CCV214 | Contested Visions Of India: An Intellectual History

‘Contested Visions of India: An Intellectual History’ will introduce students to intellectual history, enabling them to understand the ideology of nationalism and, more importantly, distinguish between the diverse forms nationalism took on the sub-continent. The course will begin by delving into the intricacies of the nonviolent, pluralist vision of the Indian nation as articulated by M.K. Gandhi, long known in India as ‘the father of the nation’. It will then turn to radically different vision of a Hindutva nation as imagined by V.D. Savarkar. The course will focus on the liberal secular Indian nationalism of Jawaharlal Nehru, who eventually became India’s first prime minister and tried to build India as a modern secular nation-state. These upper-caste visions will then be juxtaposed with India as seen through the eyes of a prominent Dalit intellectual, B.R. Ambedkar, often remembered as the ‘father of India’s constitution’. The final two weeks will provide students with time to read for and write their term paper – a 2500-word essay. The term paper will ask them to analyse and compare the nationalist visions of two politician-thinkers that they will have studied during the course. Deliberately prioritising in-depth reading and analysis over comprehensive breath, this course aims at providing students with the skills to understand the complex reasoning and texture of different, sometimes overlapping, sometimes deeply conflicting political ideas and visions. It will enable students to evaluate secondary and primary literature, and gain a critical, nuanced understanding of different conceptualisations of the nation at a time when we are witnessing populist-extremist nationalism and contestations over nationhood worldwide.