Understanding Indian Society

Course Code: BTS01

Understanding Indian Society

Course Details

• Course Code: BTS01
• Course Title: Understanding Indian Society
• Semester: II
• Credit Hours: 4
• Assessment: Senate Paper
• Final Examination: 100%

Course Objectives

• Conceptual and Analytical Clarity: Enable students to gain clarity about Indian society through various social theories, facilitating meaningful theological and ethical reflections.
• Critical Understanding of Societal Problems: Challenge students to critically analyze societal issues that threaten the dignity and rights of individuals, fostering their capacity to evaluate different approaches to these problems.
• Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Encourage students to adopt interdisciplinary perspectives to address exploitation and oppression in India.
• Engagement with Social Realities: Provide opportunities for deeper engagement with social movements, promoting alternative social transformations relevant to ministerial formation.

Pedagogical Methods

• Lectures
• Readings
• Film screenings
• Group discussions

Primary Texts:

• Towards Understanding Indian Society by Gabriele Dietrich and Bas Wielenga (Tiruvalla: CSS Books, 2009)
• Key Concepts in Critical Social Theory by Nick Crossley (London: Sage Publications, 2005)

Course Outline

SECTION A: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

UNIT I: Significance of Social Analysis for Doing Theology

UNIT II: Different Approaches for Understanding Society

1. 1. Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim
   2. Post-Marxist Understanding: Pierre Bourdieu and Bruno Latour

UNIT III: Francois Huotart’s Framework of Social Analysis

UNIT IV: Analyzing Indian Economy

1. 1. Landlessness
   2. Production Processes (Labour and Technology)
   3. Market Economy
   4. Capitalism and Globalization in India

UNIT V: Analyzing Indian Society

1. 1. Class as a Methodological Category
   2. Caste as a Methodological Category
   3. Gender as a Methodological Category
   4. Ethnic Identity in North East India as Methodological Category

SECTION B: ISSUES AND RESPONSE

UNIT VI: Analyzing Indian Polity I

• 1. Nation State: India as a Nation-state
  2. State and Power: Ideology and Power (Michel Foucault, Gramsci)
  3. Civil Society: Partha Chatterjee, Jurgen Habermas, Nancy Fraser
  4. Self-determination and State Terrorism

UNIT VII: Analyzing Indian Polity II

• 1. Major Political Ideologies and Movements: Gandhism, Socialism, Communism
  2. Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, and Tribal Politics
  3. Subaltern Politics and Social Movements

UNIT VIII: Religion as Ideology

• 1. Major Religious Ideologies: Hindutva Politics, Islam, and Christian Fundamentalism
  2. Religion and Minorities in India
  3. Religion for Social Transformation

UNIT IX: Towards Alternative Politics for Social Transformation in India

• 1. New Social Movements in Development Discourse and Environmental Crisis
  2. Tribal Methods of Peacebuilding
  3. Role of Religion in Alternative Politics

UNIT X: Church in the World: Implications for the Mission and Ministry of the Church in India

Bibliography

Basic Books

• Ambedkar, B.R. Annihilation of Caste (New Delhi: Critical Quest, 2007).
• C.T. Kurien. Global Capitalism and Indian Economy (Delhi: Orient Longman, 1994).
• Gail Omvedt. Reinventing Revolution: India’s New Social Movements (New York: Sharpe, 1993).
• Geetha, V. Gender (Delhi: Popular Prakashan, 2002).
• T.K. Oommen. Protest and Change: Studies in Social Movements (New Delhi: Sage, 1990).

