South Asia Studies

Academic Program Introduction

Our program focuses on the histories, cultures, and people of South Asia and its diaspora. Students explore both European and South Asian theories of knowledge. Majors concentrate on a single method, such as literary analysis, or a single theme, such as international development, and become proficient in a South Asian language such as Hindi or Urdu.

Learning goals

  • Think in a multicontextual way and at the intersection of disciplines.
  • Engage in rigorous encounters with a crucial but underrepresented area of the world.

  • Gain broad understanding of the cultures, histories, religions, societies, politics, and people of the region and in the diaspora.

  • Learn to speak and comprehend, and to write and read, in Hindi or in Urdu, or in another South Asian language.

Programs of Study

South Asia studies major and minor

Students acquire skills and sentiments needed to understand South Asian arts, cultures, histories, politics, and religions.

Course highlights

  • Investigates relations between governments and states in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan) and with governments and states beyond the region (principally with China, Russia, and the United States). Focuses on wars between India and Pakistan; rival claims over Kashmir; the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh; conflicts in Afghanistan since 1978; nuclear proliferation; India's and Pakistan's competing relations with China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States; and Bhutan's and Nepal's relations with each other and China.
  • In 1947, India was partitioned into India and Pakistan. Since then, these countries have wrestled with issues of governance and development, but colonial rule casts a long shadow over their efforts. This course introduces students to the complex politico-economic landscape of the subcontinent by examining how the idea of development changes in modern South Asian history. How are developmental efforts embedded in contexts of politics, society, and culture? How do political systems affect decisions? This course considers these questions by examining themes such as the colonial state's construction of railway and irrigation networks; Gandhi's critique of industrialization; Nehru's vision of an industrial economy; the challenges posed by Partition and militarization of Pakistan; the Green Revolution; and the onset of economic deregulation.

Research highlights

  • Professor Neelima Shukla-Bhatt’s book Hinduism: The Basics (Routledge, 2023) digs into the variety of philosophical schools, priestly rituals, and popular practices common in the Hindu faith, looking in particular at the diversity of Hinduism’s traditions and how they function in everyday life.

  • The Islamic Welfare State: Muslim Charity, Human Security, and Government Legitimacy in Pakistan (Cambridge University Press, 2023), by Professor Christopher Candland, explores the relationship between government legitimacy, everyday security, and lived Islam in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country.

Opportunities

  • Student organizations

    Students run three organizations centered on South Asian communities: Al-Muslimat, Wellesley’s Muslim Student Association; Darshana, for Wellesley’s Hindu community; and the Wellesley Association for South Asian Cultures, which hosts a cultural show, Shruti Laya, each fall.

Beyond Wellesley

Beyond Wellesley

Our graduates pursue a wide range of careers in health care, consulting, government, and advocacy. Recent employers include ATASK (Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence), Druk Holding and Investments, the National Institutes of Health, Publicis Sapient, the National Cancer Institute, Singapore’s Ministry of National Development, and the World Bank.

Recent Employers

NIH logo
Publicis Sapient logo
Singapore’s Ministry of National Development logo

South Asia Studies Program

Address
Founders Hall
106 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02481
Contact
Nikhil Rao
Program Director
Margaret Kennedy
Academic Administrator