SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME

FACULTY OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES

SN2284 ‘MAKING SENSE OF REGIONS IN SOUTH ASIA’
ACADEMIC YEAR 2017-18, SEMESTER II

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This module looks at regions in South Asia. It interrogates the concept of the ‘region’ and considers
processes which have shaped region-making. The ways in which regions contribute to the diversity of
South Asia are discussed. The role of language, culture and cuisine in shaping regional identities is
also explored. Finally, the complex relationship between region and nation is examined using specific
case studies from across South Asia.

COURSE LECTURER
Assoc Prof Gyanesh Kudaisya

SCHEDULE AND VENUE

Lecture every Wednesday between 12 noon to 2 pm at AS4-01-18

CONTACT INFORMATION
Assoc Prof Gyanesh Kudaisya can be contacted on Telephone 6516-4701 and at e-mail
sasgk@nus.edu.sg His office is at AS8 #06-36.

E-RESOURCES
Electronic resources are available for this module at the NUS IVLE. These contain the key texts which
will be used for each theme taken up in this course on a weekly basis. Readings are included in the E-
Reserves.

INTRODUCTORY TEXTS
Metcalf, Barbara and Thomas, A Concise History of India, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2001, pp. 123-260. CL DS461 Met

Penguin Guide to States and Union Territories of India, Rupa, 2005

Ranjit, Tirtha, Geography of India (second edition, 2005)

Kumar, Ashutosh, Regions within Regions, New Delhi: Routledge, 2011

Tillin, Louise, Remapping India New States and their Political Origins, 2013

Brass, Paul R., The Politics of India Since Independence, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
1990, pp. 1-27.

Paul R Brass, ed., Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics (London: Routledge: 2010)

Kohli, Atul, Singh, Prerna (ed,), Routledge handbook of Indian Politics (New York: Routledge 2013)

Cohn, Bernard S, An anthropologist among the historians and other essays, 1987.

ATLAS & REFERENCE WORKS

Schmidt, Karl J., An atlas and survey of South Asian history, Armonk, N.Y, M.E. Sharpe, 1995. CL
reference 4 G2261 His.Sc

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Robinson, Francis, The Cambridge encyclopaedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,
Bhutan, and the Maldives, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989. CL RBR DS334.9 Cam

LECTURE PROGRAMME

L1 Introduction: Regions and their Formation (16 January 2019）

This session will introduce the main themes which will be taken up in this course over the semester. It
will focus on various approaches to define and understand the concept of regions and the
reorganization of states in India. These discussions will provide a context for issues taken up in
subsequent sessions.

Akhtar Majeed, “The Changing Politics of States’ Reorganization” in Publius, 33,4 (Autumn 2003),
pp. 83-98.

Benjamin B. Cohen and Sumit Ganguly, “Introduction: Regions and Regionalism in India” in India
Review, 13, 4 (28 Oct. 2014), pp. 312-20.

L2 Human Development Indices and Competition Across Regions (23 January 2019)
This session looks at human development in the states of India and countries in South Asia. The
discussion will focus on the nature of disparities across India and South Asia and the implications these
have on regionalism.

Nayar, Baldev Raj “Globalization and State Disparities in India”, in A Handbook of Politics in Indian
States, Regions, Parties and Economic Reforms, edited by Sudha Pai, New Delhi: Oford University
Press, 2013, pp. 339-355.

Aseema Sinha, ‘Rethinking the Developmental State Model: Divided Leviathan and Sub National
Comparisons in India’, Comparative Politics, Vol 35, No. 4, July 2003, pp. 459-476.

L3 Remapping India: 1947-1960 (30 January 2019)

This session will look at how India as a postcolonial nation redrew its map by reorganizing its internal
political boundaries. It looks at debates and processes between 1947 and 1960 to examine how new
states were created, based largely upon linguistic demands.

Gyanesh Kudaisya, ‘Historical Introduction’ in Reorganisation of States in India: Text and Context
(New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2014), pp. vii-xi.

