Fall 2014 Courses

• ANTH 3347: Anthropology of Women
  This course explores one central question: What is Gender? focusing on the discursive constructions of gender and their social, economic, and political implications. In particular, we examine the following: What is the relationship of gender to culture, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality? How is it deployed in the context of women's/feminist, nationalist and other socio-political movements? How are bodies gendered by power, technology, science, and more? Instructor: Dr. Deepa Reddy
• ARTH 3310:  Art and Architecture of India
  This course introduces students to the art and material culture/s of India with sensitivity to shifting borders, complex relations between local and shared practices, and multi-cultural artistic exchange on the Indian subcontinent and beyond. The course provides an overview of religious art and architecture (c. 300 BCE-1700 CE), familiarizing students with Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Islamic objects as well as their regionally specific forms and iconographies. The course also explores the art of the colonialist period, the art of independence, and contemporary Indian art treating themes of tradition and globalization.
  Instructor: Ms. Stephanie Chadwick
• CUST 2300/CCS 2394: Introduction to Asian American Studies
  This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Readings include selections from the Social Sciences, Cultural Studies and the Humanities.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• CUST 4300/ANTH 4394: Asian American Cultures Transnational Migration and Global Trends
  This course examines the theoretical aspects of transnational migration in the context of global capitalism. Special emphasis on ethnographic approaches to the study of how immigrant networks and circuits are created across national boundaries.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• HIST 2363/CCS2396/RELS 2396:  South Asia since 1600
  This course will trace the history of the Indian subcontinent from the age of the Mughals through to the present-day. We will chart the evolution of this complex region by examining its social, cultural, religious, political and economic antecedents.
  Instructor: Dr. Tahseen Ali
• RELS 2340: Introduction to Hinduism (WID)
  This course explores answers to questions about various forms of religious experience and expression in Hinduism. Relevant historical background information is surveyed in order to help assess continuity and change in learned and vernacular Hindu religious practices. The course objectives are to explore the historical development of Hinduism, to gain an understanding of the beliefs and practices of Hindu practitioners, acquire insight into Hinduism as a lived meaningful experience, and to engage critically and sensitively with course materials.
  Instructor: Dr. Jon Keune
• RELS 3396 Yoga and Philosophy
  Yoga refers to a global phenomenon that engages conceptions of the human self, the body, health and healing.  “Yoga" incorporates four streams – Karma (path of action or doing), Jnana (path of knowledge), Bhakti (path of devotion), and Raja (postures, breathing, meditation).  The course will focus on philosophy and cultural context, especially related to the first three streams, with the final stream addressing the discipline of yoga as physical and mental practice.
• SOC 3397:  Sociology of Religion in India
  This course will apply various sociological approaches to the study of religion in Indian society to examine the role of ‘the sacred’ in creating cohesion and intergroup contestations, as well as explore a micro-sociological analysis of the spiritual thought in Hindu society in the absence of organization. We will also examine the role of secularism and humanism as applied in the contestations between native belief system and imported religions, and their consequences for socio-political integration.
  Instructor: Dr. Sarath Menon-Chembottil
• WCL 3372:  Indian Film:  Bollywood and Beyond
  This course explores images of Indian society that emerge through the medium of film. Our attention will be focused on the ways in which Indian society, history, religion, class, caste and culture is depicted in film, and how critical social issues are explored through film.  We will be concerned with the contrast between cinematic realism and historical reality, and how the Indian film industry affects social structures, gender, and traditional Indian values as they are understood inside India and in Indian communities worldwide.
  Instructor: Ms. Sheila Singh

Winter 2014 Courses

• GIS 3300:  Interdisciplinary India:  Study Abroad
  This course begins on the first day of Winter Term, December 22, 2014, with several video lectures and assignments that introduce students to the history and cultures of India.  The group departs for India on December 27, 2014, from Houston, and returns to Houston on January 15, 2015.  We will visit a number of cities and sites (Mumbai, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Agra, Khajuraho, Varanasi, and Delhi), where we will study the social, cultural, and historical wonders of this amazing civilization.  
  Please contact Dr. Anjali Kanojia for more information:  akanojia(at)uh.edu

