Resisting Empire: Anti-colonial Nationalism, Popular Politics & Decolonization in Modern South Asia

(HISTORY 96C is 3 units; 196C is 5 units.) How did subjects of British India respond to colonial rule? When and how did anti-colonial nationalism emerge in South Asia? How did leading thinkers of the region conceptualize the nature of colonialism and the methods of nationalist resistance? Did nationalism represent all social classes in British India? Did it also alienate and exclude? What tactics of resistance were developed in anti-colonial movements, especially by M. K. Gandhi? Why did independence arrive with the partition of British India into two nation-states - India and Pakistan? How did the colonial legacy shape the post-colonial nation-states of South Asia? In this this introductory lecture-based survey course on the history of modern South Asia, we will explore the answers to these questions. The course will span the period from the beginning of the nineteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, and cover the regions that constitute present day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. No prior knowledge of South Asia is necessary.