Northern
Arizona University College
of Arts and Letters
Fall 2022 Department
of History
HIS 560 Readings
in Colonialism and Nationalism
Meetings: Mondays, 4:00 - 6:30 pm, LA 203
Instructor: Sanjay Joshi
LA 206, 523-6216, Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu and http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~sj6
Virtual Office
Hours: Tue, Thu: 2:30 to 3:30 pm, and by appointment. Please send me an email to
set up an appointment even during regular office hours.
CHECK THE COURSE WEB PAGE FOR A COPY OF THIS SYLLABUS WITH CLICKABLE LINKS TO ELECTRONIC
READINGS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ALSO LOOK AT NAU Policy Statements: https://policy.nau.edu/policy/Documents/Syllabus_Policy_Statement_091118.pdf
Course
Description
This
course explores theoretical/historiographical approaches to the history of
colonialism and nationalism. It supports an important thematic area of the
history graduate program but welcomes graduate students from any disciplinary
area. We focus primarily on the period
from the nineteenth century to more contemporary times. In this reading-intensive course we will
explore a variety of approaches to the study of colonialism and nationalism from
older classics to more recent historiographical approaches to the subject. Surveying
a variety of scholarship, we aim to better understand colonialism and
nationalism as interrelated phenomena, and the products and producers of
economic, political, and cultural processes in the modern world.
In
studying the working of colonialism, we examine not only the impact it had on
the worlds of the colonized but also on the society of the colonizers
themselves. The study of nationalism in
the metropoles as well as the colonies will demonstrate how colonialism and
nationalism together shaped a new global order in the modern world. The main focus of
this course will be a study of power – how it was constituted and contested,
gained and lost, opposed and accommodated – within colonial and nationalist
endeavors. To that extent, familiarity
with or interest in current debates in cultural theory or social and cultural
history, particularly as they relate to the colonial and post-colonial world,
would be an advantage.
Required
Readings
The
following books have been ordered for the course at the NAU Bookstore:
Osterhammel, Jurgen. Colonialism: A Theoretical
Overview. Translated by Shelley L. Frisch. 2nd edition. Princeton, NJ:
Markus Wiener Pub, 2005. ISBN
9781558763401
Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the
Making of the Third World. New York: Verso, 2002. ISBN
9781784786625
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage,
1994. ISBN 0679750541.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined
Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised
edition. New York: Verso, 2006. ISBN
9781844670864
Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial
Histories. Princeton Studies in Culture/power/history (Princeton, 1993).
ISBN 9780691019437
Matera, Marc. Black London: The Imperial Metropolis and Decolonization in the
Twentieth Century. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2015. Available as full text Ebook via
Cline. https://libproxy.nau.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=961032&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover
Wilder, Gary. The French Imperial
Nation-State: Negritude and Colonial Humanism between the Two World Wars.
Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2005. ISBN 9780226897684
Dirks, Nicholas. Castes
of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
ISBN 9780691088952. Available as full
text via Cline.
Chakrabarty,
Dipesh. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical
Difference (New Edition) Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780691130019
Sinha, Mrinalini. Specters of Mother India: The Global
Restructuring of an Empire. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN
9780822337959
Appadurai, Arjun. Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the
Geography of Anger. Durham: Duke University Press Books, 2006. ISBN
9780822338635
In addition, many scholarly articles
are part of the REQUIRED reading for this course and are available using direct
links embedded in the electronic version of this syllabus. They are also on the course BBLEARN page.
Course
Requirements
1. Reading and engaged
participation in seminar discussions.
Your attendance and participation in our discussions in class is mandatory. As
a seminar, class sessions will be devoted to contextualizing and analyzing the
required readings. Complete the assigned readings before each class session,
and come prepared to share your opinions, observations, and questions. In
addition, you should review the discussion questions posted by your classmates
in advance of the class meeting. 10 points.
2. Discussion Questions. Starting Week Three by 6 pm the day before class, all students are expected to share via email with the rest of the class
(including me), a set of discussion questions derived from their reading of the
assigned reading for the week. 10 points.
3. Leading Discussion. Starting Week Five, one student will be responsible for LEADING CLASS
DISCUSSION during the rest of the course.
