Syllabus for
Bachelor of Arts (Liberal Arts)
Academic Year  (2022)

The BA in Liberal Arts is a cross-disciplinary degree that draws on the combined expertise of the faculties of Historical Studies, Arts, Business and Industries, Media Studies, Global Economics, Law and Political Science. It is an interdisciplinary program stemming from the philosophy of Humanities, exploring global issues from political science, economic, sociological, and historical lens – especially keeping the extraordinary times we live in. It is designed keeping the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations in mind - Building on the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’, emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all. The Program also emphasizes on a research orientation in the syllabus, pedagogy and all other initiatives. The core strength is to make students of the program, high value candidates in the placement sector and in centers of advanced learning too. 1.2 PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION The influence and presence of the past is felt everywhere and every day in our lives. Movies, newspapers or the internet bombard us and expose us to the past – both familiar and unfamiliar. However, the barrage of information and the forces of globalization have led to increasing questions on the relevance and the value of the past – indeed a denial even. The Liberal Arts Program refers to the concept of globalization in all its forms – including political, biological, digital, cultural, economic, and most importantly – historical. This will be an interdisciplinary exploration of a set of global issues through a very comprehensive lens and will delve into people, commodities, ideas, heritage and even diseases moving around the world - with a focus shifting to integrate mathematical, logical, analytical and creative skills in higher education. The Liberal Arts Program is meant to foster innovative problem solving by providing students with a variety of methods and analytic tools. We at Christ, firmly believe that new ideas come from ‘thinking outside the box’ and developing new perspectives that combine diverse ways of knowing the world. And with our enabling environment, empowered leadership and governance structure, we are breaking away from the pattern of conventional and rigid program and creating student-centric, flexible learning systems, and allow students to explore and curate their own visions and aspirations – incorporating creative expressions like music, theatre, art and sports into the curriculum as well.

Will be specific to the discipline and clusters the student chooses.

Course Description:

This course is a foundation course for students of the Liberal Arts program. One of the reasons why a performing arts course was seen to be foundational in the program, is because it is seen as an important component of our educational philosophy - as we believe that performing arts teach us about our history and educate us in ways, which enable us to become well-rounded and sensitive members of society. It helps us to understand the people around us and how they might be expected to react in certain situations. 

Above all else, the performing arts are about being creative. Without a creative voice, a society may become all but dead inside, and a social group without any creativity is likely to be repressive and tyrannical rather than a force for good. The importance of having people in society who can express themselves creatively is without a doubt. It can be reasonably argued that the formation of creativity was the most important step in human development and that society cannot move forward without creative people.

Spread across two semesters, and informed by the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, the student will accrue 6 credits throughout its administration. Designed completely as per the workshop-model, the course intends students to develop their critical, creative and analytical skills, while also honing their personal and interpersonal skills which they may carry forward into the rest of the course of their program. This amalgamation of Art, theatre, music and dance will culminate in a production at the end of the second semester, completely stage-managed by the students. 

 Course Objectives:

• To enable students to hone their creative, critical and analytical skills
• To help students understand the use of their body in everyday practices
• To develop the interpersonal skills that will help them carry forward into other domains of their curriculum
• To enable students to use theatre, dance and other performing arts as an effective way to express themselves, and to sensitise them with the possibility that it can also be a tool through which people with disabilities can communicate. 
• Performing arts are also an extremely useful way of helping students get over hesitations and gradually become more confident as they find ways to communicate. 
• In addition to teaching self-expression, the performing arts help society as a whole in self-knowledge and understanding. Theatre and the performing arts teach society about itself, hoping to point out the attitudes and mindsets of current society. It can be a tool used to educate people about their current conditions.
• To provide a space for students to engage in self-reflection – a vital skill for life after school.

Introduction and Overview: What is Performance Studies? Why study performance as part of the humanities? Why study performance as artists? What is the connection between performance and everyday life?

Introduction to the treatise and brief knowledge of dramatic composition, musical scales, body movements, types of acting; dramatic composition, division of stage space, costumes, make-up, properties and musical instruments etc.

These perspectives will be discussed with reference to Dance, Music and Theatre

This unit can be used to understand practical and theoretical aspects of Dance, Music and Theatre. (Three workshops for Dance, Music and Theatre to be conducted – 5 Hours each)

Students will be guided to prepare a presentation with a set of ritual behaviors that one performs on a regular basis, whether it is getting ready for school or a work, the preparation of food, or spiritual or religious practice. They may choose something which is comfortable sharing with peers. (In this exercise the students should be encouraged to identify their preferred mode of presentation from among the various performing arts that they would be required to develop further for the second semester presentation.)

Course Description:

English Language and Composition course is an intensive program for two semesters for all the students of the BA/BSc programmes (ENGH, ECOH, JOUH, PSYH, EPH and EMP) that introduces students to a wide range of expository works in order to develop their knowledge of rhetoric and make them aware of the power of language. The course is designed to meet the rigorous requirements of graduate-level courses and therefore includes expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts. It would provide students with the opportunity to work with the rhetorical situation, examining the authors’ purposes as well as the audiences and the subjects in texts. The course is designed to engage students with rhetoric in multiple mediums, including visual media such as photographs, films, advertisements, comic strips, music videos, and TED talks; students would develop a sense to comprehend how a resource of language operates in any given text. In the semester the course focuses on the famous rhetorical pieces from across the world to familiarise the learners with various techniques and principles.

Course Objectives:

The purpose of the course is to:

• Introduce learners to various types of rhetorical pieces - written, oral text and visual texts.
• Provide an understanding of various rhetorical strategies in various compositional pieces
• Famarlize learners with various strategies of reading and writing by exposing them to effective and ineffective rhetorical pieces.
• Promote analytical reading and formulate arguments based on the readings.
• Enable learners to employ rhetorical strategies in their own writing

The unit will focus on understanding rhetoric and various rhetorical situations. The aim is to assert the idea that rhetoric is always contextual and there is a link between the speaker, audience and what the content of the text is. This will enable students to understand the significance of context while analysing and composing a text.

