Decolonizing the Hindu Condition

Decolonizing the Hindu Condition

Course Content:

Narratives influence the perception of reality and truth. A distorted narrative or a false narrative produces a distorted perception of reality or truth or “false consciousness.” One of the chief aims of the Postcolonial Hindu Studies concentration is to explore thoroughly how the British studies on India during the colonial era generated a false narrative which distorts the manner in which the Hindu reality is described in the texts of the Hindus. This false narrative, however, has had and continues to have cultural, social, and psychological consequences.

Whereas the course Anticolonialism and Postcolonialism gives a theoretical framework to understand the psychological and sociological consequences of colonization and examines these issues from a universal perspective, this course gets into specifics regarding Hinduism and India. This course has a reciprocal relationship with the course Anticolonialism and Postcolonialism and each course dialectically enhances the understanding of the other. It is not necessary to take one before the other, and both may be taken in either sequence.

Course Learning Objectives:

In this course students will be able to

  1. learn about the consequences of colonization on Hindu psyche and being
  2. explore how language, self-image, culture, and politics of the Hindus have been impacted by colonization
  3. examine the myths and generalizations about the Hindus crafted and perpetuated during the colonial rule that continue to persist in the current day mainstream discourse
  4. investigate how Hindus themselves perpetuate colonial myths today, without critically examining them or investigating their veracity.

Class Structure

There will be a minimum of 3 contact hours with the faculty every week. The class is structured in a way that promotes discussion, dialogue, and debate based on the study of and reflection on study materials each week. The content discussed in each class and the discussions that follow will continue for about 180 minutes. The Faculty will distribute a detailed syllabus and give a bird’s eye view of the course at its very beginning. >>>HUA<<<

Required/Elective: Elective

Prerequisites: Admission into a Program of Study

Faculty/InstructorDr. Kundan Singh

Quarter Offered: Spring 2021

Day: Saturday

Time: 02:00 pm EST – 05:00 pm EST

Start Date: April 10, 2021

End Date: June 19, 2021

James Mill and the Rise of Liberal-Left in Britain

James Mill and the Rise of Liberal-Left in Britain

Course Content:

This course shows that the noxious discourse on Hindus and Hinduism which emerged through the writings of James Mill in the History of British India has a reciprocal and contextual dependence on the rise of liberal and left values in Britain, which also were inspired by his domestic and political writings. 

Course Description:

The writings of James Mill not only disfigured the narrative on India and Hinduism but also influenced the transformation of the British culture, predominantly through the parliamentary reforms of 1832. The rise of the liberal values and culture in Britain occurred in the backdrop of the narrative that painted Hinduism and Hindus as hierarchical and oppressive. The desire for and imagination of liberal and democratic England, which began to become a reality with the advent of the 1832 parliamentary reforms, and the painting of Hindus as hierarchical and oppressive occurred in tandem and are interconnected.

Though I reserve the exploration of the transformation of the Indian condition as hierarchical and oppressive post the emergence of James Mill’s History of British India in future courses, the current one will explore the aforementioned interconnection and reciprocal dependence in significant detail by examining the original writings of James Mill on India and for Britain.    

In this course, the student will

  1. Learn about the political writings of James Mill, produced immediately after the publication of his History of British India in 1817. 
  2. Explore the reciprocal dependence between his political writings for Britain and his narrative on India and Hinduism. 
  3. Learn that Mill’s narrative on Hindus and Hinduism is deeply colored by his British social and religious experiences. 
  4. Learn how the ideas of James Mill travelled through John Stuart Mill to Karl Marx.    

Class Structure

There will be a minimum of 3 contact hours with the faculty every week. The class is structured in a way that promotes discussion, dialogue, and debate based on the study of and reflection on study materials each week. The content discussed in each class and the discussions that follow will continue for about 180 minutes.

Required/Elective: Elective

Prerequisites: Admission into a Program of Study

Faculty/InstructorDr. Kundan Singh

Quarter Offered: Fall 2021

Day: Saturday

Time: 02:00 pm EST – 05:00 pm EST

Start Date: October 9, 2021

End Date: December 18, 2021