May 2014 Courses

• POLS3394/RELS 3396: Politics and Religion in South Asia
  (Hybrid; meets face-to-face Tuesday and Thursday; MWF will be taught online)
  This course will introduce students to the role of religion in contemporary politics of South Asia. Both religion and politics play a role in providing individual and national identity, cultural association, and formation of civil society. We will examine caste politics, ethnic conflicts and regionalism in order to examine the influence of religion on electoral behavior, patterns of governance, policy-making, social movements and political crises. Instructor: Dr. Anjali Kanojia

Summer 2014 Courses

• ECON 3355: Economic Development of Asia
  Economic and social problems of raising standards of living in Asia. Economic growth, environment, income disparities, role of trade and foreign investment and related political and social changes in India/China, Southeast Asia/Vietnam.
  Instructor: Dr. Thomas DeGregori

Spring 2014 Courses

• ANTH 3316: Cultures of India
  This course examines different aspects of Indian cultures; particularly focusing on the peoples, different religions and practices, traditional values as well as modernity in the developing country.
  Instructor: Dr. Sarath Menon
• ANTH 3381/RELS 3381: Global Hinduism
  Examines the diversity of Hindu practices established outside of India, compares religious phenomena in different regions of the world, including Houston, using theoretical frameworks from anthropology, sociology and religious studies.
  Instructor: Dr. Michele Verma
• RELS 3396/POLS 3394: Politics and Religion in South Asia
  This course will introduce students to the role of religion in contemporary politics of South Asia. Both religion and politics play a role in providing individual and national identity, cultural association, and formation of civil society. We will examine caste politics, ethnic conflicts and regionalism in order to examine the influence of religion on electoral behavior, patterns of governance, policy-making, social movements and political crises.
  Instructor: Dr. Anjali Kanojia
• CUST 2300: Introduction to Asian American Studies
  An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Readings include selections from the Social Sciences, Cultural Studies and the Humanities.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• CUST 4300/ANTH 2395: Asian American Cultures Transnational Migration and Global Trends
  This course examines the theoretical aspects of transnational migration in the context of global capitalism. Special emphasis on ethnographic approaches to the study of how immigrant networks and circuits are created across national boundaries.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• ENGL 2325: Literatures of the Non-Western World
  In this course we will read classical texts from the non-western world, and folk tales, and pair them with contemporary literature, film, and graphic novel to explore the notions of time, morality and world view. The aim of the course is to give you a glimpse into the diversity of stories and narrative styles from the non-western world and a sense of how these stories are always in cultural flux and contestation.
  Instructor: Dr. Aishwarya Lakshmi
• HIST 3395/RELS 3396: Modern India since 1900: Society, Culture, Religion, Politics
  This course will introduce students to modern India, which encompasses diverse nationalities, cultures and religions, and is home to one­fifth of the world’s population. We begin with the rule of the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent during the 19th & 20th centuries, trace the formation of the nation­ states of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to arrive at the present. The course will investigate meanings of identity, modernity, nationalism and communalism in the Indian subcontinent.
  Instructor: Dr. Tahseen Ali
• POLS 3323: Introduction to the Government and Politics of India
  This course addresses the chief institution of Indian national government, elections, public opinion, political parties and interest groups, and foreign relations. It also offers a brief summary of Indian political history, and a discussion of the major contemporary challenges and issues facing the Indian polity.
  Instructor: Dr. Vandana Bhatia
• RELS 2360: Introduction to Buddhism
  The course is an introduction to Buddhist thought, practice, culture(s), and history. It traces the historical development of Buddhism and examines a variety of Buddhist traditions as they grew out of what the Buddha taught. Emphasis is placed on the time and place out of which Buddhist thought first emerged, how it became an organized religious tradition, and the various ways in which it has adapted to new cultural homes.
  Instructor: Dr. Jon Keune
• RELS 3380: Introduction to Asian Religions
  This course is a survey of religious and philosophical traditions of Asia focusing on the traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto, and Sikhism.
  Instructor: Dr. Jon Keune
• SOC 3397: Sociology of India
  Historical overview, sociological perspective, religion, caste-structure and change, rural social structure, secularism and Gandhi, family, kinship and marriage, impact of urbanization, India today.
  Instructor: Ms. Sheila Singh
• SOC 3397: Indian Cinema: Bollywood and Beyond
  This course explores images of Indian society that emerge through the medium of film. Our attention will be focused on the ways in which Indian society, history, religion, class, caste and culture is depicted in film, critical social issues being explored through film; the depicted reality vs. the historical reality; and the powerful role of the Indian film industry in affecting social orientations, gender, the diaspora and traditional Indian values.
  Instructor: Ms. Sheila Singh
• WCL 2370/ RELS 2396: Cultures of India
  This course will introduce students to contemporary Indian culture through literature, essays, and cinema. We will explore the vast cultural diversity and the layered identity of the country, with special emphasis on transnationalism, modernity, and development through our readings and films.
  Instructor: Ms. Meera Jagannathan

