Spring 2016 South Asia Courses at Harvard

Ancient Iranian Religions: Zoroastrianism
IRANIAN 282A
James Russell
An introduction to the teachings of the Prophet Zarathushtra and the beliefs and practices of his followers, from the Achaemenid Persians, Parthian Arsacids, and Persian Sasanians to the Parsis of India, based on translated primary sources and secondary researches.

Approaches to Studying Indo-Muslim Culture and South Asian Islam
ISLAMCIV 241R
Ali S. Asani
A seminar for graduate students focusing on current scholarship on Islamic civilization in South Asia.

Bollywood and Beyond: Commercial Cinema, Language and Culture in South Asia
HIND-URD 123
Richard Delacy
South Asian Studies
This course examines concepts of personhood, community and culture in South Asia as expressed in contemporary film and literature. Works in Hindi-Urdu and in translation will be examined with emphasis on language as an index of cultural difference and of broad social shifts, notably the transformation of audiences from citizens to culture-consumers. Knowledge of Hindi-Urdu is not required. However, there will be a section for students with intermediate proficiency utilizing language materials.

Cities of the Global South: Seminar
ANTHRO 1812
Namita Dharia
What do the sprawling cities of the global South tell us about the contemporary urban condition? How is urban space produced and experienced in an era of increased interconnectedness, but also of great inequality and instability? How does the view from the South change our understanding of urban forms and processes, especially when so much of the “South” seems to be located in the “North”? To address these questions we will explore urban lives and spaces across cities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The course will include works in anthropology, geography, urban studies, and documentary film.

Comparing India and China
SOC-STD 98PC
Nara Dillon
In the late 1940s, India witnessed a peaceful transition to democracy, while China experienced a Communist revolution. After this divergence, both countries began pursuing market reforms in the effort to accelerate economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s. We will explore the ways in which power has been consolidated and distributed under these very different regimes and the implications this has had for a range of socio-political and economic outcomes, including famine, economic development, and urbanization. Throughout the course we will place India and China in the context of comparative debates about other parts of the developing world.

Crypto-Colonialism
ANTHRO 2640
Michael Herzfeld
This course examines the spread of colonialism beyond the acknowledged borders. Starting from the examples of Thailand and Greece, and extending the analysis to a wide array of other countries (e.g. Nepal, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iceland), the course examines the creation of national cultures as a means of external political control, and inspects the consequences in both geopolitical and ethnographic terms.

For the Love of God and His Prophet: Religion, Literature and the Arts in Muslim Cultures
HDS 3627/ Jointly offered as Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding 54
Ali S. Asani
The course surveys the literary and artistic dimensions of the devotional life of the world?s Muslim communities, focusing on the role of literature and the arts (poetry, music, architecture, calligraphy, etc.) as expressions of piety and socio-political critique. An important aim of the course is to explore the relationships between religion, literature, and the arts in a variety of historical and cultural contexts in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Europe, and America. Note: No prior knowledge of Islam required. You do not need to be “artistically” talented to do well in this course — just willing to think “out of the box.”

Gender, Money and Power in Colonial South Asia
HIST 60V
Catherine Warner
This seminar considers economic change in South Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the lens of social, and especially gender, history. We will read primary and secondary sources to understand connections between gender and money as languages of power and domains of meaning. How, and to what extent, did colonial rule redefine monetary regimes and systems of gender relations in South Asia? Students will conduct original research exploring the intersection of economic and gender history in colonial South Asia.

Gender & Sexuality: Comparative Studies of Islamic Mid. East, N. Africa, & S. Asia: Proseminar
HIST 2805
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Informed by theories of gender and sexuality, this seminar investigates how historically notions of desire, body, sex, masculinity, femininity, gender and sexual subjectivities have formed and reformed in Islamicate cultures of the Middle East, North Africa, and South and East Asia.

Himalayan Art
HAA 183K
Jinah Kim
Understood as a divine abode in Indic mythology and envisioned as the immortal realm of “Shangri-la” by later western interpreters, the Himalayas abound with Hindu and Buddhist holy sites. This course explores the vibrant visual culture of the Himalayan region. Two learning goals are: 1) Understanding the historical development of distinctive artistic forms in paintings and sculptures of Nepal and Tibet during major moments of artistic innovations in the region, including the artistic responses to the current political situation; 2) Locating this knowledge in the context of the history of reception and collecting of Himalayan art in the west.

