This seminar will track the histories, methods, and debates that have animated the field of South Asian art and architecture. Our temporal spectrum will stretch from disputes over the origins of Buddhist art in the late 19th century to the post-1990s biennale effect. The methodological shifts that we will trace will span from the beginnings of art history in colonial South Asia (Orientalism, antiquarianism, Indology) to the discipline’s relatively recent conceptual and theoretical turns (feminism, postcolonial studies, global modernism, new materialism). We will not only engage with major theoretical frameworks but also take up terms and concepts that are critical for understanding the broader concerns of the field today (agency, subalternity, mimesis, materiality, avant-garde, to name just a few). Although expansive in scope and scale, the seminar will not offer a survey history of South Asian art. Rather, because of the vital position that South Asia occupies in global intellectual history, the critical questions and concerns arising out of South Asian art historiography will allow us to engage with vision and visuality in an expanded global and indeed increasingly polyvocal field. 

This course fulfills the following Major requirements: Geographical area (B) and Chronological period (I, II, III), based on the topic of the final research paper or project.

Note: The seminar is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Graduate students please register for HA 285 (with Professor Atreyee Gupta).