1. Introduction to Rhetoric and Rhetorical Situation. 

a. Lou Gehrig (1939) “Farewell Speech” (Speech) https://www.lougehrig.com/farewell/

2. SOAP Analysis: Through the analysis of the text the aim is to look at the mode in which various

factors like subject, occasion, audience and purpose impact rhetoric. l

a. George W. Bush (2001) “9/11 Address to the Nation” (Speech) http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm

b. Jawaharlal Nehru (1947) “Tryst with Destiny” (Speech) http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jawaharlalnehrutrystwithdestiny.htm

3. Ethos, Pathos and Logos: Understanding Aristotle’s concept of Ethos, Pathos and Logos is significant in understanding effective rhetoric. By looking at some of the famous rhetorical works the aim is to understand how the writer’s/ orators of some of the famous rhetorical pieces have used these elements to persuade the reader/ audience.

a. Ethos

i. King George VI (1939) “The King’s Speech” (Speech, can play part of the movie) https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/George-VI-King-s-Speech-September-3-1939

ii. Judith Ortiz Cofer (1992) “The Myth of Latin Women: I Just met a Girl Named Maria” (Essay) https://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/amccann10/Myth_of_a_Latin_Woman

b. Logos

i. Alice Waters (2006) “Slow Food Nation” (Essay) https://www.thenation.com/article/slow-food-nation/

c. Pathos

i. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944) “Order of the Day” (Speech) https://www.whatsoproudlywehail.org/curriculum/the-american-calendar/order-ofthe-day-6-June-1944

d. Combining Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

i. Rabindranath Tagore (1941) “Crisis of Civilization” https://www.scribd.com/doc/163829907/Rabindranath-Tagore-The-Crisis-of-Civilization

Focus of the unit would be to introduce multiple ways of analysis, close reading, and usage of argumentative statements and diction.

1. Ralph Ellison (1962) “On Bird, Bird-Watching and Jazz” (Essay) http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1962jul28-00047

2. Virginia Woolf (1942) “The Death of the Moth” (Essay) https://www.sanjuan.edu/cms/lib8/CA01902727/Centricity/Domain/3981/Death%20of%20A%20Moth-Virginia%20Woolf%20copy.pdf

3. Groucho Marx (2006) “Dear Warner Brothers” (Letter) https://archive.org/details/Groucho_Marx_Letter_to_Warner_Brothers

The unit will focus on how to read a visual text and the impact it has on the audience.

1. ACLU (2000) “The Man on the Left” (Advertisement) https://www.mansonblog.com/2016/10/aclu-charles-manson-martin-luther-king.html

2. R. K. Laxman Political cartoons (Cartoon) http://webneel.com/rk-lakshman-editorial-cartoons-indian-cartoonist (Political Cartoons)

3. Times of India (2017) ISRO launch cartoon (Cartoon) https://www.tatacliq.com/que/isro-launch-breaks-record-memes/ISROLaunch

https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/times-of-india-isro-104-satellite-launch-in-response-to-new-york-times-mangalyaan-cartoon-twitter-reactions-4529893

Analysing Advertisements (Fair and Lovely,…), gender stereotypes in ads

The unit will engage with the questions on why few texts are effective rhetorical pieces as opposed to others. A few texts will be analysed to look at different rhetorical situations, and how it is effective and ineffective in persuading the audience/ reader.

1. PETA, Feeding Kids Meat Is Child Abuse (Advertisement) https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/childabuseBB72.jpg

2. Anne Applebaum (2011) “If the Japanese Can’t Build a Safe Reactor, Who Can?” (Essay) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-the-japanese-cant-build-a-safe-reactor-who-can/2011/03/14/ABCJvuV_story.html?utm_term=.8

3. Simon Lancaster (2016) Ted Talk: Speak Like a Leader (Speech) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGBamfWasNQ

By carefully reading the viewpoints of others and considering a range of ideas on an issue, one develops a clearer understanding of our own beliefs — a necessary foundation to writing effective arguments. The unit will focus on analysing elements of argument as a means of critical thinking and an essential step toward crafting argumentative essays. The unit will focus on making an argument and supporting it by synthesising multiple sources.

1. Understanding Argument

Csalexander03 (2012) Why Investing in Fast Food May Be a Good Thing by Amy Domini (Essay) https://csalexander03.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/why-investing-in-fast-food-may-be-a-good-thing-by-amy-domini/

2. The New York Times (2004) Felons and the Right to Vote (Essay) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/opinion/felons-and-the-right-to-vote.html

3. Using Visual text for Argument

Objevit.cz (2017) “Holocaust + Selfie Culture = ‘Yolocaust’” (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjjV_X5re4g

4. Using sources to inform an Argument

5. Using Sources to Appeal to Audience

Adhwaryu, S. (2017). ISRO launch cartoon. Times of India. https://www.tatacliq.com/que/isro-launch-breaks-record-memes/ISROLaunch or

https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/times-of-india-isro-104-satellite-launch-in-response-to-new-york-times-mangalyaan-cartoon-twitter-reactions-4529893

Applebaum, A. (2011). If the Japanese can’t build a safe reactor, who can? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-the-japanese-cant-build-a-safe-reactor-who-can/2011/03/14/ABCJvuV_story.html?utm_term=.8

Bush, G. W. (2001). 9/11 address to the nation. American Rhetoric: Rhetoric of 9/11. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm

Cofer, J. O. (1992) The myth of Latin women: I just met a girl named Maria. Many Voices, Many Lives. https://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/amccann10/Myth_of_a_Latin_Woman

Csalexander03. (2012). Why investing in fast food may be a good thing by Amy Domini. Csalexander03 blog. https://csalexander03.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/why-investing-in-fast-food-may-be-a-good-thing-by-amy-domini/