Apart from administrative stuff, and some interventions from me, the
running of that class will be in the hands of that student for the duration of
the class. Of course, you have to work within the confines of the syllabus and
assigned readings. Weeks for leading
discussion will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. I will take down your preferences starting
Week One. Everyone in the course should
have signed up for leading class discussion by Week Four at the latest. 10
points.
- Response
Papers. You
need to submit at least FOUR response papers to readings for the course after Week Three, choosing two readings from Part I
and at least one week’s reading
from Parts II and III of the syllabus.
I will take the best three papers
into account for the grade. 10
points each, 30 points total.
Your responses should start with your
own understanding of the THESIS of the reading(s) for the week (or what
ties them together). This should be
in bold typeface. You should also provide a short summary of the
work(s) you read and compare the reading to others previously discussed in the
course. I encourage you to add your own
reflections on the ideas you encounter in the readings, pointing to their
strengths as well as shortcoming. The responses should be between two to
four DOUBLE SPACED pages and submitted to me on the day of
the class meeting. I will be evaluating
these responses based on content (your understanding
and insight into the readings) as well your prose style.
You are, of course, responsible
for completing ALL the required readings for this course, regardless of whether or not you are writing a response paper for the week.
5. Two formal review essays, between 8 and 12 pages in length, double-spaced, using a font no
larger than 12 points, with one-inch margins all around. 20
points each, 40 points total.
A good review essay not
only provides the reader with an evaluative summary of the readings under
review, but also makes its own
argument about the subject. One can do so either through pointing to new
areas that need research, revealing shortcomings in existing scholarship, or
through a creative juxtaposition of existing theoretical/historiographical
approaches. One example from my own
areas of interest is a review essay by Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as
Postcolonial Criticism." American
Historical Review 99, 5 (December 1994). URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2168385 . Your best bet, though, will be to search through professional
journals in your own areas of interest to discover best practices for review
essays.
a. The first review essay will
examine the introductory writings on colonialism and nationalism outlined in
Part One of the course. Your essay could
(but does not have to) focus on the extent to which these readings help us
understand the place of colonialism and nationalism in the history of the
modern world. It is due in Week Ten (October 31st).
b. The second review essay will focus on Parts Two and Three of
course and could (though does not have to) focus whether it would serve our
purposes better to examine colonialism and nationalism as separate or connected
phenomena. This essay is due on December
9th.
All papers will be evaluated on the basis on analytical ability,
clarity of ideas, knowledge of the class readings, and lucidity of
presentation. I expect all students to
learn from and build n class discussion when writing their review essays. (20%
each, 40% total)
Grading Scale: 90-100 points= A; 80-89 = B;
70-79 = C; 60-69= D; below 60 = F
PLEASE
NOTE: I do not give extensions
or incompletes except in the most extreme cases. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will
result in failing the course. Please
consult the NAU
Policy sections on academic integrity if you are not certain of the meaning of this term. IT IS THE STUDENTS' RESPONSIBILITY TO
FAMILIARIZE HERSELF/HIMSELF WITH THESE MATTERS AS DEFINED BY THE UNIVERSITY.
CLASS SCHEDULE (Subject to Modification)
PART I: INTRODUCTIONS
WEEK ONE August 29 Course Introduction
WEEK TWO September 5 No class meeting. Labor Day Holiday
WEEK THREE September
12 Introduction
to Colonialism and Imperialism
Required Reading
Jurgen Osterhammel, Colonialism
WEEK FOUR September
19 Impact of Colonialism: A Case Study
Required Reading
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts
WEEK FIVE September
26 Colonialism as
a Cultural Project
Required Reading
Edward Said. Culture and Imperialism.
Also:
Watch Video of
Edward Said, On Orientalism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVC8EYd_Z_g
WEEK SIX October 3 Nationalism: Imagined
Community or Communities?
Required Reading
Benedict Anderson, Imagined
Communities
WEEK SEVEN October 10 Nationalism: Whose Imagined
Community?
Required Reading
Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments.
