India Studies
India has an ancient culture and an enormous body of literature that goes back 3000 years. Two major religions originated in India, Hinduism and Buddhism; and it has the world’s third largest population of Muslims. It has eighteen official languages, but there are thirty-five languages spoken by at least one million people. It is a patchwork of ethnicities. It is the second most populous country in the world and the largest democracy. How such a large and diverse country can hold together, and even more remarkably, through democratic institutions, is an intellectual puzzle in itself. India today is an industrializing country but already the world’s twelfth largest economy and an emerging software superpower. India provides an excellent case study for all the global issues that confront the world today.
Mission Statement
The India Studies Program at the University of Connecticut endeavors to increase knowledge about India by creating new courses on India and integrating existing courses to constitute an India Studies minor. This interdisciplinary program draws on various departments including History, Fine Arts, Literatures, Cultures and Languages, English, Philosophy, Political Science, Economics, and Sociology to offer courses. Other aspects of the program:
- Encourage scholarly research by faculty and students
- Sponsor lectures, performances and films
- Bring visiting faculty to campus
- Establish linkages with universities in India for study abroad and for faculty exchange and research
Last modified: 8/16/2012