Summer 2013 Courses

• ECON 3355: Economic Development of Asia.
  Economic and social problems of raising standards of living in Asia. Economic growth, environment, income disparities, role of trade and foreign investment and related political and social changes in India/China, Southeast Asia/Vietnam.
  Instructor: Dr. Thomas DeGregori

Fall 2013 Courses

• ANTH 3347: Anthropology of Women
  This course examines the status of women in cross-cultural perspectives.
  Instructor: Dr. Deepa Reddy
• ARTH 3394: Art of India and Beyond
  This course introduces students to the art and material culture/s of India with sensitivity to shifting borders, complex relations between local and shared practices, and multi-cultural artistic exchange on the Indian subcontinent and beyond. The course provides an overview of religious art and architecture (c. 300 BCE-1700 CE), familiarizing students with Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Islamic objects as well as their regionally specific forms and iconographies. The course also explores the art of the colonialist period, the art of independence, and contemporary Indian art treating themes of tradition and globalization.
  Instructor: Ms. Stephanie Chadwick
• CUST 4300/ANTH 4394: Asian American Cultures Transnational Migration and Global Trends
  This course examines the theoretical aspects of transnational migration in the context of global capitalism. Special emphasis on ethnographic approaches to the study of how immigrant networks and circuits are created across national boundaries.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• CUST 2300/CCS 2394: Introduction to Asian American Studies
  This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Readings include selections from the Social Sciences, Cultural Studies and the Humanities.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• ECON 4389: Agriculture and Agricultural Biotechnology (in India)*
  Students taking the India-route in this course will focus on the Green and White Revolutions in India. The course will address the Golden Rice issue, and students will have an option to research NGOs and other organized opposition to agricultural technology in India.
  Instructor: Dr. Thomas DeGregori *Please see Dr. Anjali Kanojia before signing up
• ENGL 3365: Postcolonial Literature and Theory
  This course will provide an introduction to post-colonial literature and theory. Both struggle to understand and depict the ways in which, despite the end of colonialism, its after-effects in political and everyday life and on the life of the mind linger. We will read theory against the literature and ask the following questions: do the questions that literature raises, the stories that it plots, complement theories of the times, or do they offer ways of reading postcolonialism that theory cannot grasp? Or, conversely, does literature perhaps simplify some of the historical problems attendant to the post-colonial scenario, and if so, what are the means by which it does so? We will end the course by a discussion of globalization, by reading short writings on the subject and watching a film.
  Instructor: Dr. Aishwarya Lakshmi
• HIND 1501: Beginning Hindi I
  No prior knowledge of Hindi is required for this course. Students will learn basic Hindi writing, reading, listening comprehension and conversation.
  Instructor: Ms. Sarita Mehta
• HIST 2363/CCS2396/RELS 2396: South Asia since 1600
  This course will trace the history of the Indian subcontinent from the age of the Mughals through to the present-day. We will chart the evolution of this complex region by examining its social, cultural, religious, political and economic antecedents.
  Instructor: Dr. Tahseen Ali
• POLS 3323: Introduction to the Government and Politics of India
  This course addresses the chief institution of Indian national government, elections, public opinion, political parties and interest groups, and foreign relations. It also offers a brief summary of Indian political history, and a discussion of the major contemporary challenges and issues facing the Indian polity.
  Instructor: Dr. Vandana Bhatia
  Download the Flyer 
• RELS 2340: Introduction to Hinduism (WID)
  This course explores answers to questions about various forms of religious experience and expression in Hinduism. Relevant historical background information is surveyed in order to help assess continuity and change in learned and vernacular Hindu religious practices. The course objectives are to explore the historical development of Hinduism, to gain an understanding of the beliefs and practices of Hindu practitioners, acquire insight into Hinduism as a lived meaningful experience, and to engage critically and sensitively with course materials.
  Instructor: Dr. Anjali Kanojia
  Download the Flyer 
• SOC 3385: Sociology of World Religions
  This class addresses religions from ancient to modern times. The class focuses on the knowledge of the world's religious systems, social-structural factors associated with their origins and development and the impact on contemporary societies.
  Instructor: Dr. Helen Rose Ebaugh
• SOC 3397: Sociology of Religion in India
  This course will apply various sociological approaches to the study of religion in Indian society to examine the role of ‘the sacred’ in creating cohesion and intergroup contestations, as well as explore a micro-sociological analysis of the spiritual thought in Hindu society in the absence of organization. We will also examine the role of secularism and humanism as applied in the contestations between native belief system and imported religions, and their consequences for socio-political integration.
  Instructor: Dr. Sarath Menon-Chembottil

