Archaeology of Food, Trade, and Power in South India
ARHA 292
Spring 2024 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
ARCP 292, ENVS 262 |
This course examines patterns of life in premodern South India, focusing on the millennium from about AD 600 to 1600. It explores the persistent practices and institutions that structured social life--agricultural regimes of food production, patterns of local and long-distance trade, and elite discourses of power and authority--as well as historical events and processes that brought change to those patterns. The course capitalizes on South India's rich array of archaeological evidence, from surface remains and excavated finds to standing architectural monuments, donative inscriptions on stone and copper plates, and various forms of coinage and coin hoards informing on economic life. Specific topics investigated include the articulation of cultural space and landscapes; food, subsistence, and modes of agricultural production; domestic architecture and habitation; trade, markets, and monetary systems; and the roles of religion and ritual in legitimating political power. There is an explicit emphasis on methods and their application, including those of epigraphy (the analysis of inscriptions), numismatics (the materially based study of coinage and monetary systems), surface archaeology (survey, documentation, and analysis of exposed surface remains), and the archaeology of buildings. Many class sessions will be devoted to active discussion and analysis of data. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ART, SBS ART |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ARCP-MN)(ARCP)(ARHA-MN)(ARHA)(ARST)(ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(GSAS-MN) |
Major Readings:
One book available for purchase:
A.K. Ramanujan, tr. POEMS OF LOVE AND WAR FROM THE EIGHT ANTHOLOGIES AND THE TEN LONG POEMS OF CLASSICAL TAMIL
Assorted articles and excerpts available on Moodle, including:
Selected inscriptions from EPIGRAPHIA INDICA and SOUTH INDIAN INSCRIPTIONS
T. Trautmann and C.M. Sinopoli, "In the Beginning was the Word: Excavating the Relations between History and Archaeology in India"B. Subbarao, THE PERSONALITY OF INDIA (excerpts)
A.M.Bauer, P.G. Johansen, and R.L.Bauer, "Toward a Political Ecology in Early South India: Preliminary Considerations of the Sociopolitics of Land and Animal Use in the Southern Deccan"J. Schwartzberg, ed. HISTORICAL ATLAS OF SOUTH ASIA (excerpts)
K.T. Achaya, "The Foods of South India"K. Morrison, "Agricultural Production in the Vijayanagara Region"D. Davison-Jenkins, THE IRRIGATION AND WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS OF VIJAYANAGARA (excerpts)
E. Shah, "Telling Otherwise: A Historical Anthropology of Irrigation Tank Technology in South India"C.M.Sinopoli and K. Morrison, THE VIJAYANAGARA METROPOLITAN SURVEY, VOLUME I (excerpts)
M.S.Nagaraja Rao, "Excavations: Noblemen's Palace Area"D. Ali, "Between Market and Court: The Careers of Two Courtier-Merchants in the Twelfth Century Deccan"J. Deyell, "Coin Hoard Analysis in the South Asian Context"H. Kulke, THE STATE IN INDIA, 1000-1700 (excerpts)
N.B.Dirks, "Political Authority and Structural Change in Early South Indian History"G. Spencer, "Temple Money-Lending and Livestock Distribution in Early Tanjore"P. Pichard, TANJAVUR BRHADESVARA: AN ARCHITECTURAL STUDY
D. Ali, "Royal Eulogy as World History: Rethinking Copper-plate Inscriptions in Cola India"H. Kulke, "Jagannatha as the State Deity under the Gajapatis of Orissa"P. Wagoner, "Retrieving the Chalukyan Past at 16th Century Vijayanagara: The Stepped Tank in the Royal Centre (IVc/6)"R.Eaton, "Temple Desecration in Pre-Modern India"
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Examinations and Assignments:
Two ¿critical reflections¿ (1-2 pages) based on exercises begun in class; two short papers (3-5 pages) on assigned topics, one longer research paper (7-10 pages) regular participation in class discussions. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Counts as a ¿historical inquiry¿ course for the South Asian Studies minor |
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