Northern Arizona University                                                                           Fall 1999
College of Arts and Sciences                                                                         Department of History

HISTORY 621: PROBLEMS IN ASIAN HISTORY: SUBALTERN SUBJECTS AND "POSTCOLONIAL" HISTORIES

Sanjay Joshi                                                              Meeting Time: Mon. 2.00-4.30 PM
LA 206                                                                       Location: LA 203
Phone: 523-6216                                                       Office Hours: Wed. and Fri. 10.15-12.15
Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu                                                Web Page: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6/

Description, Background, and Objectives

The Subaltern Studies project originally emerged as a result of dissatisfaction among scholars with the ways in which traditional historiography erased histories of subordinated groups in South Asian society. Over time however, Subaltern Studies has become intellectual hot property across the world and also developed a broad interdisciplinary following. Much of the current global interest in Subaltern Studies comes from the ways the project intersects with, and contributes to, a larger "postcolonial" critique. Historians and scholars from a variety of disciplines today regularly cite Subaltern Studies in their work, or use the Gramscian category of "subaltern" as it has been deployed by Ranajit Guha and other members of the Subaltern Studies collective. Has "postcoloniality" enhanced or attenuated the agenda of the Subalternists and historiography in general? This is the basic question that the course hopes to explore.
 

The "postcolonial" turn in Subaltern Studies, while contributing to its immense popularity within the realms of western academe, has also generated its share of critiques and disagreements. A number of scholars have questioned the premises, implications, as well as the results which the "postcolonial" turn has produced in "Subalternist" historical writings. These critiques of the Subaltern Studies parallel, though are not identical to, the sorts of questions being raised about postcolonial writing in the humanities, liberal arts and social sciences more generally. By tracing the history of this historiographical intervention, through exploring the changing nature of the the Subaltern Studies project, the course provides an opportunity to evaluate the significance of "postcoloniality" in a specific historical and historiographical context.
 

Prerequisites

The course is open to graduate students from a variety of disciplines. A background in South Asian history or culture is not a pre-requisite. But given that much of the course does deal with historical and historiographical questions relating to South Asia, some understanding of South Asian history and culture will necessarily accompany our efforts to understand the debates surrounding "subalternity." Familiarity with current debates in cultural theory or social and cultural history, particularly as they relate to the colonial and post-colonial contexts, is however desirable.

Readings

We cover a substantial amount of reading in this course. All required, additional, and recommended texts have been ordered at the NAU Bookstore. In addition to these, students will be required to read certain articles for assessing the historiographical debates concerning the "Subalternists." These have been collected in a course packet available at the NAU Bookstore, and can also be put on reserve at the library, or be otherwise made available to all students.

Required Texts

Jawaharlal Nehru. Discovery of India.

Sunil Khilnani. The Idea of India.

Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Spivak ed. Selected Subaltern Studies.

Ranajit Guha ed. A Subaltern Studies Reader, 1986-1995.

Gyanendra Pandey. Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India.

Partha Chatterjee. Nation and Its Fragments.

Shahid Amin. Event, Metaphor, Memory.

Lata Mani. Contentious Traditions.

A COURSE PACKET of readings.
 

In addition you will need to read and report on at least ONE of the following texts.
 

Additional Readings

Ashis Nandy. The Intimate Enemy.

Ranajit Guha. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in India.

Saurabh Dube. Untouchable Pasts.

Ranajit Guha. Dominance Without Hegemony and Other Essays.

Partha Chatterjee ed. Texts of Power.

Mrinalini Sinha. Colonial Masculinity.

Mary John. Discrepent Dislocations.

Amitav Ghosh. In An Antique Land.

David Hardiman. Coming of the Devi.

Sudipta Kaviraj. Unhappy Consciousness.
 

Finally, there are two books that I recommend for BACKGROUND reading. We will not discuss these directly in class, but they may provide useful background material - one for the empirical background of South Asian history, and the other a basic introduction to ideas about "postcoloniality"
 

Recommended Readings

Leela Gandhi. Postcolonial Theory.

Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal. Modern South Asia.
 

Assignments and Evaluation

Students will be required to write one formal paper, write regular one page assignments on the readings, and make at least one oral presentation to the class based on the readings for the week AND (one of) the additional readings indicated for the week.
 

Paper

The final paper for this class should be a substantial historiographical review between fifteen and twenty pages in length. For this paper, students may focus on either:

a. The changing intellectual and/or political concerns of any one of the Subaltern Studies scholars. OR
 

b. How particular historical themes (e.g. nationalism, ethnic ("communal") conflict, or questions of gender) are dealt with in the corpus of "Subalternist" writings. OR

c. Evaluate the contributions, significance, and/or the problems associated with using some SPECIFIC contribution of the Subaltern Studies approach in the historiography of another region of the world (or the theoretical/empirical literature of another discipline) with which they are familiar.
 

This paper is due December 10th, and will count towards 45% of the course grade. A typed proposal for this paper, outlining the topic as well as a preliminary bibliography, is due by October 25.
 

Regular Reviews

Students will be expected to write a weekly one-page review of SEVEN of the readings between Weeks Three and Twelve (that is, September 20 through November 22, inclusive). The review should provide an overview of the theme of the week's readings, pose one substantive question relating to this theme, and provide an answer in outline form. Students should be prepared to elaborate on the outline orally in class. These will count towards 30% of the course grade. The reviews are due on the FRIDAY BEFORE CLASS, and IN NO CASE WILL REVIEWS BE ACCEPTED AFTER CLASS DISCUSSION OF MATERIALS.
 