Asha Sarangi and Sudha Pai, ‘Introduction: Contextualizing Reorganization’ in Interrogating

Reorganization of States: Culture, Identity and Politics in India, New Delhi, Routledge, 2011, pp. 1-
25.

L4 ‘One Language, One State’: case-study of Karnataka & Maharashtra (13 Feb 2019)
The redrawing of boundaries along linguistic lines in the 1950s resulted in the political geography of
newly-independent India becoming deeply intertwined with language, or more specifically, with the
policy of ‘one language, one state’. Why has linguistic politics persisted despite states being formed
along the basis of language? This session looks the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra in order to
understand the relationship between language and regional identity and the capacity of language to
shape and influence politics.

Janaki Nair, “Language and the Right to the City” in The Promise of the Metropolis Bangalore’s
Twentieth Century (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp.234-270.

Suhas Palshikar, ‘Shiv Sena: A Tiger with Many Faces?’ Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 39, No.
14/15 (Apr. 3-16, 2004), pp. 1497-1507.

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L5 The Hindi Heartland: case study of Uttar Pradesh (20 February 2019)
This session looks at an example of a region in India where there is little cultural heterogeneity- how
do such states construct and define their regional identity? As the largest and most populous state in
India, Uttar Pradesh is an interesting case study on the challenges the state faces in establishing its
regional identity within the state and vis-à-vis the rest of the country.
Gyanesh Kudaisya, ‘Constructing the ‘heartland’: Uttar Pradesh in India's body‐politic, South Asia:
Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol 25 No. 2, 2002, pp. 153-181.

Ajit Kumar Singh, ‘Uttar Pradesh Economy: Past Performance and Future Challenges’, in Uttar
Pradesh, The Road Ahead, edited by V. Ramakrishnan, New Delhi, Academic Foundation, 2009, pp.
69-83. (DS485 Utt.Pr 2009)

L6 Capital Cities: Chandigarh, Bangalore & Amravati (6 March 2019)

This session looks at capital cities as yet another space where notions of regional identities are brought
up and challenged. In some states, entire cities were planned by the central government and built
ground-up to reflect the new Indian state’s modernity and secularism. This session looks at how space
and architecture have contributed to the building of capital cities meant to reflect the ‘regional’. Do
cities have their own identities independent of the region they belong to?

Janaki Nair, “Past Perfect: Architecture and Public Life” in The Promise of the Metropolis Bangalore’s
Twentieth Century (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 200-233.

Ravi Kalia, "Genesis." Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City. New Delhi: Oxford UP, 1999. 3-
11. (HT169 Ind.Ka)

S Ananth ‘When a Place Slowly Transforms into the Capital City of Amaravati’, Photo-essay in
Economic & Political Weekly Online

L7 Interrogating Northeast India (13 March 2019)

As the eastern-most region in India, the Northeast comprises of the contiguous Seven Sister States and
the Himalayan state of Sikkim. The region is, however, often seen as a singular entity rather than one
comprising eight different states, each with its own unique history and culture. This session aims to
problematize the homogenization of the Northeast. The discussion hopes to be focused on the
processes behind the territorial demarcation of the region and the limitations of using tribal identities
as a means of distinction.

B.P. Singh, “North-East India: Demography, Culture and Identity Crisis” in Modern Asian Studies,
Vol. 21, No. 2 (1987), pp.257-282.

Komol Singha and Amarjeet M. Singh (ed.), ‘Introduction’ Identity, contestation and development
in Northeast India (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016), pp. 1-20.

L8 Regional Cuisines (20 March 2019)

How do regions express themselves through their food? In what ways has food become a marker of
regional identity across South Asia? The session will be conducted in the form of a field trip to Little
India.

Arjun Appadurai, ‘How to Make a National Cuisine: Cookbooks in Contemporary India’ in

Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jan., 1988), pp. 3-24.

