Why is “Nonviolence” central to many of the religious traditions of South Asia? What has nonviolence looked like historically and how has its meaning and practice changed in the modern world? In traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, the practice of nonviolence relates to ethics through concepts of “karma”—our actions. This course investigates the theories of karma and the role they play in these traditions’ ideas about the self, the other, and the world. We will take a focused look at the way each tradition regards the idea and practice of ahimsa, nonviolence, as both an ethical and personal good. That is, how does each tradition consider proper social action and how do they relate it to the attainment of salvation (i.e. moksha, nirvana)? We will examine Gandhi’s philosophy and practice of nonviolent action in the anti-colonial struggle for independence, as well as how the more recent turn to religious and ethno-nationalism in South Asia has changed Indian perspectives on the value of nonviolence. The course puts these traditions in conversation with western traditions such as virtue ethics, consequentialism, and duty-based ethics to develop a vocabulary for the comparative study of ethics and examines recent philosophical takes on nonviolence as well as critiques of nonviolence from American activists of color.

This course explores changes in gender and sexual relations across social communities and through time in South Asia. Key topics covered in this course include the impact of colonialism, nationalism, and socio-religious reform movements; law and the postcolonial state; the cultural politics of sexuality; masculinities; and local and transnational feminisms.

Caste: Histories and Theories of Exclusion, Stigma, and Exploitation -- FLEX This course offers a study of the histories, theories, and practices that are associated with caste. We begin with caste in India, from the colonial period to today, and explore key debates in the understanding of caste as a social structure and a form of identity. We focus on movements against caste inequality and injustice, centering the work of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar in our study of anti-caste activism. We then turn to “caste” is other societies, such as the United States, and analyze the politics of comparison and translation in the application of “caste” to other contexts.

Religion has been central to the project of modern colonialism. Everywhere European conquerors went, they justified colonial rule in the name of Christianity, sponsored missionary projects of conversion, and regulated the traditions and practices of the colonized. Indeed, some scholars have argued that modern conceptions of religion (and its cognate, world religions) only emerged out of these colonial conquests. This course explores the constitutive relationship between colonialism and religion. Two broad questions will inform our inquiry: How did the colonial encounter shape modern knowledge of religion? How did colonial technologies of rule (law, education, the census, surveillance, welfare) effect transformations in the religious beliefs, traditions, and practices of both the colonizer and the colonized? Our readings will include materials from various modern empires in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. We will explore how religion was constitutive of modern empires and how religion relates to other sites of social power including race, gender, and nation. Themes will include religious conversion and freedom of religion, religious institutions and reforms, textuality and interpretation, ritual and material cultures, and legal reforms and regulation.

The first thing many travelers to South Asia notice is that religious sites and images are everywhere—from massive temples at the heart of major cities to roadside shrines, from caves high in the Himalayas to seaside pilgrimage sites, and from storefront signs to “God rooms” in people’s homes. This course will explore what devotees see in the religious images and spaces in South Asia. Beginning with images of the divine in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, we will examine the formal iconographic elements that allow devotees to recognize each deity, explore the theological idea of mutual seeing, called darshan, and analyze the varying meanings expressed through the performance of devotional rituals (pūjā). The second half of the course examines sacred architecture and the built environment both historically and symbolically. We will investigate the classical meanings of the forms of temples, stūpas, and gurdwars and trace their regional variations to see how they developed and crystallized into the forms we recognize today. We will also examine pilgrimages to sacred sites, natural and constructed, as expressions of both devotion and political power. We then turn to the uniquely South Asian features of mosques and Sufi shrines to understand the complex history of religious communities’ interactions in South Asia. Finally, we will focus on contested and shared sacred places as sites of identity formation and political power in South Asia today.

This is an introductory level course that explores the historical processes that have formed South Asia. Topics include British colonialism; nationalism and anti-colonialism; social and religious reform movements; independence and Partition; and the economic, political, and social issues facing the postcolonial nation-states of South Asia.

This course examines the apparently universal human phenomenon of religion and its place in the modern world. Scholars have generally assumed that the spread of modernity would entail the gradual retreat of religion as an active political force in the world. However, today one hears of a global “resurgence of religion”—the Pentecostalization of sub-Saharan Africa, the rise of Hindu majoritarianism in South Asia, “politicized” Islam in the Middle East and Southeast Asia and the Christian right in the United States are but a few examples. This course asks: What is religion? What is the source of its apparent power? Are the various phenomena we group under the name/sign religion indeed of a piece? Is there some common essence, in other words, justifying the assumption that the diverse beliefs and practices termed “religious” are but different expressions of the same thing? And if not, why is such an assumption so widespread? The course begins by examining some of the most influential attempts to define and explain religion comparatively, both within the discipline of anthropology and in the works that have influenced it. Thus, we will engage the writings of Freud, Weber, Durkheim, as well as anthropologists such as E.B. Tylor, Bronislaw Malinowski, Mary Douglas, and Clifford Geertz. These texts are included not simply for historical value, but as lucid expressions of ideas that are sedimented as matters of common sense and as ideas that permeate academic as well as popular accounts. In the second part of the course, we will focus on ethnographic attempts to account for the power of religion in specific social and cultural contexts, including in the modern West. These ethnographic readings will enable us to explore the important issues, approaches and debates in the anthropology of religion and to address the question of religion in the modern world in relation to its constitutive other: secularism.

