नज़र ना लगे [Nazar na Lage]: An Introduction to the History of Visual Cultures of India

An introductory course on the visual cultures of India from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Instructor: Nisarg Patel

Term: TBA

Location: TBA

Time: TBA

Course Description

This course examines visual culture in the Indian subcontinent from the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. We will study paintings, photographs, films, and other visual media to understand how images shape historical knowledge and cultural memory.

Syllabus

Full Syllabus

Weekly Topics

  1. Visual Studies in South Asia: An Introduction
  2. Before the British: Paintings in Mughal India
  3. Princes, Painters, and their Paintings
  4. On the Verge of an(other) Empire: Trajectories and Connections
  5. Enter the Englishmen: Introduction of/to Photo-Images in Colonial India
  6. Colonial Images as Means of Knowledge
  7. Colonial Images as Tool of Power: Durbars and the Police
  8. Colonial Images as Language of Representation: Subaltern, Caste, Anthropology
  9. Colonial Images as Site of Imagination: Capitalism, Nationalism, Politics
  10. Empire’s Ending(s): Towards New World, Towards Moving Images
  11. Exit Empire: Moving Images in World of Transition(s)
  12. Young Nation, Old Images: TV Serials and Popular (Re-)Publics 13. Visual Cultures of the 21st Century: Publics, Production, and Crisis