Course Code - Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences The LNMIIT, Jaipur
Course code -- Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Programme: B.Tech. (CSE/CCE/ECE/MME) Year: IV Semester : Odd
Course : HSS Elective Credits : 3 Hours : 40
Course Context and Overview (100 words):

Ethnic Conflict is the lived reality of present day South Asia. A few examples can be seen in the
insurgency in partition of India, Kashmir and Punjab insurgency, partition of Pakistan, Tamil and
Sinhelese conflict in Sri Lanka, Post-soviet Afghanistan etc. The postcolonial South Asia has been
subjected to a politics of an interplay between identity, politics, and violence. The course starts by
providing the analytical/theoretical lens of ethnic conflict to analyze the major cases of identity-based
political violence including ethnic separatist insurgency and counter-insurgency, communal violence and
post-conflict chanllenges of rehabilitation and reconciliation. The primary goal of this course is to provide
students with a critical understanding of these phenomena through the prism of the literature of South
Asia.
Prerequisites Courses: None
Course outcomes(COs):
On completion of this course, the students will be able to:

CO1: Critically understand ethnic conflict and nationalism
C02: Investigate into Politics of partition and consequent violence in South Asia
C03: Understand the politics and ramifications of insurgency and counter-insurgency, and communical
violence in South Asia
C04: Better respond to the questions of trauma and cultural identity
C05: Have enhanced inter-personal communication and presentation skills
Course Topics:
Topics Lecture Hours
UNIT – I
1.1 Understanding Cultural Diversity of South Asia and

Postcolonial Ethnic Divisions
1.2 Theories of Ethnic Conflict: Primordial, Instrumentalist and 10
Constructivist
1.3 Theorising Nation and Nationalism
1.4 Trauma and Identity
Course Design Template version 1.0

UNIT – II
Ethnic Conflict and Partition: India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh
Abstracts from: Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children; Shalimar
10
the Clown; Tahmima Anam: A Golden Age; The Good Muslim;
Uzma Aslam Khan: The Geometry of God; Kamila Shamsie’s
Kartography
UNIT – III
Insurgency and Ethnic Nationalism
3.1 Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Kashmir
(Abstracts from: Basharat Peer's Curfewed Nights; Agha Shahid
Ali: The Country Without a Post Office); Vishal Bharadwaj: 12
Haider (Film)
3.2 Sinhelese Nationalism vs Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka
(Jean Arasanayagam's Epocalyse '83; All is Burning)
UNIT – IV
Cold War and Ethnic Violence in Afghanistan
(Abstracts from: Khalid Husseni: A Thousand Splendid Suns 8
(2007); Nadeem Aslam: Wasted Vigil (2008))
Textbook references (IEEE format):

Text Book: (Select extracts/ stories/ poems from the following books):
1. Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children (1981)
2. Salman Rushdie: Shalimar the Clown (2005)
3. Tahmima Anam: A Golden Age (2007)
4. Basharat Peer: Curfewed Nights
5. Jean Arasanayagam: Epocalyse 1983
6. Khalid Husseni: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
7. Nadeem Aslam: Wasted Vigil (2008)
8. Jean Arasanayagam: All is Burning (1995)
9. Agha Shahid Ali: The Country Without a Post Office (1997)
10. Vishal Bharadwaj: Haider (Film) (2014)
11. Uzma Aslam Khan: The Geometry of God (2008)
12. Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography (2002)
Reference books/Articles:
1. Jeffrey C. Alexander: Trauma: A Social Theory
2. Cathy Caruth: Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History
Neal G. Jesse & Kristen P. Williams: Ethnic Conflict: A Systematic Approach to Cases of Conflict
Donald L Horowitz: Ethnic Groups in Conflict
Donald L Horowitz: The Deadly Ethnic Riot
3. Benedict Anderson: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
(1983)
4. Homi Bhabha (ed.): Nation and Narration
Additional Resources (NPTEL, MIT Video Lectures, Web resources etc.):

Evaluation Methods:
Evaluation criteria will be shared by the concerned course instructor.
Prepared By:
Last Update: ________

Course Code - Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Course Code - Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Course Code - Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences The LNMIIT, Jaipur

Course code -- Ethnic Conflict: Literature and South Asia

Course Context and Overview (100 words):

Prerequisites Courses: None

On completion of this course, the students will be able to:

C04: Better respond to the questions of trauma and cultural identity

C05: Have enhanced inter-personal communication and presentation skills

Topics Lecture Hours

1.1 Understanding Cultural Diversity of South Asia and

Course Design Template version 1.0

Textbook references (IEEE format):

Additional Resources (NPTEL, MIT Video Lectures, Web resources etc.):

Course Design Template version 1.0

Evaluation criteria will be shared by the concerned course instructor.

Course Design Template version 1.0

You might also like