HIS 2416 State, Politics and Culture in PostColonial South Asia
Spring 2008
Lecturer – Pamela Price
First lecture: Introduction to major themes of the course,
Reading: Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, pp.1-28.
Second lecture: Outline of major developments at the national level in independent
India.
Reading: Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, pp. 31-115.
Luce, “The Burra Sahibs: The Long Tentacles of India’s State” (in the
Compendium).
Price, “Da Sonia Gandhi ble politiker” (Compendium).
Chandra, ”Excerpt from In the Name of Democracy: JP Movement and the
Emergency (Compendium).
Third lecture: Failures (and successes) in development in independent India.
Reading: Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, pp. 269-335.
Sarma, “Is Rural Economy Breaking Down? Farmers’ Suicides in Andhra Pradesh”
(Compendium)
Price, ”Changing Meanings of Authority in Contemporary Rural India”
(Compendium).
Fourth lecture: State politics in independent India –political cultures of the emergence
of new political parties and increasing regionalism
Reading: Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, pp. 116-191.
Price, “Revolution and Rank in Tamil Nationalism”
Fifth lectures: Populism in (mainly) South India.
Reading: Swamy, “Parties, Political Identities and the Absence of Mass Political Violence in
South India” (Compendium).
Price, Price, “Kingly Models in Indian Political Behavior” (Compendium)
Subramanian, “The Efflorescence of Paternalist Populism: The ADMK”,
(Compendium)
Banerjee, “Populist Leadership in West Bengal & Tamil Nadu”, pp. 285-296
(Compendium).
Kohli, “The NTR Phenomenon in Andhra Pradesh” (Compendium).
Sixth lecture: Caste in Indian politics (examples from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh).
Reading: Weiner, “The Struggle for equality: caste in Indian politics” (Compendium)
Manor, “Karnataka: Caste, Class and Dominance” (Compendium)
Gould, “Political Self-destruction in Karnataka, 1999” (Compendium)
Ram Reddy. “The Politics of Accommodation” (Compendium)
Seventh lecture: Development and/or Welfare?
Reading: Suri, “Politics of Pragmatism” (Compendium)
Manor, “Explaining Political Trajectories in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka”
(Compendium)
Kumar & Chandrakanth, “A popular backlash” (Compendium).
Sridhar, “Neo-liberalism spurned” (Compendium)
Balagopal, “Andhra Pradesh: Beyond Media Images” (Compendium)
Eighth lecture: Development and/or Welfare? (continued)
Reading: no new assignment
Ninth and tenth lectures: Forms of governance in Pakistani politics
Reading: Christophe Jaffrelot, ed., A History of Pakistan and Its Origins (London: Anthem
Press, 2002), “Introduction”, pp. 1-6, “Islamic Identity and Ethnic Tensions”, pp. 9-38, “A
Fruitless Search for Democracy”, pp. 61-94 (Will be available for copying from the reception
of IAKH, NHAbels hus).
Eleventh and twelfth lectures: Conclusions
Reading: Brass, The Politics of India since Independence, pp. 192-266, 336-366.