Built on the histories of colonialism, slavery and indentureship, the Caribbean region has been at the heart of global movements of people, ideas and commodities for centuries now. This course will introduce students to the remarkable history of the region through close engagement with literary-cultural productions. In engaging with works by authors and artists of African, Indian and Chinese-Caribbean descent, we will think expansively about the very idea of Caribbean voices. What might we learn about the shared histories and legacies of both colonialism and anticolonial thought when we consider these voices together? Our discussion will be organized around themes of empire, neocolonialism, labor migration, racial intimacies and creolization. In addition to seminal works by Stuart Hall, Edward Brathwaite and George Lamming, over the course of this block we will have the opportunity to discuss texts such as The History of Mary Prince, The Last English Plantation (Janice Shinebourne), The Lonely Londoners (Samuel Selvon), A Small Place (Jamaica Kincaid) and short stories by Edwidge Danticat and Ramabai Espinet. We will also watch documentary films such as Life and Debt (dir. Stephanie Black) and Dal Puri Diaspora (dir. Richard Fung) and discuss works by contemporary Caribbean artists in North America and Britain.

This course is a survey of the religious concepts, practices, and traditions in South Asia with emphasis on the ways that traditions are experienced in lived practice. Beginning with a consideration of the Indus Valley Civilization and the formation of the Vedas, the course traces the development of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and Sikhism through debates and dialogues. The course will compare concepts of the self, salvation, ethics, devotion, ritual practice, and visual culture across traditions from the earliest writings and material objects to modern times. We will explore religious issues facing modern India, beginning with colonialism and Indian “reformers” such as Gandhi and Ambedkar, and culminating with an examination of Hindu nationalism and the status of minority groups in India today. We will examine both continuity and change over time and space, demonstrating how contact and debates among peoples from multiple geographic centers have given traditions their current shape. Students engage in debates on hotly contested topics, have workshops to study texts and objects closely, and collaborate on projects that engage empathetically with religious literatures and practices.

In this course we will examine the construction of childhood in Japan, primarily through literary texts about and for children. We will supplement this with a variety of texts from other fields (history, sociology, anthropology, art, and music). Through an analysis of the printed text and cultural artifacts, we will come to an understanding of the process of how childhood in Japan has evolved into its current status.

This course explores the history of population control in India and China, the two most populous nations in the world and its implications for gender and reproductive rights in these two countries. The explosive population growth in these countries in the twentieth century has led to deep domestic concerns over sustainability and poverty, often stoked by the West. We will critically trace the ways in which population was conceived as a problem in these two countries, the policy designs adopted to control it and the long-term implications of these policies especially on women who were often violently targeted by the state. Through scholarly works, films, and literary texts we will explore the social implications of population control programs and their aftermath.

South Asian society, it is generally thought, is organized around the ideology of “caste,” which has parallels with the ideology of “race.” As a set of practices and discourses that order social hierarchy, “purity” is a central concept that reinforces caste distinctions, which play out, partly, in the ways that gender is constructed, performed, and policed. This course takes a critical approach to understanding how and by whom caste is articulated, how it functions in practice in South Asian communities, and how the concept of caste is linked to gender in religious texts and practices. Focusing first on the early articulations of the fourfold caste hierarchy (varṇa) in the Vedas and its link to gender discourses in texts like The Laws of Manu, the course problematizes our understanding of these idealized categories by examining caste discourses in epic literature and in the ways that Buddhist and Jain literatures deal with caste through their articulation to concepts of “virtue” (śīla) in modeling masculinity and womanhood in medieval didactic story literature. The course then looks at everyday practices and performance of caste through modern biographies and ethnographic studies. The course then examines the work of B.R. Ambedkar and recent works from Dalit writers. We will also read Isabel Wilkerson’s book, Caste, as well as intersectional and Dalit feminist responses to it.

This course explores the myths and traditions of Hindu history, with an emphasis on music, dance, and puppetry. The class involves a heavy performance component; students will be creating and performing their own versions of episodes from the Ramayana, including making shadow puppets, writing a script, and working the puppets. This story features princes and princesses, magic eagles, a demon king with ten heads, and a flying monkey. A final performance in Packard Hall will be a highlight. 1 unit - Lasmawan

WWII presented a number of hardships for Japanese Americans, as they navigated challenges to their identity, legal status, safety, and freedom. These social forces were quite different in Hawaii compared to the mainland US, given proximity to Pearl Harbor, racial demographics, and martial law. We will examine these forces and their effects on Japanese Americans in Hawaii. The second half of the course will be a field trip to Honolulu.

