Instructor: Dr. Sanjam Ahluwalia

Office: LA 232 

Phone # : 3-8709

Office Hours: MWF 11.30-12.20 and by appointment

E-mail: Sanjam.Ahluwalia@nau.edu

Class Meetings: LA 321; MWF: 1.50 --2.40 pm.

IMPORTANT: Please look at the "Northern Arizona University Policy Statements" and the "Classroom Management Statement" at the back of this document before reading the syllabus.
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed to introduce students to themes within women's history in Asia. This is a liberal studies class bearing the thematic focus "Valuing the Diversity of Human Experience." It is in the "Cultural Understanding," distribution block. This course will address several of the essential skills which are features of the liberal studies program, including critical readings, critical and creative thinking, ethical reasoning, effective writing and oral communication.

Covering a wide chronological time frame, we will use gender as a lens to examine the past. While privileging gender as an analytical category, we will simultaneously explore how gender identities were inflected by politics of race, class, caste, community, religion, and nation, in different parts of Asia--primarily India and Afghanistan. This course will also reflect upon current debates within women's history to familiarize us with some of the issues and problems that arise in re-writing the past from a gendered perspective. To facilitate our understanding of the varied historical experiences of Indian and Afghani women this course will use materials drawn from primary documents, academic writings, autobiography, fiction, and films. 
 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the course students will demonstrate their understanding of the complex historical roles of women within Indian and Afghani histories by writing critical commentaries on primary documents, films and works of fiction. In essay exams for the Mid-term and the Finals, they will indicate their ability to critically examine the past from a gendered perspective and identify the tools employed by women's historians to reconstruct the past. This course will also enable students to develop effective speaking and writing skills through class participation and various writing assignments
 
 
 

COURSE STRUCTURE:

The class will be a combination of lectures and discussions, with expectations of increasing student participation and performance. Students will be responsible for ALL assigned readings on the day of class discussions. 
 

While this class encourages students to feel free to speak their minds, this is not to happen at the expense of others' opinions and beliefs. As an instructor, I will make sure that class discussions are carried out in a productive and intellectually engaging manner in keeping with safe learning and teaching principles outlined in the NAU policy statement. It is the responsibility of students to acquaint themselves with these principles. 
 

TEXTBOOK AND REQUIRED MATERIALS:

1. Barbara N. Ramusack and Sharon Sievers, Restoring Women to History: Asia. REQUIRED. 

2. Susie Tharu and K.Lalitha eds., Women Writing in India, Volume 1. REQUIRED.

3. Melody Chavis, Meena: Heroine of Afgahnistan . REQUIRED. 
 

A set of REQUIRED or other RECOMMENDED readings will also be placed on reserve at the Cline library. It is your responsibility to make sure the assigned readings are completed on the day of class discussion.
 

COURSE SCHEDULE: SUBJECT TO MODIFICATION 

January 19: Course Introduction
 

January 21-24: Introduction to Women's History in Asia and Issues within Women's History: We will discuss some of the significant debates within the field of women's history and trace how the field has evolved during the last two or three decades. We will examine some of the difficulties historians encounter in retrieving women's voices from the past. In seeking to understand the theoretical concerns underlying women's history, we will identify ways in which historians have undertaken to address some of these in their specific works, especially within Asian women's history.
 

Readings: Restoring Women, "Introduction," xvii-li; WOMEN WRITING IN INDIA-READINGS "Introduction," Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, eds., Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid. This essay will be available on E-reserve in the Cline library. 
 

January 24 : Class discussion of Sangari and Vaid article.
 

January 26 : Introductory lecture on India. 

Chronological handout.
 

January 26-31-: Prescriptive Literature and Gendered Representations: We will critically examine selections from prescriptive literature to identify gendered roles assigned within Indian society. We will also watch parts of a dramatized version of the Indian epic, Mahabharata, directed by Peter Brooks. The reading material will be selected from the web and students are expected to get a print out from the web site that will be indicated in the previous class. 
 

Readings: Restoring Women, 15-35; Women Writing in India, 65-70 and Romila Thapar, 

Web Readings: Selections from Laws of Manu; Selections from the Qur'an; Selections fromArthashastra; and Kamasutra.
 

January 31: Class discussion of Thapar's article! 
 

February 2-: Expressions of Women's Agency: Within the devotional traditions of Bhakti and Sufism in Medieval India, women found a platform for expressing their agency through poetry and sainthood. We will read some of the poetry written by women during this period to identify subversive expressions by women articulated within patriarchal structures. 