Ellison, R. (1962). On bird, bird-watching and jazz. The Saturday Review, 47-49. http://www.unz.org/Pub/SaturdayRev-1962jul28-00047

Gehrig, L. (1939). Farewell speech. Lou Gehrig. https://www.lougehrig.com/farewell/

King George VI King’s speech. (1939). Awesome Stories. https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/George-VI-King-s-Speech-September-3-1939

Laxman, R. K. (n.d.) Political cartoons. Webneel. http://webneel.com/rk-lakshman-editorial-cartoons-indian-cartoonist

Marx, G. (2006). Dear Warner Brothers. Archive,org. https://archive.org/details/Groucho_Marx_Letter_to_Warner_Brothers

McGeveran, T. (2008). Toni Morrison's letter to Barack Obama. Observer. http://observer.com/2008/01/toni-morrisons-letter-to-barack-obama/

Nehru, J. (1947). Tryst with Destiny. American Rhetoric: Online speech bank. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jawaharlalnehrutrystwithdestiny.htm

Nixon, R. (1952). Checkers speech. Watergate. http://watergate.info/1952/09/23/nixon-checkers-speech.html

Objevit.cz. (2017, Jan. 28). Holocaust + selfie culture = ‘yolocaust’ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjjV_X5re4g

PETA. (2010). Feeding kids meat is child abuse. https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/childabuseBB72.jpg

Tagore, R. (1941). Crisis of civilization. Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/doc/163829907/Rabindranath-Tagore-The-Crisis-of-Civilization

Tedx Talks. (2016, May 23). Speak like a leader-Simon Lancaster-TEDxVerona [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGBamfWasNQ

Waters, A. (2006) Slow food nation. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/slow-food-nation/

Woolf, V. (1942). The death of the moth. In V. Woolf, The death of the moth and other essays (pp. 1-3). Harcourt Inc. https://www.sanjuan.edu/cms/lib8/CA01902727/Centricity/Domain/3981/Death%20of%20A%20Moth-Virginia%20Woolf%20copy.pdf

Mohr, K. A., & Mohr, E. S. (2017). Understanding Generation Z students to promote a contemporary learning environment. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 1(1), 84-94.

Seaboyer, J., & Barnett, T. (2019). New perspectives on reading and writing across the disciplines. Higher Education Research and Development, 38(1), 1-10.

CIA 2, Mid-Semester Submission: 25 marks

End Semester Submission: 50 marks

Course Description:

This course is a foundation course for students of the Liberal Arts program. It will explore issues about the nature and techniques of critical thought, viewed as a way to establish a reliable basis for our claims, beliefs, and attitudes about the world. We will explore multiple perspectives, placing established facts, theories, and practices in tension with alternatives to see how it could be otherwise. Views about observation and interpretation, reasoning and inference, valuing and judging, and the production of knowledge in its social context will be considered. Special attention will be given to translating what is learned into strategies, materials, and interventions for use in students' own educational and professional settings.

Course Objectives:

• The aim of Critical Thinking is to promote independent thinking, personal autonomy and reasoned judgment in thought and action. This involves two related dimensions, and this course aims to do so: 

1.     the ability to reason well and  

2.     the disposition to do so.

• This course will acquaint students to logic as well as creativity. It will involve inductive and deductive reasoning, analysis and problem-solving as well as creative, innovative and complex approaches to the resolution of issues and challenges.
• One of the major objectives is to create independent centres of consciousness among the students, with the fundamental ability to determine the contours of their own minds and lives.
• To prepare learners for self-direction and not pre-conceived roles. It is, therefore, essential that learners be prepared for thinking their way through the maze of challenges that life will present independently.
• And finally, acquaint students to the 3 fundamentals of Critical Thought - Thinking, Reasoning and Analysis - because clear thinking, careful analysis, and reasoned deliberation are fundamental to democracy and democratic life.

)    What is thinking – key principals of thought and thinking process? Who is a critical thinker?

b)    What is an argument and why arguments matter?

c)    Arguments: how to evaluate one (validity/soundness/tangents and repetition), how to recognise one, how to interpret one?

d)    Foundations of arguments – cognitive biases, facts vs opinions, logical fallacies and constructing an argument.

a)    Analysis, Interpretation, Inference, Explanation, Self-regulation, Open-mindedness, Problem solving

b)    Critical Thinking Strategies - Cognitive Dissonance, Fundamental Attribution Error, State-Dependent recall etc. (can be subject specific)

c)     Downsides of failing to think critically (Historic groupthink type cases, Student relevant examples, current events)

d)    Distinction between ability and willingness to think critically (Keith Stanovich’s notion of dysrationalia)

e)    Split Mind Strategy- Agreeing (Extending, Applying, Making Connections, refuting Criticisms) Disagreeing (Questioning, thinking of counter examples, Problems)

a)    Ethics – The price that we pay

b)    Value Assumptions, Conflicts and Ethics – Ideal versus Real – decision making process

c)     Assumptions – reality of assumptions, detecting assumptions (using Case Studies)

d)    Deductive and Inductive Reasoning – usage of Ethics and Values in reasoning

e)    Evidence, truths, half-truths and distortions – stereotyping – generalizations (bringing Hume and Mill)

a)    The idea of Power and Authority – Use and Abuse

b)    Reasoning – errors of perceptions, judgement and reaction

c)     Denotation and Connotation – Reification

d)    Vagueness – Ambiguity – Weasel words – Double speak

e)    People and Meanings – Can words take on more power than in reality?

a)    The idea of Suggestion – Use and Abuse

b)    Power of Media to shape information – Television and print marketing and advertising tricks

c)     Storytelling as persuasion and suggestion – citizens, consumers and relationships in the age of technology

d)    Nation and Government – policies and idea of suggestion

e)    Suggestion and the influence of Ideas - Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Assimov’s Laws

·      Diestler, Sherry. 2011. Becoming a Critical Thinker, Prentice Hall.

