HIST169B CM - Topics in South Asian History: Sex and Censorship in South Asia

Restrictions on speech are a feature of democracies everywhere, from persecuting whistleblowers in the US to banning religious symbols in France to imposing restrictions on Twitter in Turkey. What sets the South Asian experience apart? This course will interrogate how a nexus of concerns over power, religion, and sex, originating in the colonial experience, has shaped the particular dynamics of censorship in South Asia. By examining the region’s long history of banning and prohibition, we will gain insight into how censorship has moulded South Asian cultural and political life. This course welcomes students interested in gender and sexuality studies, cinema and media studies, literature, history, politics, human rights, anthropology, and modern South Asian history and culture, as well as students interested in the past and present of censorship and democracy in the non-West.

Offered: Every year

Credit: 1

Course Number: HIST169B CM