Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Programme
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Core Courses
Liberal Arts as curriculum and academic programme has a rich and varied history firmly rooted in both Classical and modern Western higher education. From the disciplines delineated by the Greeks for gaining knowledge for its own sake by free citizens that came to be called the seven liberal arts comprising the trivium (rhetoric, grammar, dialectic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy); to the educational curriculum of Renaissance humanism in Europe; to the liberal education vision in modern day America, liberal studies has reflected the quest by the Western world for the ideal of a “well-rounded” education.
This course places the idea of liberal arts within history and engages in debates about what it means to acquire a liberal education in our own place and time.
Is there a consensus about what constitutes a well-rounded education across all countries and all peoples and for all time? Can liberal studies be the same in India, and its North Eastern regions, as it is in the United States? What kind of interpretation of the concept of liberal studies can we offer within our own situations and our own institutions? Why is there a contemporary re-turn towards liberal studies in Anglo-American pedagogy, reflected in the LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise) Initiative? What does it mean for each humanities discipline to engage in liberal studies?
The study of linguistics cuts across the boundaries between science and humanities and is closely related to many other fields of study- anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology and computer science, to name a few. To understand the relevance of linguistics in an interdisciplinary programme such as Liberal Arts, students will also read about some of the turning points in linguistics which led to the main developments in the discipline
Faculty from each stream will help students think through these issues, orienting them to the programme and enabling them to arrive at their own understanding of fundamental questions of education, knowledge production, and interdisciplinarity.
INTRODUCTION TO LIBERAL STUDIES
THEORIES AND THINKERS: THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE
The course allows students to understand the evolution of the concept of “Culture”. Various theoreticians over the years have provided ideas and interpreted culture using new paradigms. As the word is one of the most over used word in the English language the implications of using the word in a varied context needs to be investigated. Students are introduced to various thinkers, the context in which these thinkers developed the theories and the relevance of allowing the word to evolve further.
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of reading literary texts. It comprises two components: understanding genres and reading literary criticism.
The former will require students to read select literary texts in the broad genres of poetry, prose (fiction and non-fiction) and drama and learn to identify their generic characteristics. Important sub genres such as the epic and the novel will be discussed with illustrations. The students’ attention will be drawn to the ways in which genres can and do cross-pollinate each other to form new hybrids and they will be asked to problematise the notion of genre through the insights gained from the reading.
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The latter component will consist of modules of major critical thinking about the nature of literary art. The traditions and movements of literary criticism will be historicised, and students would be required to evaluate the texts they read in Component I through the lens of the critics they encounter in Component II (writers, thinkers and movements).
This course focuses upon English literature since readings of a wide selection of Anglophone world literature are offered as electives.
INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES
FOUNDATIONAL LINGUISTICS
This course introduces graduate students in liberal arts to the core areas of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, sociolinguistics and historical linguistics and also the fundamental questions, research findings and debates which inform linguistic research in its state-of-the-art form. The course will be focused on data analysis, reasoning, linguistic experimentation and argumentation so as to provide to students with foundational knowledge of linguistics leading to an appreciation of the core ideas which continue to guide the discipline.
This course will familiarize students to the fascinating complexity embedded in the debates, trends and methodologies that are shaping cutting edge research and pedagogic outcomes in the historical discipline.
Course content includes the following modules:
Why Historical Studies? An Introduction;
Art and History: How to See the Past and the Present;
Archives of Artistic Practices;
Art, History, and the Anthropocene;
Approaches to International Diplomatic History writing;
Events, Wars and Historical Documentation;
Global History and Historiography;
Access to Historical Resources internationally: Archiving, Sources and Resources
HISTORICAL STUDIES
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY
With growing interdependence, technological advances and the rise of social media, the study of international politics and diplomacy has become an indispensable subject of analysis. The objective of this course is therefore to introduce students to the major concepts, approaches and issues in world politics and contemporary diplomacy. The first part of the course allows students the opportunity to critically debate and discuss the major approaches and ideas that shape international relations. The second part of the course provides an in-depth understanding of the international issues, the processes and outcomes of interactions between states and trans-national actors. This part of the course will enable students to develop critical thinking and understanding of the applicability of major theoretical perspectives to policy responses.
This course introduces students to the history and evolution of Cultural Studies and some of the major thinkers (Raymond Williams, E.P. Thompson, Richard Hoggart) and debates that constituted Cultural Studies as a multi and interdisciplinary field. Cultural Studies, in its initial phase, drew from British Marxism and later on from various politically engaged practices like semiotics, feminist theory, ethnography, poststructuralism and so on to study the production and circulation of cultural hegemony and agency under certain political, social and economic conditions. The aim of this course is to examine the ways in which Cultural Studies drew from Marxism while also critiquing orthodox Marxist determinism to draw attention to other aspects of language and ideology to understand the social and political production of cultural phenomena and their relationship to power.
CULTURAL STUDIES II
ELECTIVES
A representative list of possible elective courses to choose from
(Please see running course details for actual electives offered in any semester)
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Cultural Anthropology (Seminar Course)
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Heritage, Identity and Archaeology
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Issues in Culture Studies
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Critical Development Theory
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Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Autobiography
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Communication: Technology, Culture and Drama
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Subaltern Voices and Narratives
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Masculinities in Literature and Popular Culture
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Literature and Science Writing
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The Art of Fiction
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Criticism: Theory and Application
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Indian Writing in English
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Cultural Theory and Interpretation
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Reading English Women’s Literary History, 1500-1800
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The Material Text and its Other
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The Novel: Theory and Perspectives
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The Frankfurt School of Literary Theory and Criticism
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​Power, Politics, and Urban Space
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Cinema and the City
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Issues in Geographical Thought and Research
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Critical Geographies
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Feminist Geographies
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Region, Nation and the Making of Post-Colonial India
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Gandhi: The Man and His Ideas
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The Efficacy of Visual Images
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History of Contemporary India
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Methods in Historical Research
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History in Indian Vernaculars
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Issues in Historical Research
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Understanding Nations and Nationalism
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Writing History of Art: Theory and Methods
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Writing Systems of the World
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Perspectives in Linguistics
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Cognitive Linguistics: Theories and Methods
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Research Methods in Linguistics
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​​Philosophy of Science
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Philosophical Issues
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Philosophies of India
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Contemporary Studies in Philosophy (Seminar)
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Introduction to Western Philosophy
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Philosophy of Religion
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Issues in Applied Ethics: A multicultural Approach
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Transnationalism and Migration: Issues of Development
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Peace and Conflict Resolution
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Political Participation in Developing Asia
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Modern Political and Social Imaginaries
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India-s Northeast: A Panoramic Perspective
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Topics in International Relations
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Research Methods in Political Science
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Key Texts in Modern Indian Political Thought