·      Ruggiero, VR. 2009. Becoming a Critical Thinker.Boston: New York.

Different readings will be given to the students, from time to time (mostly on a weekly basis), depending on the Case studies being discussed in class, as part of their assignments.

Mid Semester Examination

End Semester Examination

Course Description:

This course is a foundation course for students of the Liberal Arts program. Ideas shape the world we live in—from why we get married, to what we believe will happen after we die, to why we support a particular political party, to what we believe will make us more prosperous. These ideas have trajectories in the past - histories. What we believe is not the same as what other people in other places and other times have believed in. And this is where the course stems from - Why is this the case? Why have some ways of knowing come to dominate in some periods and places, and not in others? Why and how have certain notions about politics, economics, culture, and the natural world pushed aside competing claims? What roles have intellectuals played in creating and disseminating important ideas? How do particular frames of reference shape our understandings of history? What is the relationship between material conditions and the development of a robust intellectual culture? 

There are many ways to approach the history of ideas, ideologies, and intellectuals and in this particular course we will focus on the history of philosophy, science, religion, political and economic thought, as well as broader social ideas. Some units will focus on intellectuals and the development of particular schools of thought; others will seek to put the realm of ideas into a range of social, economic or political contexts. The course will mix discussions of theoretical approaches with practical application of the concepts and theories. As such, typical classes involve case analysis, group problem solving, analysis of relevant materials (movies, podcasts, pictures etc.) and debate.

Course Objectives:

• One of the main objectives is to trace the human intellectual past – its ideological foundations and historical evolution from earliest experiences to the 21^stcentury. 
• The course’s focal point would be emphasizing discourses on communities, uniqueness and exceptionality, including the myths of origin and of cultural exclusivity, narratives of national history and even pantheons of heroes, in the creation of human memory and identity through ideas.
• To help the students ask and evaluate questions like – What factors shape our identities? What dilemmas arise when others view us differently than we view ourselves? How do our identities influence our choices? And what role does ‘Ideas’ play in all of this?
• To enable the students to realise that understanding the trajectory of ideas in the creation of identity is not only valuable for their own social, moral, and intellectual development, it also serves as a foundation for examining the choices made by individuals and groups in the past as well as in the present.
• Acquaint the students with diversity of ideas and its politicization, as it becomes a topic of enormous contemporary relevance, with implications for the construction of national/international identity and responsibilities.
• Further, to educate students on the dangers of ideas when misused in the construction of national and other group identities – especially when religion and politics are intermixed, and ‘us and them’ dichotomies of difference are created and mobilized in mass atrocities.
• And finally, to make the student aware of the complexities in reconstructing the past of a nation on the basis of a trajectory of ‘ideas’ and to enable the learner to problematize the past as a non-monolithic entity.

a)  An Idea - The Many Pasts; The Historiography of Ideas, Precept and Practice.

b)What Happened to An Idea: Adventures of the Dialectic – The Greeks (Nature and Value), Christianity and Historiography, threshold of Scientific notions of Idea – Romanticism, Kant, Hegel, Positivism

c)So Many Lies, So Little Time: Interrogating an Idea – Reality, Representation to Truths and Narratives through Thought, Knowledge, Imagination and Evidence.

a)   The Grand Narratives: Teleologies; Evolution and Culture; Marx, Nietzsche, and Foucault

b)  Legitimization of Power and the idea of Polity: Nascent Stages and Beyond.

c)   The early ideas of Polity - Origins, monarchy, oligarchy, presto-republicanism

d) Beginnings of the Idea of Rights and Duties of Citizens: From the Cyrus Cylinder (6th Cent. BCE), Magna Carta (1215 CE), to the English Bill of Rights (1689), the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (1791) 

a)   Idea of the Individual – Renaissance, Enlightenment, Utilitarianism, and Logical Positivism. 

b)  Asia Imperium: Gunpowder Empires – Ottoman, Safavid, Mughals; Japan, China, and Korea.

c)     Ideas that refashioned the World: Industrial Revolution; Capitalism – Imperialism – Colonialism; The Original Manifesto. 

d)    White Man’s Burden: Clashing Visions and Consequences of Modernity; The Idea of French and British Colonial ‘Modern’ Identity.

a)   The Idea and the experience of Liberty: Negative and Positive liberties

b)  The Idea and the experience of Equality and Rights: Absolute vs Practical equality.

c)   Naturalistic theory (Individual self-interest (evolution) vs societal interest; Humanism.

d)  Need for Revisionism of Ideas; Affecting and Effecting the Future: Justice and its Maxims; the Idea of Redistribution?

e)   The Relevance of Ideas in the Era of Deep AI

·    Gaddis, John Lewis. 2002. The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past, New York:  Oxford University Press.

·    Beker, Avi. 2008. The Chosen: The History of an Idea, and the Anatomy of an Obsession, Palgrave Macmillan.

·    Gathercole, Peter and David Lowenthal (eds.) 1994. The Politics of the Past, New York: Routledge.

·    Kumar, Ravinder 1989. The Past and the Present: An Indian Dialogue, Daedalus, Vol. 118, No.4, pp. 27-49.

·    Thapar, Romila. 2000. History and Beyond, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

·    Thapar, Romila. 2013. The Past Before Us: Historical Traditions of Early North India, New Delhi: Permanent Black.

·    Thompson, Willie. 2000. What Happened to History. London: Pluto Press.

·      Carr, E.H. 1967. What is History, Vintage.

·      Chalcraft, David et.al. 2008. Max Weber Matters: Interweaving Past and Present, Ashgate.

·      Chapman, James 2005. Past and Present: National Identity and the British Historical Film, I.B.Tauris.

·      Chatterjee, Partha. 1993. The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

·      Chatterjee, Partha. 2012. The Black Hole of Empire: History of a Global Practice of Power, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

·      Fawcett, Bill (ed). 2007. You Said What: Lies and Propaganda Throughout History, Harper Collins E-books.