Supplementary Readings

• A. Melucci. “The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements,” Social Research 52/4 (1985): 789-816.
• Achin Vanaik. “The New Indian Right,” New Left Review (May-June, 2001): 43-67.
• Achin Vanaik. Communalism Contested: Religion, Modernity and Secularization (New Delhi: Visthar, 1997).
• Aditya Nigam. “Marxism and Power,” Social Scientist 24/4-6 (1996): 3-22.
• Aijaz Ahmad. “Right-Wing Politics and the Cultures of Cruelty,” Social Scientist 27/9-10 (1998): 3-25.
• Alain Touraine. “An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements,” Social Research 52/4 (1985): 749-87.
• Alex Inkeles. What is Sociology? An Introduction to the Discipline and Profession (New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., 1997).
• Ambedkar, B.R. “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development,” in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, vol. 1 (Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1996), 3-22.
• Andre Gunder Frank and Marta Fuentes. “Nine Theses on Social Movements,” Economic and Political Weekly (August 29, 1987): 1503-10.
• Areeparampil Mathew. Struggle for Swaraj: History of Adivasi Movement in Jharkhand (Chaibasa: Tribal Research and Training Centre, 2002).
• Arundhati Roy. The Greater Common Good (Bombay: India Book Distributor, 1999).
• Bas Wielenga. Towards an Eco-Just Society (Bangalore: CSA, 1999).
• Bastiaan Wielenga. Introduction to Marxism (Bangalore: Centre for Social Action, 1984).
• Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso, 1991).
• Bhaskaran and C.K. Janu. Mother Forest: The Unfinished Story of C.K. Janu (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2004).
• Brian S. Turner. “The Body Politic: The Secularisation of Sovereign Bodies,” in Max Weber: From History to Modernity (London & New York: Routledge, 1992), 139-59.
• Bruno Latour. “Mixing Human and Non-Human Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer,” Social Problems 35/3 (1988): 298-310.
• Bruno Latour. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory (Oxford: Clarendon, 2005).
• Carole Pateman. “Genesis, Fathers and the Political Liberty of Sons,” in The Sexual Contract (Cambridge: Polity, 1988), 77-115.
• Carolyn M. Elliot. Civil Society and Democracies: A Reader (New Delhi: OUP, 2003).
• Christine Delphy. “Thinking Gender: What are the Problems?,” in French Feminism: An Indian Anthology, edited by Haase-Dubose, Danielle et al. (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2003).
• Craig Calhoun. “Introduction: Habermas and the Public Sphere,” in Habermas and the Public Sphere, edited by Idem (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992), 1-48.
• Crossley, Nick. Key Concepts in Critical Social Theory (London: Sage Publications, 2005).
• Dipesh Chakrabarty. “A Small History of Subaltern Studies,” in Habitations of Modernity: Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 3-19.
• Emile Burns. What is Marxism? (Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1999).
• Frederich Engels. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972).
• Gabriele Dietrich. Women’s Movement in India: Conceptual and Religious Reflections (Bangalore: Breakthrough Publications, 1988).
• Gopal Guru. “Mapping Dalit Politics in India,” Vikalp 5/5 (1996): 53-9.
• Gopal Guru. “Understanding the Category ‘Dalit’,” Vikalp 6/2 (1998): 57-66.
• Harriet Bradley and Gail Hebson. “Breaking the Silence: The Need to Re-articulate ‘Class’,” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 19/9,10&11 (1999).
• Homi K. Bhabha. “DissemiNation: Time, Narrative and the Margins of the Modern Nation,” in Nation and Narration, edited by Idem (New York and London: Routledge, 1990).
• Jacques Pouchepadas. “‘Subaltern Studies’ as Post-colonial Critique of Modernity,” in Remapping Knowledge: The Making of South Asian Studies in India, Europe and America, 19th-20th Centuries, edited by Jackie Assayag and Veronique Benei (Gurgaon: Three Essays Collective, 2005).
• Judith Butler. “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire,” in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (London & New York: Routledge, 1990), 1-46.
• Jurgen Habermas. “The Public Sphere,” in Readings in Contemporary Political Sociology, edited by Kate Nash (Massachusetts and Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), 288-94.
• Kamla Bhasin. Exploring Masculinity (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2004).
• Karl Marx and F. Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party (New Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1888).
• Kenneth Thompson. Emile Durkheim (London & New York: Routledge, 2002).
• Lasetso, Razouselie, Shimray, S. et al. (eds.). In Search of Peace: Tribal Resources for Peacebuilding in North East India (Jorhat: ILEMA, 2013).
• Lasetso, Razouselie & Yangkahao Vashum, eds. Tribal Christian Theology – Methods and Sources, for Constructing a Relevant Theology for the Indigenous People of North East India (Jorhat: ETC Program Coordination, 2007).
• Longchar, A.Wati. ed. No More Guns: People’s Struggle for Justice: Focus on North East India (Jorhat: Tribal Study Centre, ETC, 2006).
• Louis Althusser. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: Notes towards an Investigation,” in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (Delhi: Alankar Books, 2006).