Anupam Jain, Rakhi N K, Ganesh Bagler, ‘Analysis of Food Pairing in Regional Cuisines of India’ in
PLOS ONE 10(10)(2015).

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Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi, ‘On the political use of disgust in Gujarat’, in South Asian History and
Culture, 1:4 (10/2010), pp. 557-576.

L9 Regional Cinemas (27 March 2019)

This session looks at regional cinema across India and how cinema has the capacity to shape political
culture and regional identities, with a focus on the Tamil and Bhojpuri film industries.

Theodore Baskaran, “The Star-politicians of Tamil Nadu: The origin and emergence” in K. Moti
Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake; editorial assistant Rohit K. Dasgupta (ed.), Routledge handbook
of Indian cinemas (Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2013).

Ratnakar Tripathy, “Mapping the invisible world of Bhojpuri cinema and its changing audience” in K.
Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake; editorial assistant Rohit K. Dasgupta (ed.), Routledge
handbook of Indian cinemas (Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2013).

L10 The Place of Punjab in Pakistan (3 April 2019)

This session looks at the centrality of Punjab in Pakistan’s economy and military, to the disadvantage
of its other regions. The discussion focuses on the civil military oligarchy in Pakistan and how the
Punjab dominates Pakistani politics and economy, through the military.

*Christophe Jaffrelot, ‘Five Ethnic Groups for One Nation’, The Pakistan Paradox: instability and
resilience (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

Stephen P. Cohen, The Idea of Pakistan, Vanguard Books, Lahore, 2005, chapter 6, pp. 201-229.

L11 Region and Secession: the case of Bangladesh (10 April 2019)
This session looks at the emergence of Bangladesh from East Pakistan. Isolated from West Pakistan,
how did East Pakistan first struggled to establish its own regional identity vis-à-vis the rest of Pakistan?
Post-1971, how has Bangladesh attempted to identify itself as either a secular or Islamic state?

*Willem van Schendel, ‘War and the Birth of Bangladesh’, A History of Bangladesh (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 159-182.

*Ian Talbot, ‘Pakistan’s National Crisis and the Birth of Bangladesh, A History of Modern South Asia:
Politics, States, Diasporas, Yale University Press, 2016, pp196-209.

L12 Jaffna and Sri Lanka (17 April 2019)

This session looks at the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, with a focus on Tamil separatism in the region
of Jaffna.

Robert Kearney, ‘Territorial Elements of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka’, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 60, No.
4, 1987-88, pp. 561-577.

Nira Wickramasinghe, ‘In Sri Lanka, the triumph of vulgar patriotism’, Current History, April 2010,
pp. 158-161.

MODES OF ASSESSMENT
a) Overview
The break-up of assessment components shall be as follows: 20% Class participation; 10% Individual
Presentation; 10% Essay proposal; 20% Essay ; 40% Final Examination (closed-book)

b) Assignment Proposal

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Students will be required to complete the Assignment Proposal Form. This Form is available on the
course IVLE site under the Work-bin. This Form has been designed to help you identify the theme of
your project and set out its scope and aims. It must include a comprehensive bibliography, identifying
the sources and any other materials which are likely to be used.

c) Term Essay
The essay should be between 1800 to 2000 words in length, excluding footnotes and bibliography.
Students could take up any of the seminar themes as the subject of their assignment. However, they
are also welcome to propose other themes using the Assignment Proposal Form. All students are
encouraged to contribute a soft copy of their work for the IVLE.

d) Tutorials
Typically, tutorials will provide an opportunity for addressing problems relating to readings, clarifying
concepts as well as a forum for the presentation of students’ ideas and work. The E- Reserves in the
IVLE contain one or two readings associated with a particular theme. Students are expected to do these
readings and expected to take an active part in discussions and making short presentations.
Performance in these activities weighted at 30%.

e) Examination
Examination will constitute 40% of the overall assessment. A closed book examination will be
prescribed.