Violence or Non-Violence? Gandhi and Popular Movements in India, 1915-1950: Context
| Module title | Violence or Non-Violence? Gandhi and Popular Movements in India, 1915-1950: Context |
|---|---|
| Module code | HIH3168 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Gajendra Singh (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 18 |
|---|
Module description
This module will explore India's struggle for independence; the longest and most sustained anticolonial movement in history. It will examine the ideology and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, and the equally important social, revolutionary and peasant-based movements of the period. You will be introduced to the influence of British constitutional initiatives, caste associations, political factions and prominent nationalist leaders in the independence movement. We will also discuss the part played by disparate, unorganised and, at times, violent popular and cultural movements in undermining colonial rule.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module will examine the role played by the ideology and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi in India's struggle for independence. It will, in addition, explore the neglected but equally important part played by social, revolutionary and peasant-based movements in this period. You will be introduced to new perspectives in historical writing which have contested the validity of 'official' accounts of recent Indian history – whether written from a colonialist or nationalist perspective. A study of the historiography will be combined with an analysis of various sources that can be used to produce neo-colonialist, neo-nationalist and postcolonial histories of the Indian independence movement.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Evaluate the different complex themes in the cultural, social and political histories of the Indian independence movement
- 2. Make close specialist evaluation of the key developments within the period, developed through independent study and seminar work
- 3. Analyse the key developments within the nationalist movements in colonial India, and the differences between colonialist, nationalist and postcolonial history-writing
- 4. Follow the intellectual development of anti-colonial nationalism and the social and cultural movements that acted as its counterpart across the period
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Focus on and comprehend complex issues
- 6. Understand and deploy relevant historical terminology in a comprehensible manner
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Conduct independent and autonomous study and group work, including presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
- 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
- 9. Present complex arguments orally
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Gandhi in South Africa
- Gandhi on Film: Popular Representations of the Gandhi Myth
- The First World War in India: Collaboration and Revolution
- Colonial Violence and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
- Gandhi and the Early Satyagrahas
- Khilafat and Pan-Islamism
- Non-Cooperation and Chauri Chaura
- Gandhi and Women
- Gandhi and the Untouchables
- The Impact of the Great Depression
- Civil Disobedience
- Adivasis
- Princely States
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- Big Business and Trade Unions
- Revolutionary Nationalisms
- Communism
- Kisan Sabhas
- Regional Studies (UP, Punjab, Bengal, Gujarat, South India)
- Quit India
- Tebhaga and Telangana
- Communalism
- Partition
- Gandhi’s Legacy
- Historiography of the Subaltern
- The Freedom Struggle in Literature and Art
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 256 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 44 | 22 x 2 hour seminars |
| Guided independent study | 256 | Reading and preparation for seminars, coursework and presentations |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar discussion | Ongoing through course | 1-7, 9 | Oral feedback from tutor and fellow students |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 25 | 3000 words | 1-8 | Oral and written feedback |
| Essay | 25 | 3000 words | 1-8 | Oral and written feedback |
| Unseen examination | 50 | 2 questions in 2 hours | 1-8 | Oral and written feedback |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay (3000 words) | Essay (3000 words) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Essay (3000 words) | Essay (3000 words) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Unseen examination (2 questions in 2 hours) | Unseen examination (2 questions in 2 hours) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 1885-1947, (New Delhi: Macmillan, 1983).
- Sumit Sarkar, Modern Times, 1880s-1950, (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2014).
- Crispin Bates, Subalterns and Raj, A History of South Asia Since 1600, (London: Routledge, 2007).
- Ayesha Jalal and Sugata Bose, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy, (London: Routledge, 1998).
- Judith Brown, Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 2nd edn.).
- Judith Brown and Anthony Parel (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
- Bipan Chandra, History of Modern India, (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009).
- R.C. Mazumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, Vols. 1-3, (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1961-1972).
- William Gould, Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
- Rajnarayan Chandavarkar, Imperial Power and Popular Politics: Class, Resistance and the State in India, 1850-1950, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=5898
- South Asia Archive, http://www.southasiaarchive.com
- The 1947 Partition Archive, http://www.1947partitionarchive.org
- Cinemas of India, http://www.cinemasofindia.com
- Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire, http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk
- The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book), Vols. 1-98 , (New Delhi: Publications Division, Government of India, 1999), http://www.gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- Films – Gandhi (1982); The Making of the Mahatma (1996); Lage Rao Munna Bhai (Carry on, Munna) (2006); Gandhi My Father (2007); Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000); Hey Ram (2000).
- Novels – Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children, (London: 1981); Rabindranath Tagore, The Home and the World, (1916); Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills, (1890); Premchand, Deliverance and Other Stories; Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable (London: Penguin, 1st published 1935); R. K. Narayan, A Malgudi Omnibus (three novels: Swami and Friends; The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher ), (London: Vintage, 1999); Saadat Hasan Manto, Mottled Dawn (Penguin, 1998).
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | At least 90 credits of History at Level 1 and/or Level 2 |
| Module co-requisites | HIH3167: Violence or Non-Violence? Gandhi and Popular Movements in India, 1915-1950 (Sources) |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/02/2015 |
| Last revision date | 14/12/2018 |