• Louis Dumont. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications (Delhi: Vikas Publications, 1966).
• Mahanti, Neeti. Tribal Issues: A Non-Conventional Approach (New Delhi: Inter-Indian Publications, 1994).
• M.K. Gandhi. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1938).
• M.M. Thomas. Secular Ideologies of India and the Secular Meaning of Christ (Bangalore: CISRS/CLS).
• Mary E. John and Janaki Nair. “A Question of Silence? An Introduction,” in A Question of Silence: The Sexual Economies of Modern India, edited by Idem (London & New York: Zed Books, 1998), 1-51.
• Mary E. John. Women’s Studies Reader (Delhi: Penguin Books, 2008).
• Michel Foucault. “The Eye of Power,” in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other Writings 1972-1977 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), 146-165.
• Michel Foucault. “The Subject and Power,” in Readings in Contemporary Political Sociology, edited by Kate Nash (Massachusetts & Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000), 8-26.
• Nancy Fraser. “Politics, Culture, and the Public Sphere: Toward a Postmodern Conception,” in Social Postmodernism: Beyond Identity Politics, edited by Linda Nicholson and Steven Seidman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 287-312.
• Nick Crossley. “Habitus, Capital and Field: Embodiment in Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice,” in The Social Body: Habit, Identity and Desire (London: Sage, 2001), 91-119.
• Nivedita Menon. “Outing Heteronormativity: Nations, Citizens, Feminist Disruptions,” in Sexualities, edited by Idem (New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2007), 3-51.
• Omprakash Valmiki. Joothan: A Dalit’s Life, translated by A.P. Mukherjee (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).
• Pachuau, Lalsangkima. Ethnic Identity and Christianity (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2002).
• Partha Chatterjee. “On Civil and Political Society in Postcolonial Democracy,” in Civil Society, edited by S. Kaviraj and S. Khilnani (Cambridge: CUP, 2001), 165-178.
• Partha Chatterjee. “The Nationalist Resolution of the Women’s Question,” in Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, edited by Sangari, Kumkum and Vaid, Sudesh (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1989), 233-253.
• Patricia Adair Gowaty. “Sexual Natures: How Feminism Changed Evolutionary Biology,” Signs 28/3 (2003): 901-21.
• Ponna Wignaraja. New Social Movements in the South: Empowering the People (London: Zed Books, 1993).
• Richard Jenkins. Pierre Bourdieu (London & New York: Routledge, 1992).
• Robin Jeffrey. “Introduction: Capitalism, Politics and the Indian-Language Press, 1977-1999,” in India’s Newspaper Revolution (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000).
• Rosemary Crompton. Class and Stratification: An Introduction to Current Debates, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Oxford & Malden, 1998).
• Sanai Mohan. “Dalit Discourse and the Evolving New Self: Contest and Strategies,” Review of Development and Change 6/1 (2001): 1-20.
• Sarah Joseph. “Society Vs State? Civil Society, Political Society and Non-Party Political Process in India,” Economic and Political Weekly 37/4 (2002): 299-305.
• Sebastian Kappen. Understanding Communalism (Bangalore: Visthar, 1993).
• Sharan Kumar Limbale. The Outcaste: Akkarmashi, translated from Marathi by Santosh Bhoomkar (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003).
• “Shades of Green: A Symposium on the Changing Contours of Indian Environmentalism,” papers in Seminar 516 (August, 2002).
• Sharmila Rege. “Dalit Women, Talk Differently: A Critique of ‘Difference’ & towards a Dalit Feminist Standpoint Position,” Economic and Political Weekly (October 1998).
• Shimray, S. Theology of Human Rights: A Critique on Politics (Jorhat: Ruth Shimray, 2002).
• Smitu Kothari. “A Million Mutinies Now: Lesser-known Environmental Movements in India,” Seminar 516 (August, 2002).
• Stephen, M. Contextual Issues (New Delhi: Concept Publishing Co., 2011).
• Tariq Ali. The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (London: Verso, 2002).
• Tapan Basu, et al. Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags: A Critique of the Hindu Right (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1993).
• Usha Zacharias. “Intelligible Violence: Media Scripts, Hindu/Muslim Women, and the Battle for Citizenship in Kerala,” Cultural Dynamics 16/2-3 (2004): 169-192.
• V.I. Lenin. “Class Society and the State,” in The State and Revolution: The Marxist Theory of the State and the Tasks of the Proletariat in the Revolution (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1949).
• Vandana Shiva. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India (New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998).
• Vibha Arora. “Politics of Class(ness) in the Farmers’ Movement in India: Validity of the New Social Movement Paradigm,” Sociological Bulletin 50/1 (2001): 84-121.
• William Schinkel. “Sociological Discourse of the Relational: The Cases of Bourdieu and Latour,” The Sociological Review 55/4 (2007): 707-29.

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