• To introduce students to post-colonial Indian history;
• To introduce students to using films as historical sources;
• To encourage students to consider the role of culture in fashioning identities and about the nature and challenges of being ‘post-colonial’, as well as about the nature and effects of globalisation;
• To enable students to carry out research and writing on both non-western and visual sources;
• To enable students to develop communication and digital skills;
• To enable student to develop employability skills, particularly relating to the culture industries.

(LO1) The ability to develop and sustain historical arguments and utilise evidence.

(LO2) An ability to read, analyse and reflect critically and contextually upon non-textual sources, as well as upon secondary evidence.

(LO3) An understanding of a non-Western (i.e., Indian) history and culture, and of wider global history.

(S1) Team-working, respect for others' reasoned views, flexibility and adaptability.

(S2) Gathering, analysing and organising information.

(S3) Structure, coherence, clarity and fluency of oral and written expression.

(S4) Digital skills.

(S5) Employability skills.

We will spend the first two weeks of the module becoming familiar with India’s recent history, its culture and its cinema, and will learn how to ‘read’ Indian films. We will then go on to analyse a series of films from the 1950s to the present, and will consider a number of key questions, including: what do concepts such as ‘nation’ or ‘democracy’ mean in a context such as India? What does it mean to be ‘Indian’? What is the relationship between identity and culture, or nation and imagination?

Topics covered may include:

Indian Culture, Society and the Challenge of Being Post-Colonial;

Cinema, Modernity and the Nation;

The Idea of India;

Fulfilling the Nehruvian Vision;

Partition and its Legacies;

Embracing the Modern While Mourning the Past;

The Rise of the Angry Young Man;

The Crisis of Democracy;

Economic Transformations and the Abandonment of Secular Politic s;

Violence and the Triumph of the Right.

The majority of teaching will be delivered face-to-face on campus. Online delivery will be used to complement the on-campus delivery and where technology affords a better learning experience.

Lectures:
50-minute weekly lectures will provide both historical context for the module and insights into the nature, meaning and significance of Indian cinema, in particular the films that the module will focus on.

Seminars:
2-hour weekly seminars will provide an opportunity for students to watch group podcasts, and discuss module materials and assessments.