·      Fowler, Don D. 1987. Uses of the past: Archaeology in the service of the state, American Antiquity, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 229-248.

·      Galgano, Michael J., J. Chris Arndt, Raymond M. Hyser. 2007. Doing History: Research and Writing in the Digital Age. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing.

·      Gardiner, Juliet (eds). 1988. What is History Today, London: Macmillan Education UK.

·      Morris, Ian. 2010. Why the West Rules – for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future, London and New York: Profile Books and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

·      Muller, Jan-Werner 2004. Memory and Power in Post-War Europe: Studies in the presence of the past, Cambridge Univ. Press.

·      Piercey, Robert 2009. The Uses of the Past from Heidegger to Rorty: Doing Philosophy Historically, Cambridge Univ. Press.

·      Shrimali, K.M. 1998. A Future for the Past? Social Scientist, Vol. 26, No. 9, pp. 26-51.

·      Southgate, Beverley C. 2005. What is History For? New York: Routledge.

·      Thapar, Romila, Harbans Mukhia, Bipan Chandra. 1969. Communalism and the Writing of Indian History, New Delhi: People's Publishing House.

·      Thapar, Romila. 1979. Dissent in the Early Indian Tradition, Volume 7 of M.N. Roy memorial lecture, New Delhi: Indian Renaissance Institute.

·     Walsh, Kevin 1992. The Representation of the Past: Museums and heritage in the post-modern world, Routledge.

Mid Semester Examination

End Semester Examination

Course Description:

This course is intended for students with little or no programming experience. It aims to provide students with an understanding of the role computation plays in this technology driven world, regardless of their major.

Although technology touches most aspects of life in a society in the modern world, a majority of people just use the technology created by a small group of companies without being curious about how the technology was built nor caring about the impact of these technologies on themselves and the society. In other words, we are creating a world of passive consumers who are divested of a basic understanding of their role in the technology world, thus handing a disproportionate amount of power to a small number of people, who learn how to make technology work for them.

In this course, students are not only taught the basics of programming, but are also encouraged to inculcate the habit of Computational Thinking (CT). CT is a way of approaching problems that enables students to use a computer or other tools to solve them. In order for the computer to be able to help solve a problem, the student will have to learn to conceptualise the problem in clear logical steps, identify patterns and think in abstract terms. This is a skill set that the course offers to its students.

Furthermore, the course declutters technology that is commonly used in everyday life and encourages students to envision new ways of contributing to society using technology. Using Python 3.5 as the programming language, the course provides a platform for students to start making technology work for them during their later semesters, as well as in their careers. It introduces them to Python, as a foundational step towards the course, Application Development in Python, in their second semester.

Course Objectives:

The course aims at enabling students to:

·      Understand the history of computing

·      Develop an interest into new technologies with a critical eye

·      Get started with programming using Python

• History of Computers
• What was Computing like in earlier days?
• Evolution of Computers - Then vs Now
• Features of Modern Computers
• What is Computing? Technology in everyday use, why do we need it?
• Introduction to Programming Languages
• Programming terminology - Code, Bugs, Debug, Test
• How is Computational Thinking and Problem Solving beneficial to you?

• History of Money
• Currency and Ledgers
• What is Bitcoin?
• Block Chains
• Non Fungible Tokens
• Metaverse

• What is programming?
• Why do we need it?
• Why Python?
• Introduction to Python
• Applications of Python
• Python Installation and Setup
• Basic Input/output
• Variables
• Comments
• Mini-Project using Python

Course Description: This course examines the relationship between language use, enormous variety of language experiences, belief systems, and behavioral patterns. On the other hand Etiquette helps smooth the path of our daily activities, whether it's meeting others in our daily interactions talking to someone on the phone, offering condolences properly or understanding how to talk to colleagues at a business conference. Being aware of the beliefs attitudes and etiquettes of individuals will help one to become more tolerant from one individual to the next and from one group to the next.

Greeting a person, - the different ways of greeting, saying goodbye to another person, Thank You, Excuse me, Introduction to oneself, Yawning, Coughing, Interrupting, Offering assistance/ help, refusing help, requesting privacy, speaking in a low voice,(speaking etiquette) waiting for help, accepting or declining an invitation, expressing admiration, The key principles of common courtesy, professional manners and the Golden Rule as they are practiced in the workplace environment, Classroom Etiquette and Student Behavior Guidelines, The guidelines for maintaining a civil classroom environment

Introduction to adjusting to a new culture, Theories on second language and culture acquisition, communication, National Standards, Culture acquisition through family and Homestays, Distinguish among the three main forms of communication in the workplace: verbal, nonverbal, and virtual. Proper and improper uses of workplace communication, the potential repercussions of poor listening in the workplace, the proper and improper use of technology in the workplace

Why Etiquette Matters, Identify common cultural differences, taboos, and customs that may be practiced in the workplace, Discuss ways to navigate and honor cultural differences in the workplace, Describe how to express an appropriate awareness of international and other customs. The Common Courtesies of Life, Polite Conversation, Telephone Etiquette, Correspondence, Basic Table Manners, Overnight Guests, Wedding Etiquette, Moments of Sorrow, Appropriate Behavior for Children, Gift Giving Guidelines.

Introduction to Modern Etiquette, The Rules of the Workplace, Meetings and Introductions, Conversation and Listening Skills, Telephone/Cell Phone, Texting, Emailing and Internet Etiquette, Etiquette in Public Places, Employment/Volunteer Etiquette, Dining Etiquette, Social Gathering Etiquette (Guest and Host/Hostess), School Etiquette, Confidence Without Arrogance

Restaurant Etiquette, Cellphone Etiquette, Voice Mail Etiquette, Air Travel Etiquette, Cocktail Party Etiquette, Office Gossip Etiquette, Business Dress Etiquette, Email Etiquette, Social Media Etiquette, Job Interview Etiquette, International Etiquette

The course focuses on the knowledge and skills that students require to lead a healthy, productive and balanced life.