WEEK EIGHT October
17 Nationalism: Activists and their Imaginations
Required Reading
1. Ernest Renan, “What is a Nation?” (1882) https://web.archive.org/web/20110827065548/http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/core/hss3/e_renan.html OR https://www.humanityinaction.org/files/569-E.Renan-WhatisaNation.pdf
2. M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj or
Indian Home Rule. (1909) https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/mahatma-gandhi-books/indian-home-rule#page/1/mode/2up
(Please read the entire text, all chapters)
3. Frantz Fanon “Pitfalls of National Consciousness.” Chapter Three of his Wretched of the Earth (1961) http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/fanon/pitfalls-national.htm
4. Aime Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism (1955) Alternatively, try this link
PART II. COLONIZERS and COLONIZED
WEEK NINE October
24 Imperial and Anti Imperial
Connections
Required Reading
Marc Matera, Black London.
WEEK TEN October
31 Imperial Nation-States
Required Reading
Gary Wilder, French
Imperial Nation-State
(First review essay
due)
WEEK ELEVEN November
7 Colonizing
Categories
Required Reading
Nicholas Dirks, Castes
of Mind
WEEK TWELVE November
14 Decolonizing
History?
Required Reading
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe
PART
III. CONNECTIONS
WEEK THIRTEEN
November 21 An Imperial World
Required Reading
Mrinalini Sinha, Specters
of Mother India
(second review essay due)
WEEK FOURTEEN
November 28 Perils of
Globality
Required Reading
Arjun Appadurai, Fear of Small Numbers
WEEK FIFTEEN December 5 READING WEEK NO CLASS
Work on your paper
December 9 Second
Review Paper due online and in hard copy, by 3 pm. If I am not in my office, please leave it in
the History Office, requesting a time stamp.
Syllabus
Requirements
COVID-19 Requirements and
Information
Additional information
about the University’s response to COVID-19 is available from the Jacks are
Back! web page located at https://nau.edu/jacks-are-back.
Syllabus Policy Statements
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
NAU expects every student to firmly adhere to a strong
ethical code of academic integrity in all their scholarly pursuits. The primary attributes of academic integrity are honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, and responsibility. As a student, you are expected to submit original work while
giving proper credit to other people’s ideas or contributions. Acting with
academic integrity means completing your assignments independently while
truthfully acknowledging all sources of information, or collaboration with
others when appropriate. When you submit your work, you are implicitly declaring that the work is your own. Academic integrity
is expected not only during
formal coursework, but in all your relationships or interactions that are connected to the educational enterprise. All forms of academic deceit such as
plagiarism, cheating, collusion, falsification or fabrication of results or
records, permitting your work to be submitted by another, or inappropriately
recycling your own work from one class to another, constitute academic
misconduct that may result in serious disciplinary consequences. All students
and faculty members are responsible for reporting suspected instances of
academic misconduct. All students are encouraged to complete NAU’s
online academic integrity workshop available in the E-Learning Center and should review the full Academic Integrity policy available at https://policy.nau.edu/policy/policy.aspx?num=100601.
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
All lectures and course materials, including but
not limited to exams, quizzes, study outlines, and similar materials are
protected by copyright. These materials may not be shared, uploaded,
distributed, reproduced, or publicly displayed without the express written
permission of NAU. Sharing materials on websites such as Course Hero, Chegg, or
related websites is considered copyright infringement subject to United States
Copyright Law and a violation of NAU Student Code of Conduct. For additional
information on ABOR policies relating to course materials, please refer to ABOR Policy 6-908 A(2)(5).
COURSE TIME COMMITMENT
Pursuant to Arizona Board of Regents guidance (ABOR
Policy 2-224, Academic Credit), each
unit of credit requires a minimum of 45 hours of work by students, including
but not limited to, class time, preparation, homework, and studying. For
example, for a 3-credit course a student should expect to work at least 8.5
hours each week in a 16-week
session and a minimum of 33 hours per week for a 3-credit course in a 4-week session.
DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR
Membership in NAU’s academic community entails a special
obligation to maintain class environments that are conductive to learning, whether
instruction is taking
place in the classroom, a laboratory or clinical setting,
during course-related fieldwork, or online. Students
have the obligation to engage in the educational process in a manner
that does not interfere with normal class activities or violate the rights of others. Instructors have the authority and responsibility to address
disruptive behavior that interferes with student learning,
which can include
the involuntary withdrawal of
a student from a course with a grade of “W”. For additional information, see
NAU’s Disruptive Behavior in an
Instructional Setting policy at https://nau.edu/university-policy-library/disruptive-behavior.
