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H-ASIA December 1, 2010 Call for papers: "Teaching South Asia Critically", Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois, April 21-22, 2010 *********************************************************************** Ed. note: In my personal view, the vitality of teaching South Asian history in an undergraduate curriculum lies in balancing an empathetic introduction South Asia with an invitation to critical thinking using the concepts and facts presented. This is vital to 'mainstreaming' what--to some--is still an exotic subject. The organizers are to be congratulated for this interesting initiative. By the bye, Des Plaines (pronounced in an Anglicized not French manner) is just north of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. FFC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Madhuri Deshmukh <mdeshmuk@oakton.edu> Call for Papers "Teaching South Asia Critically" Oakton Community College Des Plaines, IL April 21-22, 2011 Keynote Address Manan Ahmed, Ph.D Assistant Professor of South Asian Studies Institut fur Islamwissenschaft Freie Universitat Berlin Deadline for Proposal Submission: January 31, 2011 We invite proposals of individual papers, panels or round-table discussion groups for an interdisciplinary conference on Teaching South Asia Critically. This conference is the culmination of a two-year project funded by a Title 6A grant from the Department of Education to develop South Asia related curricula in a wide variety of fields. As we prepare to introduce courses focused on South Asia, we are aware of the colonial legacies that structure the very study of South Asia as an academic subject, as well as the many challenges posed by the rapidly changing global political context in which we work. While keeping in mind the ways that learning South Asian culture and history can help American students develop critical perspectives on western history and cultural hegemony, we also see the need to critically address contemporary contradictions and issues within South Asia. The Indian state has positioned itself in the world's imagination as a rising power, driven by high growth rates and a thriving democracy. This dominant narrative pays little attention to growing rates of poverty, caste oppression, farmer suicides, a Maoist insurgency, violence in Kashmir and a surge in violence against women. Rather than an attempt to "strike a balance" or repeat clichs about "a country of contrasts," we feel it is necessary to develop and adopt a critical approach that refuses the triumphalism of an emerging giant on the one hand, and challenges western preconceptions about diverse and regionally-specific Indian traditions and civilizations on the other. A different but related problem is found in teaching and learning about Pakistan, where American military intervention is the current context of scholarly inquiry. The West is confronted almost exclusively with images of brutality and terrorism in Pakistan, which encompass not only a country but the dominant religion, Islam. This creates pedagogical and theoretical difficulties in efforts to study the challenges to democracy, the growth of Islamic extremism, or the oppression of women. Similar issues arise in teaching about other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Afghanistan, and in teaching about specific regions and cultural traditions within South Asian countries. In this conference, we would like to discuss the various theoretical and practical problematics of studying and teaching about South Asia in our current global context. We especially invite proposals on: "Theoretical approaches to the western encounter with South Asia that have practical implications for teaching, such as Indology, Orientalism, postcolonialism, and comparative approaches to religion, culture, art or politics; * The efforts to theoretically and practically engage with real movements and issues in South Asia, such as economic disparity, the women's movements, movements against displacement, religious extremism, communal violence, the Dalit movement, the Maoist insurgency, minority and regional struggles for self-determination, etc.; * The efforts to teach about specific regions and/or vernacular cultures within South Asia without losing sight of global contexts. * Discipline and/or topic-specific pedagogical strategies, for example papers that explore the difficulties of teaching about gender and/or caste in South Asia; or teaching about South Asia to students of South Asian origin; or the theoretical challenges of teaching South Asian literature. Guidelines for submission: Proposals should be limited to 500 words or less and sent as a word document via email attachment to both Mohamed Mehdi at mmehdi@oakton.edu and Madhuri Deshmukh at mdeshmuk@oaktone.edu. In addition to individual paper proposals, we are accepting proposals for panels of three or four participants, or for a roundtable-style discussion group on a specific topic. Madhuri Deshmukh Dept of English Oakton Community College ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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