Body, Power and Society in Early India
- Course Code:
- 15PHIC020
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 1
- Taught in:
- Full Year
The course will provide an intensive focus on the body, widely conceived, in pre-colonial Indian society. A certain amount of emphasis will be placed on wider comparative and theoretical approaches to the study of the human body in history, drawing on the disciplines of sociology, religious studies, and gender studies, but the chief focus will be on gaining a familiarity with the Indian materials.
The course will seek to develop both theoretical framework for looking at the body and power as well as providing the materials for integrating such perspectives into already existing frameworks for the study of early India. It will place views and practices of the body against particular historical and cultural backdrops including the evolution of religious doctrines and rituals, cosmological and astronomical thinking, courtly and urban culture, military societies, and village and peasant life, ranging in time from early historical India to the eighteenth century.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
- To familiarise students with established and new trends in the study of the relation of individuals and societies
- To develop a keen awareness of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of early India, with a special focus on the intersection of religious studies and history
- To present students with an both an overview of the early Indian materials relating to the body, widely conceived, in relation to society, as well as greater familiarity with several in depth case studies
- To encourage a comparative perspective between traditions both within Indian history (between religious traditions) as well as beyond it through directed course readings
- To refine student research skills, including the identification of independent and new topics and issues, the formulation of research problems, and the conduct of original research through original sources
- To develop specific critical skills in analysing texts and artefacts as sources of social history. The course will include exposure to art historical materials.
Scope and syllabus
Topics treated will include:
- theories of physiology, health, and illness;
- the social construction of gesture and movement; sartorial codes, sumptuary regulations, and ‘body culture’;
- gender and sexuality;
- the representation of the body in art and literature.
In addition to contextual and thematic readings, the course will expose students to a wide variety of primary sources, including religious and ritual texts, courtly literature, art (painting, sculpture, material culture), as well as inscriptions and normative treatises. It will seek to develop advanced critical skills in reading Indian texts and identifying research-oriented problems.
The course is interdisciplinary, and will draw substantially on the disciplines of sociology, religious studies, social history, and gender studies. It will seek to assess the contributions and limitations of these disciplines in developing critical perspectives on pre-colonial Indian society. It fits in the MA in African and Asian History by virtue of its emphasis on historical change and the theoretical problems of social history. It fits in the MA in Indian Religions and MA in Religious Studies because it deals quite substantially with texts and traditions deemed ‘religious’ in various ways. Having said this, the course hopes to bridge the gap between an informed social history and reflexive religio wissenschaft