Oral Presentation

Each student will make an oral presentation of around fifteen minutes on at least one occasion through the semester. The presentation will need to incorporate both the week's regular readings, AND report on the additional reading text assigned for that week. Students may choose any of the weeks for which additional readings have been assigned, and weeks and texts will be allocated on a "first come, first served" basis!! I strongly urge the students scheduled to make the presentation to meet with me the week before the class presentation. The oral presentation will count towards 15% of the course grade.
 

10% of the total grade will be based on my subjective evaluation of the students' participation in the seminar.
 

The grading scale will be as follows:

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

Provisional Course Schedule (subject to modification)
 

August 30 Course Introduction.
 

September 13 Histories of India: Imagining the Nation

Readings

Jawaharlal Nehru. Discovery of India. (Focus on Chapters One, Three, Four, Seven, Eight)
 

Sunil Khilnani. The Idea of India.
 

September 20 Subaltern Studies: The Historiographical Context

Readings

Foreword, pp. v-x Selected Subaltern Studies (SSS)
 

Ranajit Guha, "Preface" and "On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India," SSS.
 

Nehru: Selections of your choice, preferably parts that you did not read last week.
 

September 27: Searching for the Subaltern

Readings (From SSS.)

Gautam Bhadra, "Four Rebels of 1857."
 

David Arnold, "Touching the Body: Perspectives on the Indian Plague."
 

Gyanendra Pandey, "Peasant Revolt and Indian Nationalism."
 

From Subaltern Studies Reader (SSR)

David Hardiman, "Origins and Transformations of the Devi."
 

Additional Reading

David Hardiman. Coming of the Devi.
 

October 4 Writing the Subalterns

Readings (From SSS.)

Ranajit Guha, "Prose of Counter Insurgency."
 

Gyanendra Pandey, "Encounters and Calamities."
 

Shahid Amin, "Gandhi as Mahatma."
 

Dipesh Chakrabarty, "Conditions for Knowledge of Working Class Conditions."
 

Additional Reading

Ranajit Guha. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in India.
 

October 11 Early Critiques and Responses

Readings

Rosalind O'Hanlon, "Recovering the Subject: Subaltern Studies and Histories of Resistance in Colonial South Asia." Modern Asian Studies 22, 1, (1988):189-224. (CP)
 

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, "Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography." (SSS)
 

Gautam Bhadra, "Mentality of Subalternity." (SSR)
 

Ranajit Guha, "Introduction." (SSR)
 

David Arnold. "The Colonial Prison." (SSR)
 

Additional Reading

Ashis Nandy. The Intimate Enemy.
 

October 18 Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial Criticism

Readings

Sanjay Seth, Leela Gandhi, and Michael Dutton, "Postcolonial Studies: a beginning..." Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1: 7-11. (CP)
 

Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism." American Historical Review 99, 5 (December 1994). (CP)
 

Dipesh Chakrabarty, "Postcoloniality and the Artifice of History: Who Speaks for 'Indian' Pasts? (SSR)
 

Gyanendra Pandey, "In Defense of the Fragment: Writing About Hindu-Muslim Riots in India Today." (SSR)
 

Florencia Mallon, "The Promise and Dilemma of Subaltern Studies." American Historical Review 99, 5 (December 1994). (CP)
 

Fredrick Cooper, "Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial African History." American Historical Review 99, 5 (December 1994) (CP)
 

Additional Reading

Ranajit Guha. Dominance Without Hegemony and Other Essays.

October 25 Colonialism and Postcoloniality

Readings

Pandey, Construction of Communalism.
 

Additional Reading

Partha Chatterjee ed. Texts of Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal.

PAPER PROPOSALS DUE
 

November 1 Postcoloniality and the Nation

Readings

Partha Chatterjee, Nation and Its Fragments.
 

Additional Reading

Sudipta Kaviraj. Unhappy Consciousness.
 

November 8 Gendered Subalterns

Reading

Lata Mani, Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India.

Ranajit Guha, "Chandra's Death." (SSR)
 

Additional Reading

Mrinalini Sinha. Colonial Masculinity.

OR

Mary John. Discrepant Dislocations.
 

November 15 Problems of Postcoloniality

Readings

Sumit Sarkar, "The Decline of the Subaltern in Subaltern Studies" in his Writing Social History. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1997. (CP)
 

Ram Guha, "Subaltern and Bhadralok Studies." EPW August 19, 1995: 2056-58; "Beyond Bhadralok and Bankim Studies." EPW February 24, 1996: 495-96. (CP)
 

Anita Chakravarty, "Writing History." EPW December 23, 1995: 3320. (CP)
 

Arvind N. Das, "The Poor Man's Subaltern Studies," Biblio: February 1996: 16-17. (CP)
 

Dipesh Chakrabarty, "Radical Histories and the Question of Enlightenment Rationalism: Some Recent Critiques of Subaltern Studies. Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) April 8, 1995: 751-59. (CP)
 

Dipesh Chakrabarty, "Minority Histories and Subaltern Pasts." EPW February 28, 1998: 473-79. (CP)
 

Additional Reading

Saurabh Dube. Untouchable Pasts.
 

November 22 Re-Writing Subaltern History

Reading

Shahid Amin. Event, Metaphor, Memory.
 

Additional Reading

Amitav Ghosh. In An Antique Land.
 

November 29 Course Review and Paper Presentations
 

December 6 No Class: Write your papers!
 

FINAL PAPERS DUE FRIDAY DECEMBER 10