To examine health in its truest sense, one must explore beyond the limits of medicine to engage a much wider set of questions embracing social, cultural, political, economic, moral and spiritual aspects of human experience. 

Health of individuals and communities – The significance of determinants of health and how these raise or lower the health of individuals and communities - Health promotion to improve health - Personal and popular attitudes and beliefs and their impact on decision making - self-management - interpersonal and key consumer health skills - Factors influencing health, and actions and strategies to protect and promote health, through investigation and inquiry processes.

Philosophy of food, Values – Three different types of values, Meat – Is it wrong to eat animals?Hunger – Do we have a duty to help starving people? - Drugs – Why is it wrong to take drugs? - GM food – How should food technology be regulated? - Capitalism – Food, globalization, and equality - Art – Can food be art? What is art? - Taste – Is taste entirely subjective? - Science – Can science explain conscious taste experiences? -Eating – Eat to live, or live to eat

Balanced diet & Nutrition, Macro and micro nutrients – Nutritive and non nutritive components of diet – Eating for weight control – healthy weight – The pitfalls of dieting – food intolerance and food myths – Food supplements for adolescents. 

Concept of physical education – Meaning – definition – aims – objectives of physical education and fitness – Need & importance of fitness – Types of fitness – Health related physical fitness – performance related physical fitness – physical activities and health benefits - Activities for developing physical fitness

What is sleep? – The phylogeny of sleep – Developmental course of sleep – Dreams- Functions of sleep – Daytime sleepiness and alertness – Sleep disorders.

Meaning of life - Meaning of death- Indian Rituals, symbols, and myths - Spirituality, altruism and moral justice - Resources to deal with stress, temptations, disappointments and failures, social oppression, the loss of possessions and of loved ones, and with one’s own death. 

Midterm exam: 25

CIA 3: 20

Endterm exam: 30

Attendance: 5

Course Description:

The Mahabharata of the great Maharishi Veda Vyasa is a treasure trove of knowledge, principles and paradigms. It is written that what is not in the Mahabharata will not be found elsewhere. Written nearly thousands of years ago, the Mahabharata is as yet a source of knowledge, especially modern management principles.In essence it highlights the victory of Dharma in times of Adharma.This subject is a comprehensive learning on management lessons which can be inferred from the great epic. It gives a clear understanding and comparison of management Principles, practices and the various functions of management with the epic. The syllabus is structured to provide basic conceptual knowledge on the principles of management. It also deals with behavioral issues in the individual processes, group and interpersonal processes.

Course Objectives:

•  Discuss the epic by summarizing the various parvas/units in class in accordance with the management concept
•  Review and make a critical estimate of the epic with a focus on morals, ethics, legal and management concepts
• To develop competencies and knowledge of students to become effective professionals

The older generations-The Pandava and Kaurava princes- Lakshagraha (the house of lac)

Establishment of the kingdom-Administration and Management principles

Marriage to Draupadi- An event study approach.

Indraprastha-A new beginning- Pressure for change – Change process, Types of change, Factors influencing change, Resistance to change

The dice game- Cooperative strategies & Reasons for strategic alliances-

Exile and return- Risks and costs of strategic alliances

The battle at Kurukshetra - Strategic Planning and Management- levels at which strategy operates- Event approaches to strategic decision making,

The end of the Pandavas- Succession Planning,Authority and Responsibility

The reunion Organizing- Choosing the organizational structure

Rao, V.S.P., & Krishna, V.H., (2011). Strategic Management: Text and Cases. New Delhi: Excel Books.

Pratap Chandra Roy ,The complete Mahabharata translated into English prose directly from the original sanskrit text.(1^st Edition) oriental publishing co.

Source: Jaya - An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

MSE   30 Marks

CIA 3 10 Marks

End Assesment 50 Marks

Course Description

The primary aim of this course is to introduce students to the concept of institutions and the informal economy in a global context. The discourse examines the informal economy through the lens of institutional economics. The aim is to acquaint students to significant discourses and issues in policy design and intervention.  

Course Objectives

This course aims to help students to:

• outline the concept of institutions and institutional change through some of the major theoretical constructs in institutional economics.
• summarize and illustrate the various mechanisms of the informal economy connecting the theoretical concept to issues of measurement.
• examine the linkages of formal and informal economy;
• train students to hone their writing and presentation skills to effectively discuss these complex ideas.

Institutions, Economic Theory and Economic Performance; Informal Constraints; Formal Constraints; The Path of Institutional Change

Contracts and Property Rights: the Concepts of Exchange and Property, Critique of the Utilitarian Calculus; Transaction Costs, Bargaining Power; Markets as Institutions; Firms and Markets

Bureaucratic Form and the Informal Economy; The Relevance of the concepts of formality and informality : A Theoretical Appraisal; Formal and Informal Enterprises: Concepts, Definition, and Measurement Issues in India

Rethinking Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment; Technology and Informality

The Impact of Regulation on Growth and Informality: Cross-Country Evidence; Blocking Human Potential: How Formal Policies Block the Economy in the Maputo Corridor; Enforcement and Compliance in Lima’s Street Markets: The Origins and Consequences of Policy Incoherence towards Informal Traders

Alston, L. J., Eggertsson, T., & North, D. C. (Eds.). (1996). Empirical Studies in Institutional Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Guha-Khasnobis, B., Kanbur, R., & Ostrom, E. (Eds.). (2006). Linking the Formal and Informal Economy: Concepts and Policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Misztal, B. (2002). Informality: Social theory and Contemporary Practice. Routledge.

North, D. (1990). Institutions, Economic Theory and Economic Performance. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Arias, O., Fajnzylber, P., Maloney, W., Mason, A., Perry, G., & Saavedra-Chanduvi, J. (2007). Informality: Exit and Exclusion. Washington: The World Bank.

