Majoring in South Asian Studies
B.A. Major in Asian Studies: South Asian Studies Concentration
Core Requirements
Two Hindi-Urdu language courses beyond HNUR 204. Students whose initial language placement is above HNUR 305 should consult the department.
One of the following introductory courses:
ASIA 59: First-Year Seminar: Media Masala: Popular Music, TV, and the Internet in Modern India and Pakistan
ASIA 61: First-Year Seminar: India through the Lens of Master Filmmakers
ASIA 152: Survey of South Asian Cultural History
GEOG/ASIA 267: South Asia
HIST 74: First-Year Seminar: Emperors, Courts, and Consumption: The Mughals of India
HIST/ASIA 135: History and Culture of Hindus and Muslims: South Asia to 1750
HIST/ASIA 136: History of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh: South Asia since 1750
It is recommended that students take this course either prior to or concurrent with upper-level South Asian literature and culture classes.
Five courses, including at least three numbered 200 or above, from either the list of introductory courses above or the following list:
ANTH 361: Community in India and South Asia
ARTH/ASIA 153: Introduction to South Asian Art
ARTH/ASIA 266: Art of Early and Medieval India
ARTH/ASIA 273: Arts under the Mughal Dynasty in India
ARTH/ASIA 456: Art and Visual Culture of South Asia
ASIA/PWAD 69: First-Year Seminar: Wars and Veterans: Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan
ASIA 122: Introduction to Iranian Culture
ASIA 124: Iranian Post-1979 Cinema
ASIA 126: Introduction to Persian Literature
ASIA/WGST 127: Iranian Women Writers
ASIA 163: Hindi-Urdu Poetry in Performance
ASIA/MUSC 164: Music of South Asia
ASIA 228: Contested Souls: Literature, the Arts, and Religious Identity in Modern India
ASIA 231: Bollywood Cinema
ASIA/CMPL 256: Love in Classical Persian Poetry
ASIA/CMPL 258: Iranian Prison Literature
ASIA/CMPL 261: India Through Western Eyes
ASIA 262: Nation, Film, and Novel in Modern India
ASIA 331/HIST 335/PWAD 331: Cracking India: Partition and Its Legacy in South Asia
ASIA 332: The Story of Rama in India
ASIA 333: The Mahabharata: Remembered and Reimagined
ASIA/RELI 382: The Story of Rama in India–Experiential
ASIA/RELI 383: The Mahabharata: Remembered and Reimagined–Experiential
ASIA 431: Persian Sufi Literature
ASIA 453: Global Shangri-La: Tibet in the Modern World
ASIA 522: The Beauty and the Power of the Classical Indian World
ASIA 692H: Senior Honors Thesis II
HIST/ASIA 272: Contemporary India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
HIST 331/ASIA 304: Sex, Religion, and Violence: Revolutionary Thought in Modern South Asia
HIST/ASIA 440: Gender in Indian History
HIST 442/ASIA 441: Religion, Coexistence, and Conflict in Medieval India
HIST/ASIA 557: Bandits, Rebels, and Storytellers: Fiction and History in India
HNUR 407: Readings in Hindi-Urdu Poetry (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR 408: Readings in Hindi-Urdu Prose (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR 409: Sex and Social Justice in South Asia (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR 410: Seminar on the Urdu-Hindi Ghazal (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR 411: Health and Medicine in South Asia (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR 490: Topics in Hindi-Urdu Literature and Language (taught in Hindi-Urdu)
HNUR/RELI 592: Religious Conflict and Narrative in India
RELI/ASIA 280: Hindu Gods and Goddesses
RELI 283/ASIA 300: The Buddhist Tradition: India, Nepal, and Tibet
RELI/ASIA/COMM 386: Dance and Embodied Knowledge in the Indian Context
RELI/ASIA 285: The Buddhist Tradition: Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka
RELI 381: Religions of South Asia
RELI 481/PWAD 481: Religion, Fundamentalism, and Nationalism
RELI/ASIA/WGST 482: Sex, Gender, and Religion in South Asia
RELI/ASIA 581: Sufism
RELI/ASIA 582: Islam and Islamic Art in South Asia
RELI/ASIA 583: Religion and Culture in Iran, 1500-Present
Placement credit (PL) may not be used to meet core requirements for the concentration.
Additional Requirements (may also be met by placement)
Hindi-Urdu through level 4 (HNUR 101, 102, 203, and 204)
HNUR 220: Introduction to the Hindi Script (not required if the student has taken HNUR 101)
HNUR 221: Introduction to the Urdu Script
Approved courses taken in UNC–Chapel Hill-sponsored study abroad programs may count in the concentration. No more than one first-year seminar may be counted among the eight major courses.
With the approval of the associate chair of Asian studies, a student may count a course in directed readings (ASIA 496 or HNUR 496) in the concentration in South Asian studies. To register for ASIA 496 or HNUR 496, a student must obtain the approval of the associate chair and the faculty member who will supervise the project.
Of the eight courses in the concentration in South Asian studies, at least six must be passed with a grade of C (not C-) or better. No course in the department may be taken Pass/D+/D/Fail.