Readings: Restoring Women, 35-40; Selections from Women Writing in India, 82-87, 89-94. 
 

February 4-11: Reform and Recasting: This week we will examine how the various reform movements in colonial India sought to recast Indian women as symbols and repositories of Indian tradition. We will also watch the film Home and the World. 
 

Reading: Restoring Women, 41-53. Women Writing in India, 145-186; 221-235, 340-352. Anand Yang, "Whose Sati? Widow Burning in Early Nineteenth Century India," in Journal of Women's History, Volume1, # 2, (1989): 8-33; and Sumanta Banerjee, "Marginalization of Women's Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Bengal." Yang and Banerjee's articles will be available on e-reserve in Cline library. 
 

February 11: Class discussion of the film, Home and the World, and articles by Yang and Banerjee. 
 

February 14 -21: Nation and Its Women: We will discuss the role of Indian nationalism both in allowing and limiting women's participation in public sphere politics. We will study the writings of male national leaders such as Gandhi to examine how nationalism sought to recast gender roles, which in the ultimate analysis did not allow women the freedom of expression promised with swaraj, national independence. 
 

February 14-Documentary on Gandhi
 

Readings: Restoring Women, 56-65; Selections from Mahatma Gandhi's writings. A selection from Gandhi's writings will be handed out in class. Madhu Kishwar, "Gandhi on Women,"Economic and Political Weekly 20 (October 5 & 12): 1691-1702, 1753-1758; David Hardiman, "Father of the Nation," in Hardiman, Gandhi in His Times and Ours. Pp94-122. 
 

February 21: Class discussion of Kishwar and Hardiman's articles!
 

February 23: Mid-term review.
 

February 25-In-class mid-term exam-please remember to bring Blue books!!
 

February 28-March 4: Indian Feminism and Making of Modern India: This week we will examine some of the issues "first wave" Indian feminists addressed within their magazines and organizations such as the Women's India Association and the All India Women's Conference. We will closely analyze the agenda of Indian feminists to determine how their own locations of caste, class, and community shaped their political philosophy and their visions for free and modern India. 
 

Readings: Mythali Sreenivas, "Emotion, Identity, and the female Subject: Tamil Women's Magazines in Colonial India," in Journal of Women's History, Volume 14, # 4, (Winter,2003):59-82. This article will be placed on e-reserve in Cline library. 
 

March 4: Class discussion of Sreenivas article! 
 

March 7-18: Partition and Histories of Loss and of New Homes: Under this theme we will look at the experiences of women during the violence that accompanied the partition of the sub-continent in 1947. New feminist scholarship has highlighted the specific histories of abduction and relocation women of different religious communities faced during this period. 
 

Readings: Urvashi Butalia, "Abducted and Widowed Women: Questions of Sexuality and Citizenship During Partition,"in Meenakshi Thapan, ed., Embodiment: Essays on Gender and Identity (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997): 90-106; Ritu Menon, "Border Crossing: Travelling without a Destination," and Ranjit Kaur, "Back Again, After 40 Years," both these articles are from Ritu Menon ed, No Woman's Land: Women From Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh Write on Partition of India. Articles by Butalia, Menon and Kaur will be placed on e-reserve in Cline library. 
 

March 18: Class discussion of assigned readings and film Pinjaar!
 

March 21-28: NO CLASS-SPRING BREAK!
 

March 30: Paper on Partition Due in Class! 
 

March 30-April 8: Dangerous Alliances: Women and Religious Fundamentalism: We will examine how Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism have sought to represent women's issues, and why some women have embraced the sectarian ideology espoused by these groups. 
 

March 30-April 4: Film: Father, Son and Holy War.

Readings: Paola Bacchetta,"'All our Goddess are Armed': Religion, Resistance and Revenge in the Life of a Militant Hindu Nationalist Woman," in Bacchetta, Gender in the Hindu Nation: RSS Women as Ideologues; Zoya Hasan, "Minority Identity, State Policy and Political Process," in ed., Zoya Hasan, Forging Identities: Gender, Communities and the State, 59-73. Articles will be available on e-reserve in the Cline library.
 

April 8: Class discussion of Bucchetta and Hasan articles and film, Father, Son, and Holy War. 
 

April 11: In class short essay exam! Please remember to bring blue books! 
 

April 13-20: Feminist Politics in Postcolonial India: Under this topic we will identify certain issues that engage feminist organizations and politics in postcolonial India.
 

