A Passage to India: Introduction to Modern Indian Culture and Society
This MIT OpenCourseWare course examines modern Indian culture and society over the last sixty five years through short stories, novels, poems, journalistic writing, films and documentaries. Class lectures supply historical and cultural context, while readings and film clips anchor discussion of gender and class transformations, competing ideas of nationhood, regional identity, and the role of the city in both individual and communal life. Rather than treating India as a single homogeneous culture, the course looks for the other Indias that sit behind that constructed national image. Materials include the full syllabus, reading list, and assignments as used in the MIT classroom, free to access under MIT's open license. No prior background in Indian history or literature is assumed.