Indian Culture I

The course means first of all to
- develop a solid and consolidated knowledge, both diachronic and synchronous, and a deep understanding of different aspects of Indian culture, traditions and habits;
- develop the understanding of the main features of the different, religious and social, communities Indian society is made of and divided in, also in order to learn how to properly and effectively interact with Indian people depending on their social and cultural profile;
- develop the ability to relate and interact properly with Indian people living both in India and abroad using different linguistic registers and communicative skills depending on the social and cultural features of the community the Indian speaker belong to;
- develop different ways of relating to people based on their social identity;
- develop the understanding of the social, political and cultural relationships among the different communities living in India;
- train the students to understand and decipher the Indian point of view on a number of subjects ruling everyday social life;
- train the students to detect the problems and the difficulties Indian people living abroad do usually experience. The course also is supposed to give the students the instruments both to understand the social and cultural experiences Indian immigrants have to go through in order to integrate into the new social and cultural scenario and to detect the main problems they usually face depending on their social and economic status and on their religious identity;
- the course is also supposed to develop the students's ability to explain to someone who is not aware of any features of Indian culture, society and traditions its main aspects and contents. The students at the end of the course should be aware of the cultural and historical meaning of Indian demeanors, behaviors, and automatic physical and mental patterns. They should also be able to increase their knowledge of Indian culture autonomously, orienting themmselves in the vast array of available studies and researches on Indian culture.

After attending the course, students should be able to recognize the main theoretical positions emerging in the contemporary debate on the historiographical and anthropological representation of the development of Indian society. The course is also supposed to promote students' ability to critically deal with methodological problems and to use appropriate scientific terminology. Students are expected to become familiar with academic and specialist literature and the course means to promote students' autonomy in studying topics related to Indian culture.