April 13-15: Film When Women Unite.
 

Readings: Gail Omvedt, "Women's Movement: Some Ideological Debates," in Maitrayee Chaudhuri ed., Feminism in India; Nivedita Menon, " Abortion: When Pro-Choice is Anti-Women," in Menon, Recovering Subversion: Feminist Politics Beyond the Law. Articles will be placed on e-reserve in Cline library. 
 

April 20: Class discussion of Omvedt and Menon article. 
 

April 22: Indian "Feminist": Conflict over Lexicon? We will look at some debates and differences among Indian feminists over terminology and identity politics in the more recent past. 
 

Readings: Madhu Kishwar, "Horror of 'Isms': Why I do not Call Myself a Feminist." This article will be placed on e-reserve in Cline library. 
 

April 25: Introductory lecture on Afghanistan
 

April 25-27: Afghani Women as Agents of Resistance: In this concluding section we will contrast the dominant western representations of Afghani women as victims with the life story of Meena, a member of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). We will also reflect upon differences within feminist understandings determined by specific historical and geographical contexts to appreciate the many nuances of women's experiences across time and space.
 

Readings:Melody Chavis, Meena: Heroine of Afghanistan. 
 

April 27: Class discussion of Chavis! 
 

April 29: Concluding Remarks!!
 

MAY 9^th Take-Home essay due in my office before 5.00pm! The question will be handed out in class a week in advance along with guidelines. 
 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: 

You are expected to engage with weekly readings carefully and critically and participate actively in class discussions. This class will also require use of internet resources. 

Review Paper: You will be expected to write short critical responses to academic articles, works of fiction, primary documents, and films. 

Mid-Term Exam: There will be an in-class mid-term exam. The format of which will be discussed in class.

Short Essay Question: In class short essay questions, again the format will be discussed in class and work-sheets provided ahead of time. 

Take Home Essay Question: This will be the final requirement for the class, the question will be handed out in class a week before the assignment is due. 
 

ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME: 

The course will use differenttypes of instruments to assess students achievement of the learning objectives. The ONE review paper ( 20 points of the total course grade) will help students to appreciate the complex issues addressed by historiography on Asian women. This part of the course requirement will also help prepare students to effectively communicate their ideas through prose and will strengthen their writing skills. Mid-term exam (20 points) and Short Essay questions (20 points) together will provide students an opportunity to demonstrate their critical thinking and reasoning skills through testing their ability to make connections between historical events in different settings. Class participation (30 points) will train students to articulate their own ideas clearly and promote ethical reasoning through debate and intellectual interaction with fellow class-mates and the instructor. Take home essay question (10 points) will help students horn their analytical and writing skills. This last assignment will require students to carefully craft their typed response with a clearly stated thesis well supported by evidence in the body of their essay. 

LEARNING PORTFOLIO: 

The short written response papers on readings, films, and novels could be added to the students learning portfolios to effectively demonstrate their critical thinking and effective writing skills acquired through this course. 
 

COURSE GRADES: 

Grades for the course will be calculated in the following way:

Class Discussion and Participation and class discussion 30 points; Review Paper 20 points; Mid-term Exam 20 points; and Short Essay Questions 20 points; and Take Home essay, 10 points. 
 

TOTAL FOR COURSE 100 points

The grading scale for the course will be as follows: 

90%+ = A; 80 - 89%= B; 70-79%= C; 60-69%= D; below 60%= F.
 

COURSE POLICIES: 

ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE IN CLASS.
 

PLEASE NOTE: I do not give extensions, incompletes, or make-up exams, except in cases allowed for by University Policy. 
 

Plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any of the assignments, and will result in failing the course. Please consult the section on "Academic Integrity" in the NAU Policy Statements appended to this syllabus for further details. IT IS THE STUDENTS' RESPONSIBILITY TO FAMILIARIZE HERSELF/HIMSELF WITH THESE MATTERS AS DEFINED BY THE UNIVERSITY. 
 

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY: 

While I will not take regular roll, frequent and repeated absence and/or lack of punctuality could effect your grade. As pointed out above 30 points of your class grade will depend on participation in the various class discussions assigned in the syllabus.PLEASE NOTE: All class discussions will be graded and there is NO way to make-up for missed discussions! Whatever your reasons for arriving late or missing a class, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to arrange to meet or call a classmate and find out what happened in that class.
 

COURSE POLICIES:

ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE IN CLASS. NO LATE OR EMAIL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.