Imagining Modern India: The Genesis and Goals of a Course-in-the-Making

• Main Author: Brian A. Hatcher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open Library of Humanities 2009-10-01
• Series: The ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts
• Online Access: http://www.asianetworkexchange.org/articles/217

By training I am a South Asianist, specializing in the transformation of Hindu traditions during the colonial and postcolonial era. However, when I joined the Religion Department at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1992, I was the sole ‘Asianist.’ As such I was asked to provide coverage of the religious traditions of both South and East Asia. Accordingly, over the years I created a range of lower- and upper-level courses dedicated to such topics as ‘Asian Religious Literature,’ ‘Asian Religious Practice,’ and ‘Religion in Contemporary Japan,’ along with selected courses focusing on South Asia and Hinduism.