Explores major themes and texts in Asian American Literature and provides an overview of the foundations and the possible futures of the field. Introduces the role literature plays in creating and maintaining a pan-Asian political label. Presents the Vietnam War as a watershed moment to discuss the many shifts within the field, such as the emergence of Southeast Asian American writers and the rise of Women and Gender Studies.

This course is a survey of the religious concepts, practices, and traditions in South Asia with emphasis on the ways that traditions are experienced in lived practice. Beginning with a consideration of the Indus Valley Civilization and the formation of the Vedas, the course traces the development of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and Sikhism through debates and dialogues. The course will compare concepts of the self, salvation, ethics, devotion, ritual practice, and visual culture across traditions from the earliest writings and material objects to modern times. We will explore religious issues facing modern India, beginning with colonialism and Indian “reformers” such as Gandhi and Ambedkar, and culminating with an examination of Hindu nationalism and the status of minority groups in India today. We will examine both continuity and change over time and space, demonstrating how contact and debates among peoples from multiple geographic centers have given traditions their current shape. Students engage in debates on hotly contested topics, have workshops to study texts and objects closely, and collaborate on projects that engage empathetically with religious literatures and practices.

This course will introduce students to the origin and history of Chinese calligraphy and to the interrelationship between Chinese calligraphy and panting- including bamboo, orchid, and bird painting. This is a hands-on course; students are expected to practice Chinese calligraphy several times a week, to get to know how to use Chinese brushes and charcoal ink, and to develop an understanding of Chinese art and culture through brushwork.

An overview of the art, music, dance, and traditions of the kingdom of Bali. 1 unit - Lasmawan

This course explores classical Chinese philosophical traditions, including Confucianism, Mohism, and Daoism. Readings will draw from the Analects of Confucius (Kongzi), Mozi, Mengzi, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi. The relevance of Chinese philosophy to topics and themes such as ethics, moral psychology, self-cultivation, education, and political philosophy will be discussed.

This course focuses on websites and social media as platforms for religious expression, representation, and interaction. It traces the growth of their popularity as spaces for building religious communities in South Asia and the diaspora. It examines social media as commercial space arising in the context of globalization and in light of India’s recent economic growth. Following the development of several Hindu, Jain, and other religious organizations through their use of social media to reach Indian and diasporic audiences, the course traces how religious traditions are re-shaped on these platforms in response to global discourses about “spirituality” and enduring Orientalist representations of South Asian traditions. It then examines how religion is linked to national identity through the creation of a new kinds of “virtual publics” that refigure the ways that South Asian traditions are articulated, taking a genealogical approach to understanding their formation from the colonial period to the present and intersecting with issues of class, caste, and gender. Students will create their own websites to understand better how online media function as communicative platforms with specific capabilities and constraints. Bio: Prof. Steven M. Vose joins Colorado College after eight years as an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University in Miami. His research focuses on how religious communities interacted with each other and with the state in late medieval India, focusing specifically on how Jain religious communities forged ties with the first Islamic empire in South Asia, the Delhi Sultanate. His current work focuses on how caste and gender are articulated in religious literature as well as how current religious movements in South Asia have utilized the Internet and social media to form globalized devotional communities.

This course explores the arts and culture of Bali, Indonesia, on location in Bali. Music, dance, theater, and visual arts are ubiquitous in Bali, where artistic production is far out of proportion to the size and population of the island. The Hindu-Balinese religion (Agama Hindu Dharma) requires performing and visual arts for the successful completion of the thousands of ceremonies undertaken each year, and therefore virtually every Balinese person is a dancer, musician, actor, visual artist, or poet, and many individuals are equally competent in several media. The unique history and culture of Bali are best understood through the arts, which connect past to present, self to community, and religion to reality. Students and faculty will live in the Lasmawan family compound while in Bangah. The compound has been outfitted with a gamelan angklung, gamelan gong kebyar, gamelan gender wayang, gamelan balaganjar, and gamelan joged bumbung for course use. The daily class schedule in Bali will include lectures and discussion of readings on Balinese history, culture, arts, and the environment followed by practical instruction in traditional music, dance, painting, and wood-carving. Students will experience Balinese arts and culture through participation in daily life, attendance at a wide range of performances, and lecture-demonstrations by a variety of artists and craftsmen.

At the root of both climate change and social collapse is a consciousness based on human domination of nature and of each other. Environmental sustainability and human well-being require a shift from the status-quo of domination and extremism to a global consciousness and a socioeconomic system based on interdependence and partnership. There is now a convergence of indigenous, scientific and interfaith perspectives (such as, Evolutionary Biology, Deep Ecology, Ecofeminism, Buddhism) upholding ecological consciousness. There is also a proliferation of social movements demanding urgent and simultaneous action on climate protection and social justice. This course seeks to provide a unique perspective that goes to the ethical roots of global crises and psycho-social transformation with emphasis given to Asian perspectives and social movements in Asia, including China and India.