Harris, J. (2006). Power Matters: Essays on Institutions, Politics, and Society in India. New York: Oxford University Press.

Mehta, P. B., & Kapur, D. (2005). Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Nayyar, D. (Ed.). (2002). Governing Globalization: Issues and Institutions. Oxford University Press.

Oviedo, A. M. (2009). Economic Informality: Causes, Costs, and Policies: A Literature Survey of International Experience. Country Economic Memorandum (CEM).

Mid Semester Examination

End Semester Examination

Course Description:

This course is aimed at undergraduate students to introduce to them the prominent debates in the economics of corruption. The course discusses how corruption acts as a constraint on economic growth using the theoretical constructs in Political Economy. It allows students to delve into the causes and consequences of corruption. In particular, the course will examine how corruption affects the emerging economies. The course will consider some of the seminal papers on the economics of corruption.

 Course Objectives:

This course will help students to:

1. acquaint with significant debates about transparency, competition and privatization and their relevance to corruption;

2. analyse corruption in emerging economies through various case studies;

3. discuss issues from various perspectives, such as viewing corruption as erosion of trust and abuse of power;
4. train the students to hone their writing and presentation skills to effectively discuss complex ideas.

Causes and Consequences of Corruption: What do we know from a cross-section of countries? Democratic Institutions and Corruption: Incentives and Constraints in Politics, Bargaining for Bribes: The Role of Institutions.

The Privatization of Rent-Generating Industries and Corruption; Corruption in Private Sector, Why the private sector is likely to lead the next stage in the global fight against corruption.

Corruption and Policy Reform; Anti-Corruption Authorities: An Effective Tool to Curb Corruption?  Corruption and Competition: Fair Markets as an Anti-Corruption Device. 

Burger, E. S., & Holland, M. S. (2006). Why the private sector is likely to lead the next stage in the global fight against corruption. Fordham International Law Journal, 30, 45.

Meschi, P. X. (2009). Government Corruption and Foreign Stakes in International Joint Ventures in Emerging Economies. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 26(2), 241-261.

Meyer, K. E., Estrin, S., Bhaumik, S. K., & Peng, M. W. (2009). Institutions, Resources, and Entry Strategies in Emerging Economies. Strategic Management Journal, 30(1), 61-80.

Nowakowski, K. (2010). Corruption in the Private Sector. Economics and Law, 6(1), 345-360.

Uhlenbruck, K., Rodriguez, P., Doh, J., & Eden, L. (2006). The Impact of Corruption on

Entry Strategy: Evidence from Telecommunication Projects in Emerging Economies. Organization Science, 17(3), 402-414. 

Jain, A. K. (2001). Corruption: A Review. Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(1), 71-121.

Jain, A. K. (Ed.). (2012). Economics of Corruption (Vol. 65). Springer Science & Business Media.

Rose-Ackerman, S. (1975). The Economics of Corruption. Journal of Public Economics, 4(2), 187-203.

Mid Semester Examination

End Semester Examination

Course description: This common core course aims to provide a basic introduction to understanding discourses of science and technology as represented in select science fiction. The course will help students understand some of the basic questions about the human condition that are raised, debated and negotiated in and through the representative fiction. Keeping the contemporaneity of issues today, the course will also emphasize how there is a crucial intersection of various ideas that cut across several disciplines with regard to technology and life, thereby making it crucially relevant to engage with it in the contemporary context. Anyone interested in questions of science, fiction and human condition may choose this course.

Objectives:

• To introduce students to the field of science fiction

• Help students identify and raise questions through these works of fiction some relevant questions in the contemporary context

• To direct students towards realising the intersection of various issues raised across different disciplines.

This unit will provide students a basic overview of science fiction through some critical and conceptual lens. The New Critical Idiom Series, Science Fiction, would be used here to introduce aspects of SF to students. Locating the interdisciplinarity of the domain would be central in this module. Reference material would be handed out by the course instructor.

This unit will raise crucial debates in and around questions of ‘science’ and ‘reason’. The unit will also help students recognize the importance of raising these questions from various disciplinary points of view, an important one being philosophy.

• Isaac Asimov short story “Reason”

• Select Episodes of the series Stranger Things

• The Matrix

This unit will engage with how technology becomes a crucial part of negotiating SF. What are the fundamental concerns that Sf raises regarding technology and the human condition? How does technology come to be framed within SF? How is gender and sexuality framed within discourses of SF? How does SF address the anxieties of technology and future would be some of the questions engaged with here. Any one of the following novels may be taken up for discussion along with the viewing suggestion given below.

• Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

• William Gibson, Neuromancer

• Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

• “Hated in the Nation” from Black Mirror Season 3

This unit will engage with the science fiction in the Indian context. One of the main points of discussion would be to understand how Indian SF writers have engaged with tropes of SF that we are familiar with and what kind of an ‘India’ is imagined thereof which has implications socially, politically and culturally.

• Vandana Singh “Delhi”

• Sumit Basu, Turbulence

Carey, Peter. What is Post-humanism? Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2010.

Hollinger, Veronica. “Contemporary Trends in Science Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies. No. 78, Vol. 26, 1999.

Attendance: 5 marks

This course will introduce students to the major theoretical and applied debates as well as major moral puzzles and challenges in the field of global ethics. Ethics is gaining ground as an important humanities intervention in a fast-changing world. A course on ethics is often an added advantage for students as it helps them shape a socially-aware perspective of the social reality.

Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives and thematic issues in the fields of international politics, business, communications and law, the course will challenge students to reflect on major ethical theories and traditions as well as core problems such as corporate governance, global distributive justice, the ethics of making and sustaining peace, media ethics and legal dimensions of ethics. By combining the works of both classic and contemporary philosophers with contemporary applied global issues, students will be able to critically reflect on fundamental normative questions from an interdisciplinary perspective and reflect on the rights, responsibilities and challenges of ‘good global citizenship’.

