Why Study South Asia?
Hindi and South Asian Studies
The program in Hindi and South Asian Studies is a growing component of the Department of Asian Studies. South Asia is an important region of the world, comprising approximately 1.8 billion people, or roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Generally including the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and the Maldives. South Asia is diverse in many ways. For example, its peoples subscribe to a variety of religions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, and the region is home to hundreds of different languages.
Penn State has faculty across the university whose research specializes in both the Muslim and Hindu regions, regimes, and histories in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Faculty strength lies in regional and transnational studies of colonialism, religion, literary cultures, women and gender, rural communities, architecture and space, water technologies, neoliberalism, and modernization.
Why should I study South Asia?
India is the world’s largest democracy and a key global player in politics, medicine, and technology. India and South Asia more broadly also boast some of the world’s oldest traditions of art and architecture, literature, and religion. An in-depth knowledge of South Asian cultures, histories, and politics prepares our students to be versatile global citizens whose backgrounds in South Asian studies will be an asset to many careers, including those in business, science, engineering, and tech, and in work that involves significant cross-cultural or international expertise.
Why should I study Hindi?
Learning and communicating in a local language is critical for a deep engagement with the cultures, literatures, religions, and politics of India and South Asia more broadly. We offer language instruction in Hindi, one of India’s official and most widely spoken languages. It is written in the Devanagari script, which is also used for Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages. Hindi is therefore a gateway to learning other Indo-Aryan languages such as Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Nepali, and Marathi. Proficiency in Hindi will give interested students nuanced cultural knowledge and the language skills to study, work in, and meaningfully experience the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of the Indian subcontinent. We strongly encourage those who are interested in India and South Asian studies more broadly to learn Hindi. Check out Hindi @ PSU site for student work and more information.
What careers can I have with a background in South Asia?
Given India’s global strategic importance, students with an academic background in South Asian studies and the Hindi language may successfully pursue careers focused on social, environmental, engineering, and economic issues across the globe, through tech companies and organizations such as CARE, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, the Gates Foundation, among others. Hindi is among several critical languages identified by the US Department of State as essential for national security. Hindi language skills will therefore prepare students for an array of national government and intelligence work opportunities. Hindi language skills are also essential for jobs as translators and interpreters in the social, medical, business, or legal sector, or for students interested in graduate study of South Asia.
How do I declare a major with a focus on Hindi and South Asian studies?
To focus on Hindi and South Asian studies, declare an Asian Studies major or minor today. See the requirements for the Asian Studies major/minor for details. Below is a sampling of courses offered on South Asia that can count towards the Asian Studies major/minor.
Language Coursework (16 credits)
- HINDI 1 – Level One Hindi A
- HINDI 2 – Level One Hindi B
- HINDI 3 – Level Two Hindi A
- HINDI 110 – Intermediate Hindi
Check out university’s placement guideline for language courses. For other information on the Hindi program, please contact Ritu Jayakar at hindi@psu.edu
Coursework with a South Asian Studies Focus
- ASIA 003 – Religions of the East
- ASIA 103 – Introduction to Hinduism
- ASIA 120Y – South Asia: A Literary History
- ASIA 197 – Bollywood: Seeing South Asia through Cinema
- ASIA 401 – Technology and Society in Modern Asia
- ASIA 403 – Food Cultures of Asia*
- ARCH 312 – Critical Postcolonial and Contemporary Perspectives in South Asian Architecture
- ARTH 215 – Architecture and Art of South and Southeast Asia
- ARTH 440 – Monuments of Asia
- CMLIT 111 – Introduction to the Literatures of India
- CMLIT 404Y – Topics in Asian Literature*
- HIST 169 – The Indian Ocean World
- HIST 170 – South Asia to 1500
- HIST 171 – South Asia since 1500
- HIST 176 – Survey of Indian History
- HIST 182 – Asian Trade: Economy, Industrialization, and Capitalism in Asia
- HIST 188 – Tibet: People, Places, and Spaces
- HIST 475Y – The Making and Emergence of Modern India
- PLSC 465Y – Democratization in Asia
- PLSC 469 – Government and Politics of South Asia
- WMNST 137 – Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
- WMNST 280 – Gendering the Divine in Indian and South Asian Religions
*Focus varies semester to semester. Check with instructor or Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Faculty with a South Asian Studies Focus
- Jyoti Balachandran, History
- Muslim communities; medieval and early modern South Asia (c. 1200-1800); the Indian Ocean world
- Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies
- Gender, sexuality, and religion in South Asia; Hinduism; goddess traditions; Nepal
- Trevor Birkenholtz, Geography
- Political ecology; development; social theory; nature-society relations; gender dynamics; urban and rural water resources; India
- Madhuri Desai, Art History
- South Asian architecture, urbanism, and art
- Ritu Jayakar, Asian Studies
- Language pedagogy, technology and language, and Indian cinema
- Bruno Jean-Francois, French and Francophone Studies
- Indian Ocean Studies; migration studies; diasporic studies and creolization
- Prakash Kumar, History
- Colonial history; modernization and development; science and technology; agrarian history
- Aparna Parikh, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- South Asian comparative urbanism; South Asian and transnational feminisms; Hindutva nationalism
- Mary Shenk, Anthropology
- Fertility, mortality, marriage, family, kinship; quantitative/demographic and qualitative approaches
- Vineeta Yadav, Political Science
- Comparative politics; political economy; political institutions; judicial politics, development survey methods; India, Pakistan, Brazil, and China
Additional Resources for Learning Hindi
- The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) offers a number of programs throughout India during both the summer and academic year.
- The South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers intensive summer language programs in numerous South Asian languages.