Many of you loved ones back home have been asking for details on classes. I have been postponing this posting, wanting to wait until I had a better grasp on the content of each course, the atmosphere of the classroom, the expectations of the professors and the nature of the assessments. However, these pieces are coming together very slowly, and in a vague and fractured manner. So, instead of conveying all of that information here, I will relate what I know so far, and a bit on my navigation of this new educational system.
I will be taking four classes this Fall, two directly enrolled in the University like any Indian student, and two special Study in India Program courses, designed for foreigners. SIP classes are modeled after American college classes, taught by professors more familiar with the American educational system, and focused on topics appealing to International students-- like Basic Hindi, Indian Philosophy, or Theory and Practice of Yoga. I will go through my schedule class by class.
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| Some students overflowing the classroom into the hallway.. only in India. |
Integrated Studies of Sociology- Equality and Inequality:
I was very ambivalent about this course at first, but I think it is slowly becoming my favorite class. The teacher is an engaging little man that wears pastel colored linen shirts and reminds me of a turtle. In traditional Indian social hierarchy, the teacher is considered close to G-d, and should be regarded with more respect than even parents. It is standard for the professor to simply stand in the front and lecture, no powerpoint, no discussion. The 80 Indian students that fill the classroom listen intently to his every word, and chime "Present, sir" when he says their name during roll call at the end of the class. At first, the "sir" thing sounded so ridiculous to me, I wasn't sure if it was mocking, but they are absolutely serious. They even rise from their seats when he enters the classroom, though he is a humble man and often immediately insists we sit.
The classroom atmosphere is obviously very different than my anthropology classes at Emory. And, I am the only foreign student in the class, which is really shaping my experience. I am unsure whether it is conscious, but the professor makes a lot eye-contact with me while he lectures. Often, one of the only questions that he poses to the class is "Are you following, Leeee? Any doubts?" While this really doesn't help my efforts to be assimilate in this new atmosphere and become an inconspicuous classmate, it is clear that he wants me to learn and is determined to provide me with a positive experience in his classroom.
So far, this class is definitely my easiest. It started off extremely elementary-- he spent an entire class defining equality and inequality and giving examples, but we have since entered more specific units on class, caste, and gender. I feel a little bit stunted by the absence of questions and discussions on a topic that could be so progressive and dynamic. As a result, I have found that much of my learning is not actually about inequality, but about Indian society and culture, as I pick up so much through the examples that he provides when making an oversimplified point-- like mother/father dynamics in an Indian family, the changes in the caste system in recent history, politics surrounding the Indian constitution, and ideals of beauty in present India.
Possibly more exciting than the cultural experience of being in this classroom is leaving without homework! The syllabus had a short list of readings, but I noticed in the first week, that he had yet to specify what we should be reading and when. So, I asked him for clarification after class one day and he said-- the content is purely his lectures, and those books are references to be used to clarify confusing points or answer questions while studying. As I said... quickly becoming my favorite class.
Anthropology of Indian Society:
This is my other direct enrollment class. Based on just the title, it seems like it should be right up my alley, but it has actually been a bit of a struggle so far. Again, this class is straight lecture, but this time, for 2 entire hours with a less engaging personality and a thicker Indian accent. In almost every class so far, I have found myself fighting sleep so hard that its difficult to just keep my eyes from falling into double vision.. oops. The topics on the syllabus seem really interesting to me, and I think that this course will give me an invaluable understanding of the country in which I am living. But, the level of detail so far has been actually excruciating. He will literally talk about the specific number of households that make up each specific caste in a specific type of village in a specific region during a specific time period. It is very unclear to me if we are supposed to be able to recall all of the details included in his lecture, or just take away the main points. The problem is that he is so deeply imbued in the details that the main point is often unclear.
Unlike my sociology class, he has provided us with a spiral-bound book full of xeroxed readings. (It seems there are no copy right laws in India.) Unfortunately, the many readings only seem to complicate the picture drawn by my confused class notes. One consolation is that about half of this class is foreign students and every single one of them is feeling as lost as I am. I think that we are all trying to bear with things for now, hoping that the content will get more interesting and the course expectations will be clarified when we approach our first assessment. Another huge help is that I am making excited connections between details mentioned in lectures and daily observations, conversations with my home stay family, and content in my other classes.
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| Classroom in the School of Social Sciences |
The History, Philosophy, and Science of Ayurveda:
This course is an SIP class, meaning the 20 international students sit in a circle and the teacher asks questions as she goes through the material (and we will have two field trips). As many of you know, Ayurveda is traditional Indian medicine, so this class seems really perfect for my interests in culture and health. So far, I have been intrigued by the perspective that the professor has been taking. As an Ayurveda clinician herself, she teaches the history and philosophy of this perspective as absolute facts. She actually posed the question, "What is life?" and had a specific answer in mind-- life is the combination of the body, the senses, the mind, and the soul. In some ways, this is really great because she is providing an utmost "emic" perspective, by giving us an internal look at this worldview rather than describing it in terms of comparison to more mainstream systems. (Thats my anthropology geek coming out, I can't control it.) How amazing to achieve an insider's understanding of an integral element of Indian culture, as Ayurveda has such strong ties to history, religion, philosophy, diet, lifestyle, etc.
However, I find myself continually wanting to insert the phrase "Ayurveda teaches...." before my professor's every sentence. It is a little frustrating to hear her make concrete statements about health, when I have studied these topics to be much more complicated, contextual, and contested. I was hoping that the class would be a little more about learning how Ayurveda works in order to understand the interrelations between the system and Indian culture. But it seems that I will be learning more on the ground knowledge, and will have to use my unique perspective to come to comparative conclusions on my own, outside the classroom. I am currently trying to find an opportunity to volunteer somehow in a hospital or clinic, mainstream or ayurvedic. I think such an experience could be really interesting and fulfilling.
Conversational Hindi:
When I first heard Hindi, the language sounded like a random mash-up of letters and every word that I was taught went directly in one ear and out the other. However, since moving into my home stay and beginning official instruction, I am having more fun with this language than I ever would have imagined.
Because the focus of this class is conversational, we are not learning the script, so our vocabulary is written in transliterations-- easy. And, we are learning the most useful words, like how to greet someone and ask their name, and how to converse with a rickshaw driver about direction and costs. The class meets four days a week and I have a personal tutoring session two hours a week. Plus, we are constantly practicing what we learned and adding new phrases at home with Auntie, Uncle, and Allok, the PhD student living here. They have great fun listening to our accented-babble and helping with our kindergarden level homework. Their enthusiasm and positive feedback is very motivating. Not to be super corny, but we've really made learning fun by incorporating Hindi into dinner conversation and quizzing each other on vocab around the house. I can't say a Hindi phrase with a straight face, because, be it a rickshaw driver or Uncle, the surprised and amused reaction is just too fun!
The class is moving very quickly, so I know that this will be one of my more time consuming courses when it comes to homework and studying. But I am hoping that it will also be one of the most rewarding!
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| There aren't many designated study spaces on campus, so this is where I sat and read before class yesterday. |
