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• SOUTH ASIA MINOR AND CONTEMPORARY ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM
• SOUTH ASIA COURSES OF INTEREST ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY
• RESOURCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Minor in South Asian Studies

The Centre for South Asian Studies hosts a cutting-edge Minor in South Asian Studies, which also has access to the faculty and resources of the groundbreaking Contemporary Asian Studies program.   Students study South Asia in an approach attentive to global formations.  They are introduced to the study of South Asia—Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka—through a wide angle view of Asian modernities, political economies and cultures, all the while delving into to specialist close-ups of South Asia.    With open access to comparative courses in Contemporary Asian Studies program, students can learn from tenured and tenure-track faculty specialists in South, East, and Southeast Asia. 

With a curriculum motivated by the moving present—the changing face of South Asia today--the South Asia minor offers rigorous training in major debates and questions in the rich field of South Asian Studies, and provides a basic foundation for many directions of future study.   From historical contexts of ethnic conflict, to postcolonial readings of ancient traditions, to the politics of religious and ethnic identities, the workings of vast scale democracy and capitalism, and the worlds of cinema and public culture, students are exposed to the dynamic landscapes—political, material, mythic--that constitute South Asia today.  

The Minor in South Asian Studies poses crucial questions for understanding global processes and diverse worlds—that span the tribal forest land, the bazaar, sacred sites, the urban slum, among many others--preparing students for careers in fields such as development, international relations, journalism, business, and human rights, as well as advanced social science and humanities research. Click here to jump to the 2012-13 course timetable.

Join the Community at the Centre for South Asian Studies

Students enrolled in the Minor in South Asian Studies benefit from the lively discussions and vibrant community at the Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) and the broad array of networks and resources at the Asian Institute.   Established in 1981, The Centre for South Asian Studies fosters academic research, teaching and public discussion on South Asia, and through these, global questions.  Now a key unit of the Asian Institute at the Munk School for Global Affairs, and supported by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, it is home to an award-winning core faculty across the University of Toronto's three campuses. The Centre is an international hub for critical conversations across the humanities and social sciences on South Asian worlds, both inside and outside the subcontinent. Undergraduates as well as graduate students, and the broader public, benefit from the wide range of distinguished speakers hosted by the Centre, as well as CSAS-sponsored conferences and workshops.

CSAS programming poses critical questions via subcontinental worlds, emphasizing at once the particularities of the historical, cultural, political and economic processes of the South Asian region, and its role as a rich lens for making sense of the globe today.  An archive of our wide range of events and speaker series can be found here.

The Minor in South Asian Studies: Program Requirements

Students in the Minor in South Asian Studies must complete 4 full course equivalents (FCEs).

Students are required to take 2.5 FCE:

Students may choose from the following elective courses to satisfy the remaining 1.5 FCE:

*Courses for which Minor in South Asian Studies students have priority enrolment

Note: For full course descriptions, please visit the Faculty of Arts and Science course calendar. Not all electives are offered every year. Students are responsible for checking co- and pre-requisites for all elective courses as well as priority controls.

2012-13 Course Offerings

2012-13 Hindi Language Courses at U of T