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Course Descriptions

GIND 210 Global Issues: Indian Perspectives

GIND 210 Global Issues: Indian Perspectives is a one-semester, four-credit required course in the Fall Semester of the sophomore year. This course will explore the transformation of India, after the processes of globalization were set in motion during early ‘90s, into an important economic and political player on the global stage from the perspective of the history, politics, culture and economics of the region. It presents and examines global issues concerning India, in their local and global contexts. Through classroom lectures and discussions, short field trips and service-learning activities in Bangalore and Chennai, the course provides the students an opportunity to gain first hand experiences and perspectives on some of the seminal concerns of contemporary India.

GIND 240 Theory, Culture and Representation I

This course will build on the cultural adaptation skills and research methodologies learned at the Costa Rica Center by applying theories of culture to field research. Through a variety of activities and readings, the course will help students develop the cross-cultural understanding required to conduct independent studies on global issues in different cultural contexts in India. Students will learn to contextualize their experiences by relating them to the theories learned, and by identifying the culture-specific aspects of their perception and representation of the "other." The course will be structured in the following manner:

Analysis and discussion of cross cultural issues using different media.
Experience of a different culture through service learning projects to help the students develop the skills to interact with the local community, to become aware of cultural issues with their global bearing, and to encourage group bonding.
Guided fieldwork activities to use research methodologies.

GIND 270 Writing Course

The Writing Course is premised on the idea that observant readers eventually become good writers. Hence the writing course is organized around a set of core readings of essays and research papers that will be used as models and that can be studied for the way they illustrate the principles of effective written communication. The readings will cover a fairly wide range in terms of both themes and styles. There will be a total of twelve class sessions. Out of these, eight sessions on conventional writing aspects will be conducted by Dr. Cheriyan Alexander.

The course will also include an E-Portfolio and Digital Literacy-component. The goal of this course is to review and expand on the digital skills involved in producing an E-Portfolio. This component also looks to provide additional research resources on the internet, including the Long Island University Library Website, and a look at the ethics and validity of primary and secondary research resources on the Internet.

GIND 120 Elementary Hindi Language

This course is based on both classroom sessions and guided, activity-centered learning. The basics of grammar and vocabulary, syntax and simple conversation are taught in an interactive manner. Students are required to attend and actively participate in all sessions and complete the assignments relating to the course. Reading material for this course will be provided in the form of workbook and assignment sheets. Classes will meet for 45 hours over the semester, including both classroom and activity-based sessions.

GIND 243 Global Health and Healing Traditions

This course explores the major healing traditions of India in the global health context and relevance in current times. Students will study the basic philosophical and theoretical aspects of Ayurveda and other complex systems like Siddha Unani, and Tibetan medicine. The Adivasi(tribal) and folk health traditions are dealt with as set against formalized healing systems. Students learn through study with healing practitioners and experts in formal and informal settings, where a major part of the course will be carried out in the countryside to emphasize connections with nature and the environment, and specific religious-cultural systems. The integrative aspect of different healing systems is emphasized.

GIND 261 Basic Yoga

This two-credit Basic Yoga course is a one-semester elective course in the Fall semester. In this course students will gain knowledge of yoga philosophy, yogic traditions across South Asian religious and philosophical systems, terminology, and the eight-fold path with a particular focus on ethics. In addition, they will acquire knowledge of the practice of yoga. Instruction will consist of lectures and demonstrations, practice of skills and techniques, class discussions and readings. The practice aspect will focus on a deeper awareness of the subtle aspects of asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), relaxation and meditation and the relevance of yoga therapy applications for stress management. The course also includes a field visit to a yoga therapy ashram and practice activities/Karma Yoga projects.

GIND 273 Indian Cuisine I - Tasting Culture

This elective course facilitates the process of grooming the participants towards developing an ethno relative perspective on a very specific cultural representation – Indian Cuisine. The focus is on how, through its performative mode, Indian Cuisine embodies the continuity in culture and tradition. By practically learning the art, students become critical insiders into culture. When students put their skills to the test, the outcome is also to apprehend and enjoy now globally relevant tastes of Indian dishes. Special focus is upon cuisine modes of representative regions of the nation.

GIND 276 "Living and Participating in Culture & Cultural Productions in Urban India"

India being a Third World democracy, a nation based on consent of the governed, where power is secured and affected through cultural mechanisms of the arts, religion & education. Public culture is a component of this civil society, a realm of social meanings and pleasures, the globalised, hybridized spaces where elite/non-elite, urban/nonurban, literary/oral, cosmopolitan/local, metropolitan/folk elements mix haphazardly. This course pursues the study of urban India through experiential learning, embarking on cross cultural encounters through field study.

GIND 275 Environment and sustainability: Issues and Activism in Indian Context

This two credit course offered during Fall analyses the present situation of global environment in general with a particular reference to the Indian context. It encompasses the study of various environmental issues, environmental movements in India, wildlife conservation and bio-diversity sustainable development. Important and relevant case studies of global environmental issues would be analyzed in an experiential way within the local context. It includes field visits to different research organizations and community development centers in and around Bangalore to acquire practical knowledge.

