HIS-30130 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

If I was to say sex and South Asia what comes to mind? Do you think of the Kama Sutra, an ancient sex manual, do you see a place where four countries have been led by women or do you see South Asian women as victims: of rape, honour killings and forced marriages? Did you know that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have all been led, at some time in recent history, by women. Both images are accurate to a degree and have deep roots in the colonial past before 1947 and in the recent history of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This module will study a series of sites where sexuality has been constructed, defined, changed and debated in the Indian sub-continent. We will focus specifically at the way ancient sexual images have been looked at and described and used historically, how does contemporary India deal with nudity? We will look at female spaces, the harem, the zenana, the brothel, the family home and examine power dynamics and representations of each one. And weżll look at sexuality and the law, famous obscenity trials, the colonial law against homosexuality that was just overturned only a few years ago and the attempts by the governments of South Asia to control who people choose as their sexual partners. Weżll look at these issues through film, case studies, group discussion and debate and, as you can imagine, cover a wide timespan from pre to post colonial times.

- To introduce students to key themes relating to the changing position of women in South Asian society, and the different impacts of colonialism, nationalism and post-colonial developments on their status and lived experience;
- To introduce students to transgender and queer histories of South Asia;
- To develop students' analysis of the intellectual influences of postcolonial, subaltern and feminist theory on the history of sexual conflict in South Asia;
- To develop an understanding of the relationship between race, class, caste, religion and gender;
- To develop an understanding of the wider significance of gender and sexuality in South Asian history.

Intended Learning Outcomes

recognise and explain changes in sexual and gender identity in colonial India: 1,2
evaluate the relationship between race, class, caste, religion and gender: 1,2
appreciate the insights that non-Western histories offer to challenge conventional approaches to the history of sexuality and gender
: 1,2
relate case studies and examples of historical change to each other and to broader thematic issues of colonial and postcolonial South Asian society: 1,2
distinguish between and critically evaluate different academic interpretations and explanations for the events being studied, including from other disciplines other than history: 1,2
develop the capacity for independent thought and communicate such thoughts clearly and effectively through written assessment: 2
engage critically with postcolonial, subaltern and feminist histories of sexual conflict in South Asia: 1,2

Study hours

12 x 2-hour seminars = 24
12 x 1-hour writing and co-creating workshops = 12
50 hours seminar preparation
64 hours research and writing and/or creating assessment submission

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment