Sandra Robinson

This seminar explores symbols, signs, images, and icons associated with Hindu rituals and mythology. After an introduction to semiotics, we study diverse Hindu festivals, including: 1) observances based on lunar and solar calendars, 2) life-cycle sacraments, and 3) occasional ceremonies that occur due to special circumstances. Occasional ceremonies range from personal healing rites to communal rituals performed for relief from droughts, floods, famines, and epidemics. By examining popular festivals, feasts, and fasts, we analyze the multisensory modes of expression used in Hindu observances. Music, chants, and recitations coincide with mandala designs, scroll paintings, dance, and dramas to signify the message of each ceremony. Because Hindu myths and rites are so numerous and elaborate, students gain an understanding that is helpful in analyzing festivals and ceremonial practices cross-culturally. Readings and viewings are drawn from anthropology, comparative religions, and cultural studies.

This seminar addresses colonial and postcolonial representations of India. For centuries, India has been imagined and imaged through the lens of orientalism. In recent decades, writers and visual artists from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have been actively engaged in reinterpreting the British colonial impact on South Asia. Their work presents sensibilities of the colonized in counternarration to images previously established during the British Raj. Highlighting previously unexposed impressions, such works inevitably supplement, usually challenge, and frequently undermine traditional accounts underwritten by imperialist interests. Colonial and orientalist discourses depicted peoples of the Indian subcontinent both in terms of degradation and in terms of a romance of empire, thereby rationalizing various economic, political, and psychological agendas. The external invention and deployment of the term “Indian” is emblematic of the epoch, with colonial designation presuming to reframe indigenous identity. Postcolonial writers and artists are now renegotiating identities. What does it mean to be seen as an Indian? What historical claims are implicit in allegories of ethnicity, linguistic region, and nation? How do such claims inform events taking place today, given the resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism? For this seminar on the semiotics and politics of culture, sources include works by influential South Asian writers, photographers, and filmmakers.

The global visibility of South Asian writers has changed the face of contemporary English literature. Many writers from the Indian subcontinent continue to narrate tumultuous events surrounding the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule. Their writings narrate legacies and utopian imaginings of the past in light of current images that range from dystopian visions to optimistic aspirations. The seminar addresses themes of identity, fragmentation, hybridity, memory, and alienation. These themes link South Asian literary production to postcolonial writing from varied cultures of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Accounts of South Asian communal violence (Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms, caste and class conflicts) reflect intersectional issues and global urgencies. The cultural space of India has been repeatedly transformed and redeployed according to varied cultural projects, political interests, and economic agendas. After briefly considering representations of India in ancient chronicles of Chinese, Greek, and Persian travelers, we explore modern constructions of India in excerpts from writers of the British Raj. Our major focus is on India as remembered and imagined in selected works of writers, including Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy. Film narratives are included. We apply interdisciplinary critical inquiry as we pursue a literature that shifts increasingly from narrating the nation to narrating its diasporic fragments in transnational contexts.

This seminar explores themes of sacrifice in classical Indian and Western traditions. After exploring case studies from ancient India and Greece, we analyze survivals of classical sacrifice in contemporary literature and cinema. Sacrificial practices bridge religious, political, and economic aspects of culture. The sacrifice of a scapegoat channels violence and legitimizes acts of killing or destruction in order to serve social interests of surrogacy and catharsis. As sacrament, sacrifice represents transformational mystery. As ceremonial exchange, it facilitates negotiations of status, observance of boundaries, and the redistribution of goods. In specific cultural settings, sacrifice functions as celebration, as a manifestation of goodwill, as insurance, and/or as a source of communion. Seminar topics include: offerings, gift exchange, fasting and feasting, the warrior ethic, victimization and martyrdom, bloodletting and scarification, asceticism, and renunciation. The seminar addresses the politics of sacrifice and scapegoating through critical inquiry and case studies of the targeting of ethnic scapegoats, sati (widow murder/suicide), court and prison rituals, gender bullying, and charity—including service tourism. Primary texts include Hindu myths and rites, selected Greek tragedies, Akedah paintings, the Roman Catholic Eucharist liturgy, and selected contemporary short stories and films. Readings are drawn from anthropology, literature, comparative religions, and cultural studies.

Among global cultures of travel, pilgrimage is prevalent in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi Islamic traditions of South Asia. At temples and shrines throughout the subcontinent, pilgrims perform sacraments, rites of initiation, sacrifices, and other acts of renunciation. Pilgrim fairs and festivals serve multiple functions, providing venues not only for religious expression but also for arts performance, social negotiation, and economic exchange. This seminar explores the proposition that pilgrimage and tourism are functionally indistinguishable. If categories of travel are to be defined, what role, if any, do travelers’ intentions play in such an analysis? Is a spiritually inscribed journey qualitatively different from tourism with a recreational, cultural, or service agenda? How does the transitional process of a journey from home relate to the experience of arrival at a destination? Through a study of travel memoirs, we explore themes of quest, discovery, and personal transformation. Postcolonial writings on spiritually inscribed journeys raise issues of dislocation, exile, memory, and identity. We inquire critically into traditional mappings of “sacred geographies” and the commercial promotion of competing destinations. We analyze travel industries and the specialists who service the many spectacles and attractions found along pilgrim and tourist routes. Films and photographic sources are used extensively. Readings are drawn from cultural studies, history of religions, anthropology, and personal narrative.

This seminar addresses colonial and postcolonial representations of India. For centuries, India has been imagined and imaged through the lens of orientalism. In recent decades, writers and visual artists from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have been actively engaged in reinterpreting the British colonial impact on South Asia. Their work presents sensibilities of the colonized in counter narration to images previously established during the Raj. Highlighting previously unexposed impressions, such works inevitably supplement, usually challenge, and frequently undermine traditional accounts underwritten by imperialist interests. Colonial and orientalist discourses depicted peoples of the Indian subcontinent both in terms of degradation and in terms of a romance of empire, thereby rationalizing various economic, political, and psychological agendas. The external invention and deployment of the term “Indian” is emblematic of the epoch, with colonial designation presuming to reframe indigenous identity. Postcolonial writers and artists are, consequently, renegotiating identities. What does it mean to be seen as an Indian? What historical claims are implicit in allegories of ethnicity, linguistic region, and nation? How do such claims inform events taking place today, given the resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism? For this seminar on the semiotics and politics of culture, sources include works by influential South Asian writers, photographers, and filmmakers.

The global visibility of South Asian writers has changed the face of contemporary English literature. Many writers from the Indian subcontinent continue to narrate tumultuous events surrounding the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan that occurred with independence from British rule. Their writings narrate legacies and utopian imaginings of the past in light of current dystopic visions and optimistic aspirations. The seminar addresses themes of identity, fragmentation, hybridity, memory, and alienation that link South Asian literary production to postcolonial writing from varied cultures of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Accounts of South Asian communal violence reflect global urgencies. The cultural space of India has been repeatedly transformed and redeployed according to varied cultural projects, political interests, and economic agendas. After briefly considering representations of India in early chronicles of Chinese, Greek, and Persian travelers, we explore modern constructions of India in excerpts from writers of the British Raj. Our major focus is on India as remembered and imagined in selected works of writers, including Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy. Film adaptations are included. We apply interdisciplinary critical inquiry as we pursue a literature that shifts increasingly from narrating the nation to narrating its diasporic fragments in transnational contexts.

This seminar explores themes of sacrifice in classical Indian and Western traditions. After exploring case studies from ancient India and Greece, we analyze survivals of classical sacrifice in contemporary literature and cinema. Sacrificial practices bridge religious, political, and economic aspects of culture. The sacrifice of a scapegoat channels violence and legitimizes acts of killing or destruction in order to serve social interests of surrogacy and catharsis. As sacrament, sacrifice represents transformational mystery. As ceremonial exchange, it facilitates negotiations of status, observance of boundaries, and the redistribution of goods. In specific cultural settings, sacrifice functions as celebration, as a manifestation of goodwill, as insurance, and/or as a source of communion. Seminar topics include: offerings, gift exchange, fasting and feasting, the warrior ethic, victimization and martyrdom, bloodletting and scarification, asceticism, and renunciation. The seminar addresses the politics of sacrifice and scapegoating through critical inquiry into sati (widow immolation) in India, charity and service tourism, court rituals and judicial proceedings, the targeting of ethnic scapegoats, and gender bullying. Primary texts include Hindu myth and ritual, Greek tragedies, Akedah paintings, the Roman Catholic Eucharist, and selected contemporary short stories and films. Readings are drawn from anthropology, literature, comparative religions, and cultural studies.

This seminar focuses on the visual cultures of India and Nepal. Hindu traditions encompass a dramatically diverse range of beliefs and practices. Iconography provides a pathway toward decoding that diversity. How are the proverbial 330,000 gods and goddesses understood to be manifestations of a common unity? How does the Hindu pantheon encode gender with respect to status, functions, and roles? Where are caste hierarchies reflected among the emblems held by multi-armed deities? In what ways does iconography narrate the history of Aryan and Dravidian interactions? Through a study of painting, sculpture, popular lithographs, and multi-media sources, this seminar offers a window into the social histories, cultural practices, and spiritual values of Indian civilization.

1) Pilgrimage and initiation play a major role in the Hindu, Buddhist, and Sufi Islamic traditions of South Asia. This seminar introduces students to the cultures of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka through a comparative study of religious practices. In homes, temples, and shrines throughout this region, devotees perform elaborate rituals of initiation. These often occur at moments of life-cycle transition. Calendar-based sacraments also occur on the major holidays of each religion. When devotees celebrate these ceremonies, they are "performing" important cultural values. 2) Globally, pilgrimage festivals can be seen as codes for interpreting cultures. Meaningful journeys reflect the structure of initiation rites in that one is transformed by the experience. 3) Pilgrim fairs and festivals serve multiple functions. They provide venues not only for religious expression but also for arts performance, social negotiation, and economic exchange. 4) This seminar explores questions such as: Are pilgrimage and tourism functionally indistinguishable? What role, if any, do travelers’ intentions play in such an analysis? Is a spiritually inscribed journey qualitatively different from tourism with recreational, cultural, or service agendas? How does the transitional process of a journey relate to the experience of arrival at a destination? What do pilgrimage and initiation sometimes have in common with the experience of immigration? 5) Using travel memoirs, we explore themes of quest, discovery, and personal transformation. Postcolonial writings on spiritually inscribed journeys raise issues of dislocation, exile, memory, and identity. We inquire critically into traditional mappings of “sacred geographies” and the commercial promotion of competing destinations. 6) Sources: Within travel industries, we analyze the specialists who service many spectacles and attractions found along pilgrimage routes. Films and photographic sources are used extensively. Readings are drawn from cultural studies, history of religions, anthropology, and personal narratives.