inquiry
Instructor: Julie Brines
5 credits | SLN 20270
Course Description
Research design for social inquiry. Includes topics from problem formulation, conceptualization, and planning for high quality data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data for social science studies.
LANGUAGE COURSES
HINDI 102: Elementary Hindi
Instructor: Amruta Chandekar
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15495
Course Description
Modern literary Hindi. Reading, writing, and conversation. Introduction to Devanagari script. Second in a sequence of three.
HINDI 202: Intermediate Hindi
Instructor: Amruta Chandekar
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15496
Course Description
Systematic expansion of vocabulary and grammar. Intermediate-level prose and poetry readings. Oral drills. Second in a sequence of three.
HINDI 317/417: Hindi Popular Songs
Instructor: TBD
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15497
Course Description
Discussion and analysis of popular songs from movies, folk, devotional, seasonal, and festival songs within their cultural context with attention to rhetoric and aesthetics.
HINDI 323: Advanced Hindi Third Year: The Novel
Instructor: Jennifer Dubrow
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15498
Course Description
Surveys the development of the novel in Hindi, with readings of representative texts and discussion of their historical and cultural contexts.
HINDI 423: Survey of Modern Hindi Literature: Novel
Instructor: Jennifer Dubrow
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15500
Course Description
Survey of Hindi literature from the late nineteenth century to the present. Includes readings from representative novels, situated in their socio-historical context, and related to popular perception, a. o. Bollywood films.
HINDI 504: Studies in Classical Hindi Literature (Rajasthani)
Instructor: Heidi Pauwels
5 credits (SSc or A&H) | SLN 15502
Course Description
Introduction to the literary language of Rajasthan. Includes reading of extracts from representative selections from Rajasthani literature, situated in their socio-historical context, and related to popular perception in contemporary music recordings, theatrical performances, and Bollywood films.
PRSAN 102: Elementary Persian
Instructor: Elham Monfaredi
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 19595
Course Description
Conversation, pronunciation, and graded reading. Persian alphabet and basic sentence constructions. Offers rudimentary conversational and reading ability with a vocabulary of about two thousand words. Second in a sequence of three.
PRSAN 102: Elementary Persian
Instructor: Elham Monfaredi
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 19596
Course Description
Reading of simple texts with emphasis on reading and writing, conversation skills, grammar, and syntax. Builds a vocabulary of standard Persian in preparation for advanced reading and comprehension of literary texts. Second in a sequence of three.
SNKRT 102: Elementary Sanskrit
Instructor: David Fowler
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 20193
Course Description
Basic grammar and vocabulary of the classical language. Reading of elementary texts from the epic or Puranic literature. Second in a sequence of three.
SNKRT 202: Intermediate Sanskrit
Instructor: David Fowler
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 20194
Course Description
Further study of classical grammar; introduction to classical literature and Vedic language and texts. Second in a sequence of three.
SNKRT 312: Advanced Sanskrit
Instructor: Joseph Marino
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 20195
Course Description
Reading and analysis of classical texts, chosen according to students’ interests. Second in a sequence of three.
SNKRT 550: Seminar on Sanskrit Literature
Instructor: Joseph Marino
5 credits | SLN 20200
Course Description
Detailed study of selected authors, periods, or traditions, within the context of Indian literary history.
URDU 102: Elementary Urdu
Instructor: Jameel Ahmad
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 21831
Course Description
Modern literary Urdu. Reading, writing, conversation, and listening comprehension. Introduction to Perso-Arabic script. Second in a sequence of three.
URDU 202: Intermediate Urdu
Instructor: Jameel Ahmad
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 21832
Course Description
Systematic expansion of vocabulary and grammar. Intermediate-level prose and poetry readings. Expansion of skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening comprehension. Second in a sequence of three.
URDU 323: Advanced Urdu Third Year: The Novel
Instructor: Jennifer Dubrow
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 21833
Course Description
Surveys the development of the novel in Urdu, with readings of representative texts and discussion of their historical and cultural contexts.
URDU 423: Advanced Urdu Fourth Year: The Novel
Instructor: Jennifer Dubrow
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 21834
Course Description
Surveys the development of the novel in Urdu, with readings of representative texts and discussion of their historical and cultural contexts.
S ASIA 498 A: Seminar in Hindi and Urdu Periodicals
Instructor: Jennifer Dubrow
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 20110
Course Description
This course is for graduate and advanced undergraduate students with advanced proficiency in Hindi and Urdu (especially reading). We will study the flourishing of Hindi and Urdu periodicals, with emphasis on women’s magazines, in the early 20th century.