Learning Objectives: On completing the course, students will be able to:

• Open-mindedly consider different viewpoints in moral controversies.

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of different philosophical and popular arguments on the various topics.

• Demonstrate understanding of the major moral philosophical approaches and techniques in moral reasoning.

• Formulate and critically assess personal positions/convictions.

Global Ethics: Conceptual Definitions, Historical Origins & Present Challenges Introduction to the course Ethics, Morals and Values Cultural Relativism vs Universalism (case study)

Rationalist Ethical Theories Contractualist ethics Deontological Ethics Utilitarian Ethics Discourse ethics, Alternatives to Ethical Rationalism Virtue Ethics Feminist & Care Ethics Postmodernist Ethics

Ethics of International Aid and Development: Humanitarian Aid in Conflict Zones

Global Distributive Justice and Global Poverty: Models for International Economic Justice

Ethics of War: Torture in Abu Ghraib (Case Study)

Rohingya Issues: Are humanitarian interventions justified? The case study of Myanmar/Burma

Global Environmental and Climate Ethics: Trade Agreements and Global Environmental Ethics

Global Business Ethics and Arms Trade: The Ethics of Capitalism (Film Inside Job)

Natural Resources Extraction from the Kimberley process towards universal legislation (Movie: Blood Diamond),

Global Journalism Ethics, Digital Media Ethics and Whistleblowing Practices: Snowden and Whistleblowing

Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies: Genetics, stem cell and embryo research: Embryo research and women’s rights

Graham, G. (2008) Ethics and International Relations, 2nd Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

LaFollette, H. (ed.) (2003) The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Practice, Oxford: OUP

Attendance: 5 marks

Course Description:

The influence and presence of the past is felt everywhere and every day in our lives. Movies, newspapers or the internet bombard us and expose us to the past – both familiar and unfamiliar. However, the barrage of information and the forces of globalisation have led to increasing questions on the relevance and the value of the past – indeed a denial even. This course will engage the students with the myriad ways in which the past, though no longer present – is a presence in our lives today. It will introduce the students to think historically, relate to their memories of their own past and make them aware of the multiple perspectives which will enable them to read, write and reflect on the past; or in other words, make history. 

This course will introduce students to the methodological and theoretical questions that animate and inform the practice of history. How do professional historians work? What is their goal? How do they locate and analyze source materials? What kinds of arguments do historians try to make? How, ultimately, is history produced? This course will ask how (or whether) historians’ particular sources – and their location in the archives – can give voice to the ordinary and of things ‘past’. Moreover, the course will address how the advent of the information age impact upon the historians’ profession by exploring how modern technology – whether film, photography, or the internet – changed the way historians work and address their audience.

Course Objectives:

• To familiarize the students with foundational concepts in history and historical enquiry such as fact, fiction, truth, narrative, memory, conservationism and counterfactuals.
• To identify and make students aware of the importance of historical awareness to arrive at independent and informed opinion and contribute meaningfully in local and global affairs and debates.
• To equip students with an understanding of ‘history’ and the characteristics of ‘the past’ in present day society.
• To help develop proficiency in research, analysis and writing; and to encourage wide, independent, selective reading on historical subject matter to foster a sustained, reasoned, well focused argument, based on a broad selection of evidence.
• To identify arguments in historical works in order to be able to critique evidence used in support of the arguments.
• To interpret varied sources and place them within their proper historical context to integrate secondary sources into their own original narratives and distinguish between different kinds of history.

a)     Doing History - The Place of the Past.

b)    Facts, Fiction and Lies: Interrogating evidence - paintings, films, novels.

 Level of Learning: Practical/Application

c) Facts, Fiction and Lies: Interrogating evidence - paintings, films, novels-Students will take any work of Historical fiction, Historical Films as case studies and analyse the element of fact and fiction

a) Voice and the Subject: Narratives and Counter-narratives – Winston Churchill, Velupillai Prabhakaran, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tom and Jerry

b) Locating the Popular: Historical Fiction or Fictionalised History– Exploring the Fantasy Worlds of Ice Age, Hogwarts, Narnia, Westeros and Middle-earth.

c) The Past Today: The Ayodhya Debate and the Ram Janmbhoomi issue, Dwarka, Kapilavastu.

d) Historical Monuments and their Authorship/Ownership: The Temple Mount and Taj Mahal.

Level of Learning: Practical/Application

a)                Voice and the Subject: Narratives and Counter-narratives – Winston Churchill, Velupillai Prabhakaran, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tom and Jerry

b)               Locating the Popular: Historical Fiction or Fictionalised History – Exploring the Fantasy Worlds of Ice Age, Hogwarts, Narnia, Westeros and Middle-earth.

Screening of Documentaries, Speeches and Films followed by Student-led panel discussion

a)     History and the Visual: Photography, Film and the Image – Gladiator, Schindler’s List, 300, Gone with the Wind, Jodha Akbar and Mohenjo Daro

b)    Historical Re-enactments? Light and Sound Shows at Golconda, Red Fort and Khajuraho.

c)     Alternate Histories: Oral Histories, Sports Histories, Graphic Novels, Caricatures and Political Cartoons.

a)     Memory and History: Power and the Production of History –Museums and Memorials.

b)    ‘Truth’ and ‘myth’: History as Conspiracy – Insider and Outsider Perspectives – the Aryan Debate, Hindutva Ideology and Neo-Nazis.

c)     Private Lives and Public Affairs: The British Monarchy, the Nehru-Edwina Affair.  

d)    Suppressing the Text: State Secrets and Declassification – Wikileaks and the Netaji Files.

Level of Learning: Practical/Application

a)                  Private Lives and Public Affairs: The British Monarchy, the Nehru-Edwina Affair.

b)                 Suppressing the Text: State Secrets and Declassification – Wikileaks and the Netaji Files

c) Case study of various Print mediums which have discussed these issues to analyse how media is responsible for creating various memory narratives.

Mid Semester Examination

End Semester Examination