NONDISCRIMINATION AND ANTI-HARASSMENT
NAU
prohibits discrimination and harassment based on sex, gender, gender identity,
race, color, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status and genetic information. Certain consensual amorous or sexual relationships between
faculty and students are also prohibited as set forth in the Consensual Romantic and Sexual Relationships
policy. The Equity and Access Office (EAO) responds to
complaints regarding discrimination and harassment that fall under NAU’s Nondiscrimination and Anti- Harassment policy.
EAO also assists with religious accommodations. For additional information
about nondiscrimination or anti-harassment or to file a complaint, contact EAO located
in Old Main (building 10), Room
113, PO Box 4083, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, or by phone at 928-523-3312 (TTY: 928-523-1006), fax at 928-523-9977,
email at equityandaccess@nau.edu, or visit the EAO website at https://nau.edu/equity-and-access.
TITLE IX
Title
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, protects individuals from
discrimination based on sex in any educational program or activity operated by
recipients of federal financial assistance. In accordance with Title IX,
Northern Arizona University prohibits discrimination based on sex or gender in
all its programs or activities. Sex discrimination includes sexual harassment,
sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking. NAU does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education programs or activities
that it operates, including in admission and employment. NAU is committed to
providing an environment free from discrimination based on sex or gender and
provides a number of supportive measures that assist
students, faculty, and staff.
One
may direct inquiries concerning the application of Title IX to either or both
the Title IX Coordinator or the U.S. Department of
Education, Assistant Secretary, Office of Civil Rights. You may contact the Title IX Coordinator in
the Office for the Resolution of Sexual Misconduct by phone at 928-523-5434, by
fax at 928-523-0640, or by email at titleix@nau.edu. In furtherance of its Title IX obligations,
NAU promptly will investigate or equitably resolve all reports of sex
or gender-based discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct and will
eliminate any hostile environment as defined by law. The Office for the
Resolution of Sexual Misconduct (ORSM):
Title IX Institutional Compliance, Prevention & Response addresses
matters that fall under the university's Sexual Misconduct policy. Additional
important information and related resources, including how to request immediate
help or confidential support following an act of sexual violence, is available
at https://in.nau.edu/title-ix.
ACCESSIBILITY
Professional disability specialists are available at
Disability Resources to facilitate a range of academic support services and
accommodations for students with disabilities. If you have a documented
disability, you can request assistance by contacting Disability Resources at
928-523-8773 (voice), ,928-523-8747 (fax), or dr@nau.edu
(e-mail). Once eligibility has been determined, students register with
Disability Resources every semester to activate their approved accommodations.
Although a student may request an accommodation at any time, it is best to
initiate the application process at least four weeks before a student wishes to
receive an accommodation. Students may begin the accommodation process by
submitting a self-identification form online at
https://nau.edu/disability-resources/student-eligibility-process or by
contacting Disability Resources. The Director of Disability Resources, Jamie
Axelrod, serves as NAU’s Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator and Section
504 Compliance Officer. He can be reached at jamie.axelrod@nau.edu.
RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH
Students who engage in research at NAU must receive
appropriate Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training. This instruction is
designed to help ensure proper awareness and application of well-established
professional norms and ethical principles related to the performance of all
scientific research activities. More information regarding RCR training is
available at https://nau.edu/research/compliance/research-integrity.
MISCONDUCT IN RESEARCH
As noted, NAU expects every student to firmly adhere
to a strong code of academic integrity in all their scholarly pursuits. This
includes avoiding fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism when conducting
research or reporting research results. Engaging in research misconduct may
result in serious disciplinary consequences. Students must also report any
suspected or actual instances of research misconduct of which they become
aware. Allegations of research misconduct should be reported to your instructor
or the University’s Research Integrity Officer, Dr. David Faguy,
who can be reached at david.faguy@nau.edu
or 928-523-6117. More information about misconduct in research is available at
https://nau.edu/university-policy-library/misconduct-in-research.
SENSITIVE COURSE MATERIALS
University education aims to expand student
understanding and awareness. Thus, it necessarily involves engagement with a
wide range of information, ideas, and creative representations. In their
college studies, students can expect to encounter and to critically appraise
materials that may differ from and perhaps challenge familiar understandings, ideas,and beliefs. Students are
encouraged to discuss these matters with faculty.
Last revised August 4, 2022