Muslims and Hindus

This course examines Indo-Islamic and Hindu cultures in South Asia up to the early colonial
period. We use a wide range of sources, including Sanskrit and Persian literature,
inscriptions, travel writing, court chronicles, translations, material culture, and more. This
material allows us to critically engage questions that shape both current academic
debates as well as popular and political discourse: How do contemporary historical
accounts project perceptions of insiders and outsiders back into South Asian pasts? What
was the role of power in both the rhetoric of conflict and examples of cultural borrowing
and influence? What can we learn from the representation of the other in Sanskrit,
Persian, and vernacular literature? What strategies were employed to understand and
overcome difference? How have the categories ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ been shaped historically,
and are they sensible to think with?