COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. You will gain a better appreciation of the nature and practice of history as a discipline, and as the study, based on evidence, of human experiences, interactions, and relationships as they change over time. You will learn to appreciate that history does not consist of a simple succession of self-evident facts, and that evidence-based interpretation and analysis are central to all historical work. At the same time, since this is an upper-level seminar, you will also learn how various disciplinary approaches (literary, anthropological, cinema studies, post-colonial theory, etc.,) challenge and inform historical approaches and methodologies.
2. You will get an overview of Hindi-Urdu language Indian popular cinema and the significant modes through which it has been examined. This means that you will learn about the approaches that have been taken to reading films. You will learn to read at multiple levels, not only through the experience of watching the film, but for analytical pleasure. You will also learn to identify, analyze, and contextualize different types of primary sources, and to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, thus developing your overall ability to evaluate and use evidence; at the same time, you will learn how to consider film not simply as a repository of historical data, but as narratives informed by the political, cultural, and social contexts of their time. In particular, you will learn to appreciate the ways in which dominant narratives of the nation--as they were constructed, debated, and subverted, also exhibited the politics of gender, class, caste, and religious identities.
3. Your reading, writing, and oral communication skills will be honed. In particular, since each student will be required to conduct a weekly presentation, you will develop much needed skills of public speaking as well as how to present an argument coherently. You will also develop your ability to think historically, that is to situate events and developments in their historical context for the purpose of critical analysis; and you will expand your ability to engage with complex causal analysis, and to articulate arguments that integrate supporting evidence and analytical commentary.
4. You will learn to assess non-Eurocentric modes of analyzing popular cinema produced and circulated outside the west. Indian cinema is the only national cinema to have emerged under colonialism. This is a legacy which has affected the ways in which scholars and film critics alike have approached cinema of India. You will better appreciate the differentness of the past and the distinctiveness and richness of diverse societies and cultures, and learn to view the world from perspectives other than your own. Film in particular is an advantageous lens through which to consider multiple perspectives.
5. You will consider seriously the relationship between the city of Bombay and Hindi-Urdu cinema from the mid-twentieth century to the present. This will enable you to gain an appreciation for the long-term and nuanced mechanisms of historical change and causality, and for the past and present accomplishments and challenges of various societies and cultures. Your understanding of the social, cultural, political, and economic histories of Bombay, one of the most populous cities in the world, will help you better grasp the urban contexts of film production.
6. You will learn to critically examine such apparently place-neutral terms as “subject,” “modernity,” “femininity”, “masculinity” “sexuality,” “democracy” and “pleasure.” These are terms which have been both theorized and historicized, so you will learn how to unpack such terms in analyses of film. You will be able to consider cinema as a rich archive within which to explore the changing contours of such terms.
7. You will also be introduced to the rudiments of historical research, including the use of library and on-line resources, basic notions of historiography, and the purpose and practice of proper citation methods.