Glossary
UW Bothell Course Descriptions
UW Tacoma Course Descriptions
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To see the detailed Instructor Class Description, click on the underlined instructor name following the course description.
SISA 200 Contemporary India and Pakistan (5) I&S Dhavan, Kale
Interdisciplinary introduction to the field of South Asian Studies. Overview of the topographic, social, and linguistic geography and history of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Examines politics, economy, social structure, religion, cultural production and the arts, popular culture, and transnationalism.
Instructor Course Description:
Sunila S. Kale
SISA 202 Introduction to South Asian History, 1500 - present (5) I&S Dhavan
The Islamic impact, British conquest, and contemporary India. Emphasis on the rise of nationalism, social organization, and contemporary life and history. Offered: jointly with HSTAS 202.
SISA 209 Asian Civilizations: Traditions (5) VLPA Porter
Interdisciplinary introduction to the civilizations of Asia, particularly those of India, China, Japan, and Korea. Explores the religion, philosophy, literature, art, and social and political thought of these civilizations from ancient times to the 17th century.
Instructor Course Description:
Deborah Porter
SISA 210 Rise of Asia (5) I&S Anchordoguy, Bachman, Giebel, Sorensen
Key themes in the study of Asia, with focus on the present. Topics include: the notion of "Asia;" cultural and religious similarities and differences; comparison of colonial experiences under Western and Asian powers; World War II and liberation; postwar patterns of economic and political development; social patterns and issues. Offered: A.
Instructor Course Description:
Marie C Anchordoguy
David M Bachman
SISA 244 Imperialism and Anti-Colonialism in Asia (5) I&S Giebel
Introduction to Western imperialism expansion, conquest, and colonial rule in Asia; the anti-colonial, nationalist resistances they engendered; and the resultant cultural, political, economic, and intellectual transformations in Asian societies. Covers post-1800 violence, racial hierarchies, human rights abuses, post-colonial memories, persistent strategies of domination, and structural inequities. Offered: jointly with HSTAS 244.
SISA 245 Human Rights in Asia (5) I&S Callahan, Giebel
Introduction to recent and ongoing human rights issues in South, Southeast, and East Asia. Focuses on how human rights politics have played out in domestic political arenas. Provides exposure to views/insights into the historical context in which human rights claims, abuses, and debates arise. Offered: jointly with HSTAS 245.
SISA 265 Globalization and the Transformation Economy and Society in Asia (5) I&S Hamilton
Examines the rapid and extensive social and economic development throughout Asia since the mid-20th century; the corresponding retail revolution in the American economy; the evolution of characteristic Asian product categories; and the impact of these developments on the social and economic organization of Asian economies. Offered: jointly with SOC 265.
SISA 303 Divided Lands/Divided Lives: An Environmental History of South Asia (5) I&S Dhavan
Focuses on the mobilization of South Asian tribal, peasant, and ethnic communities around ecological issues to secure social equity in the colonial and post-colonial period. Examines how the complex interactions of states and peoples have changed the ways in which nature itself is conceptualized. Offered: jointly with HSTAS 303.
SISA 316 Modern South Asia (5) I&S
Twentieth-century history and society of Indian subcontinent. Topics include nationalism, rural and urban life, popular culture gender and environmental politics. Offered: jointly with ANTH 316.
SISA 339 Social Movements in Contemporary India (5) Ramamurthy
Covers issues of social change, economic development, and identity politics in contemporary India studied through environmental and women' s movements. Includes critiques of development and conflicts over forests, dams, women' s rights, religious community, ethnicity, and citizenship. Offered: jointly with GWSS 339/ANTH 339.
SISA 340 Government and Politics of South Asia (5) I&S Kale
Comparison of problems of national integration and political development in India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Offered: jointly with POL S 340.
SISA 341 Political Violence and the Post-Colonial State in South Asia (5) I&S
Examines theoretical approaches to the analysis of collective, state, and anti-state violence in post-colonial South Asia through the study of specific cases of political violence in modern India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Offered: jointly with ANTH 341.
SISA 343 Comparative Geographies of Youth (5) I&S
Examines how three key global processes - rising levels of formal education, changing health regimes , and environmental transformation - are shaping youth in the US and South Asia. Examines ways young people rework broader structures, paying particular attention to their economic livelihoods, cultural practices, and political engagements. Offered: jointly with GEOG 343.
SISA 372 Asian Sustainable Development (5) I&S
Examines the contemporary relationship between environmental protection and development paths in Asia. Inquires into the forces driving both environmental change and societal responses (state and local regulations, social movements, etc.) to that change, at many geographical scales. Asian concepts of nature-society relations also explored. Offered: jointly with GEOG 372.
SISA 399 Study Abroad: Asian Studies (1-5, max. 15) I&S
For participants in study abroad program. Specific course content varies. Courses do not automatically apply to major/minor requirements.
SISA 401 Asia and the World (5) I&S Bachman
Overview of major issues and developments in the interactions of Northeast and Southeast Asia and he world. Topics include economic development and integration, sources of instability, and historical patterns of relations. Particular focus on major current issues related to the region. Prerequisite: SIS 201, SISA 210.
SISA 412 South Asian Social Structure (5) I&S
Caste class, and community in modern India. Transitions from colonial typology to analysis of social change, diversity, stability, and caste hierarchy in rural society. Current debates on class and community in Indian society, rural and urban, explored through themes of identity, structure, and mobility. Prerequisite: one 200-level ANTH course. Offered: jointly with ANTH 412.
SISA 417 Political Economy of India (5) I&S
Analysis of relationships among processes of economic change, political institutions, and structures of political power in contemporary India. Includes contrasting approaches to Indian economic development, land reform, radical and agrarian political movements, and role of foreign aid. Offered: jointly with POL S 417.
SISA 434 International Relations of South Asia (5) I&S
Interrelationships of domestic, interstate, and extraregional forces and their effects upon the resolution or expansion of interstate conflicts in South Asia. Offered: jointly with POL S 434.
SISA 436 Social and Political Geographies of South Asia (5) I&S
Introduces the social and political geographies of South Asia through reference to agrarian change in India. Outlines key concepts related to the reproduction of inequality in the region, particularly theories of caste, class, gender, and religious communalism, and examines the mechanisms through which these inequalities are reproduced in South Asia. Offered: jointly with GEOG 436.
SISA 442 Global Asia (5) I&S Welland
Explores how Asia has been constructed through transnational interactions such as imperialism, anti-colonialism, tourism, diaspora, and global capitalism. Topics include the cultural construction of similarity and difference, politics of representation, and political economy of global circula 45tions of people and things. Prerequisite: one 200-level ANTH course. Offered: jointly with ANTH 442/GWSS 446; W.
Instructor Course Description:
Sasha Welland
SISA 460 Sociolinguistics of South Asia (3) I&S
SISA 490 Special Topics (1-5, max. 15) I&S
Content varies.
Instructor Course Description:
Robert J. Pekkanen
Sasha Welland
SISA 494 Ramayana in Comparative Perspective (5) VLPA Pauwels
Examines and compares different versions (mainly South Asian) of the Ramayana, including the widely popular television version. Focuses on some famous and controversial passages, with special attention to gender issues. Incorporates background readings from the most recent research. Offered: jointly with ASIAN 494.
SISA 498 Undergraduate Colloquium on South Asia (5) I&S
Interrelationship of the various social science disciplines in the study of South Asian history and culture.
SISA 499 Undergraduate Research (1-5, max. 15)
SISA 590 Special Topics (1-5, max. 10) I&S
Special topics in Asian Studies. Course content varies by instructor.
Instructor Course Description:
Robert J. Pekkanen