GIND 230 Peace and Reconciliation - Probing Indian Tradition and Modernity

The course seeks to probe deeply into approaches to peace and reconciliation in Indian tradition and modernity, and tries to establish the extent of their relevance towards finding global solutions to the problems of the day. Considering the fact that since ancient times Indian tradition has voiced concern for the peaceful coexistence of all on earth [manifest in such ancient Rig Vedic hymns as "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or "the globe is one extended family"], it is important to understand how these approaches were continue to be practiced and propagated in various ways, as powerful discourses of peace and reconciliation.

Independent Study GIND 281-89, 291-99, 470-499

Students may choose to intern or volunteer with an organization or study a particular community.

Alternatively, a student can research a specific topic making use of resources available at various research organizations and libraries in and outside of Bangalore, meeting and interviewing scholars, critics, writers, and other individuals whose ideas and opinions contribute to the student's research.

GIND 211 Globalization, Development, and Change: Perspectives on India

The course is a one semester, four-credit required course offered in the Spring Semester of the 2nd year in India. The course focuses on issues of sustainability, livelihood, energy resources, ecology, the environment, and social justice and investigates relevant case studies. Service-learning activities in Bangalore as well as short field trips to the South and East regions complement the classroom sessions and interactions.

GIND 241 Theory, Culture, and Representation II Yearly Seminar

Considering the significance of the basic aspects related to theory, culture, and representation while conducting area/culture specific research, the course will address some of the needs of the independent study projects to be chosen by the students. Apart from concentrating upon some of the distinct, peculiar cultural aspects of the Indian society with the methodological perspective, the course aims at helping students in identifying the focus in a research area, conduct a literature review, frame a research question, and use an appropriate research methodology in the Indian cultural context. This way the course tries to help the students in developing and documenting a research proposal.

GIND 271 Writing and Digital Literacy

(Required Course for LIU Global Students, optional for Visiting Students)
This two-credit Writing and Digital Literacy course is a one-semester required course (LIU Global, optional for Visiting Students) in the Spring Semester of the India Center Program. The goal of this course is to review and expand on the digital skills involved in producing an E-Portfolio gained during the previous semester. Apart from covering aspects on e-portfolio submission and digital literacy, the course will also offer style perspectives on research documentation/writing in order to empower the students while documenting their Independent Study, research project and while perfecting documentation skills for advanced research in future. More specific insights on college essay writing will be offered. Through in class exercises and input from the instructor, students can expect to have a considerable command over both style and content by the end of the semester.

GIND 266 - Globalisation, Media and Social Change

The course aims to familiarize the students and enable them to critically engage with the key debates on the "onset" of globalization in India and the concomitant explosion in media networks. The course begins with theoretical reflections on the complex interrelations between media and society, the information and media infrastructure behind globalization, the rise of a "new middle class" co-constituted by the media in India and the global/local dichotomy that shapes a large portion of globalization debates. The course spans many forms of media – print, television, advertising, cinema and new media (internet) – and examines the varying conjectures that are proposed and elucidated in the context of globalization. The specificities of each media form would be explored in relation to the social and cultural changes unleashed by them, and also the reverse process of changes within the media due to these broader shifts. What is new in the latest phase of "global" India? How is media connected to this shift and in what ways media is implicated in these changes? Does the mediatised public arena mean a complete transformation of the earlier social forms leading to new globality and homogenous "global" culture or a more complex reshaping that does not erase the older forms and instead valorize them? How is the media approached in discussions on bringing about a positive social change and development? What are the limits and possibilities of the new media? These are some of the questions that would be explored in the course.

GIND 262 - Integrative Yoga

The Integrative Yoga course is a one-semester 2-credit course in the Spring Semester of the India Center Program. This course will introduce students to the basic elements of yogic philosophy discourse as it pertains to various applications: global, communal, and personal. The mind-body connection outlined in philosophy and experienced in asana (poses), pranayama (breathing exercises), and meditation/relaxation will be explored in class sessions. This course will also explore the concept of personal transformation as a necessary tool for participatory global transformation. As a result of self-transformative work, the capacity to effect social change, understand and respect diversity, and increase intercultural sensitivity can emerge. This course will be run as a retreat where all classes will be run in a five-day intensive in an off-site location.

GIND 272 - Gender Issues: Indian Context

This course aims at introducing students to the concept of gender and gender relations. While exploring the available literature on gender within the Indian context, the course focuses on a need to develop a conceptual framework based on rights and social justice as a tool to understand women's status. While the course will examine gender issues in the context of rural India, the emphasis will be to give students insights from specific field studies about the way gender operates in spheres like education, agriculture, violence etc., The field visit planned as part of this course is to allow the students to interact with women's groups who in their very own way have worked on gender issues. The role of the state, civil society and the organizations of the women who take up and deal with the question of a value-based empowerment of the women in a global India will be an integral part of the course.

GIND 277 Sustainable Life and Agriculture

The course focuses on agrarian reforms, green revolution, watershed management, ecological systems and alternative and integrated farming approaches which have a long lasting effect on sustainable life. It would also emphasize on the inter relationship of humans and nature with special reference to agriculture, biodiversity and forestry in the local context.

GIND 274 - Indian Cuisine II – Tasting Culture

The Indian Cuisine II course is a one-semester course offered during the spring semester. This course builds upon the artistic values and experiences of the students. Through engaging with the experiences of cross-cultural cuisine, students will have the opportunity to work in groups and individually. More advanced and subculture specific learning is to be facilitated here. The aim of the course is the bringing together of the different elements of diversified multi cuisine culture into a whole. Special emphasis is upon Ayurvedic and Natural healing related cuisine modes.