Spring 2013 Courses

• HIND 1502: Elementary Hindi II.
  Continued development of listening comprehension, oral communication, reading, and writing.
  Instructor: Sarita Mehta
• HIND 2302: Intermediate Hindi II.
  Continued development of listening comprehension, oral communication, reading, and writing.
  Instructor: Sarita Mehta
• SOC 3397: Sociology of India.
  Historical overview, sociological perspective, religion, caste-structure and change, rural social structure, secularism and Gandhi, family, kinship and marriage, impact of urbanization, India today.
  Instructor: Ms. Sheila Singh
• CUST 2300: Introduction to Asian American Studies 
  An introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Readings include selections from the Social Sciences, Cultural Studies and the Humanities.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• CUST 4300: Asian American Cultures Transnational Migration and Global Trends 
  This course examines the theoretical aspects of transnational migration in the context of global capitalism. Special emphasis on ethnographic approaches to the study of how immigrant networks and circuits are created across national boundaries.
  Instructor: Mr. Jose Saul Martinez
• ENGL 2325: Literatures of the Non-Western World.
  In this course we will read classical texts from the non-western world, and folk tales, and pair them with contemporary literature, film, and graphic novel to explore the notions of time, morality and world view. The aim of the course is to give you a glimpse into the diversity of stories and narrative styles from the non-western world and a sense of how these stories are always in cultural flux and contestation.
  Instructor: Dr. Aishwarya Lakshmi
• ENGL 4397: South Asian Literature and Film
  This course will engage a variety of materials from twentieth and twenty first century South Asian literature and film. By examining a selection of novelistic and filmic texts, we will explore ways of imagining unique national identities within South Asia, the place of women and queer sexualities within them, and new “humanisms” and “cosmopolitanisms” that resist or mark their distance from the west even while remaining in a dialectical relation to it.
  Instructor: Dr. Aishwarya Lakshmi
• ANTH 3316: Cultures of India
  This course examines different aspects of Indian cultures; particularly focusing on the peoples, different religions and practices, traditional values as well as modernity in the developing country.
  Instructor: Dr. Sarath Menon
• RELS 2360: Introduction to Buddhism
  The course is an introduction to Buddhist thought, practice, culture(s), and history. It traces the historical development of Buddhism and examines a variety of Buddhist traditions as they grew out of what the Buddha taught. Emphasis is placed on the time and place out of which Buddhist thought first emerged, how it became an organized religious tradition, and the various ways in which it has adapted to new cultural homes.
  Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Barlow
• INTB 3351: History of Globalization
  This course is an examination of the historical roots of modern day globalization, focusing on the changing world economy and its political and cultural effects in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  Instructor: Dr. Olivia Miljanic
• INTB 3352: Politics of Globalization
  This course examines current political dimensions of globalization, emphasizing changing notions of state sovereignty, the emergence of non-state actors, and the expansion of world organizations based on international law.
  Instructor: Dr. Long Le
• INTB 3353: Economics of Globalization
  Analysis of modern day economic globalization, focusing on capital market integration and its effects on economic growth and development, income inequality, and labor markets.
  Instructor: Dr. Amelie Carlton
• INTB 3354: The History of Globalization and international Business (Honors Section)
  This course examines the evolution of international business and the world economy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and analyzes the different kinds of economic and political environments in which international business operates. Course may focus on case studies of different industries.
  Instructor: Dr. Olivia Miljanic
• INTB 3355: The Political Economy of Globalization (Honors Section)
  This course examines the political issues and economic trends that influence and are influenced by the process of globalization, and it analyzes how globalization interacts with the nation-state and economic institutions. Course may focus on case studies of different regions or industries.
  Instructor: Dr. Long Le