Introduction to Social Movements
SOCIOL 27
Jocelyn Viterna
Social movements and revolution have long been driving forces behind political, social, and cultural change. From the Civil Rights movement of the 60s to the recent and unpredicted “Arab Spring,” the extraordinary mobilization of ordinary people is routinely credited with fundamentally re-shaping societal institutions–the polity, the economy, religion, gender, race, and even the environment. But can we really define and study something as ephemeral as social mobilization? Do we know how social movements begin? Why might they become revolutionary? Can they make a difference in the societies they target? This course examines these questions within the sociological literature on collective action. Theories of social movements and revolutions are then applied to a series of case studies around the globe. Case studies may include the US, Iran, China, El Salvador, Chile, India, Poland, Argentina, Egypt, and Nigeria, among others. Students will also be required to apply course readings to the collective action case of their choosing throughout the semester.

Landmarks of World Architecture
HAA 11
Joseph Connors
Examines major works of world architecture and the unique aesthetic, cultural, and historical issues that frame them. Faculty members will each lecture on an outstanding example in their area of expertise, drawing from various periods and such diverse cultures as modern and contemporary Europe and America, early modern Japan, Mughal India, Renaissance and medieval Europe, and ancient Rome. Sections will develop thematically and focus on significant issues in the analysis and interpretation of architecture. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meet the General Education requirement for Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding.

(Mis)Understanding Islam Today
HSEMR-LE 75
Bilal Malik

Contemporary concerns about Islam in the popular imagination, media and political debates are wide-ranging: terrorism; challenges of Muslim minorities for Western secular democracies; implications of Islamist movements for democratic politics; status of Muslim women; blasphemy vs. free speech, etc. This limited-enrollment seminar brings these topical concerns around Islam into conversation with insights from Cultural Anthropology and other fields, including Religious Studies, History, Government, Philosophy and Law. The seminar seeks: i) to deepen understanding of Islam, Muslim societies and peoples in the world today; and (in the process of doing that) ii) to engage and reflect on our self-understandings (concerning our own notions of religion, democracy, secularism, freedom, and – ultimately – what it means to be ‘human’). No prior familiarity with Islam or any concentration/discipline is required. Enrollment is limited and by instructor-permission.
First meeting location/date: Leverett House Light Court Seminar Room, Thu 28 Jan, 1-3pm
For additional information: goo.gl/3DvJLf

Muslim Devotional Literatures in South Asia: Qawwalis, Sufiana Kalam (Sufi Poetry) and the Ginan
HDS 3375/ Jointly offered as Religion 1814
Ali S. Asani
This course explores traditions of Islamic spirituality in South Asia through the lens of three genres: the qawwali , concerts of mystical poetry; sufiana kalam , Sufi romantic epics and folk poems; and the ginans , hymns of esoteric wisdom recited by the Satpanthi Ismailis. Since these genres represent examples of language, symbols and styles of worship shared across Islamic and non-Islamic denominational boundaries, we will also examine their relationships with other Indic traditions of devotion, particularly those associated with the so-called sant and Hindu bhakti movements. Special emphasis will be given to the impact of contemporary political ideologies, globalization and the revolution in media technology on the form and function of these genres and their relationship with contemporary communities of faith in South Asia and beyond.

Religion and Secularism in a Global World
SOC-STD 98OC
Anya Bernstein
What constitutes the political and how does it relate to the religious? This course explores the relationship between recent religious resurgences and secular politics while paying particular attention to the mutually constitutive categories of the “secular” and the “religious.” We start by exploring the classic secularization thesis and continue to examine its recent revisions. We will move beyond the assumption that secularism should be conceived in the singular to reflect on its global varieties, considering not only the Euro-American formations, but also debates around the place of religion in public life in China, India, Russia, Turkey and others.

South Asia: A Global History
SAS 131
Sunil Amrith
This course provides a global perspective on modern South Asia, from the early twentieth century to the present day. It examines how South Asia has shaped the world, and how the world has shaped South Asia. Topics covered will include: the Indian freedom movement in global perspective; the migration and settlement of South Asian communities overseas; conflict and cooperation between South Asia’s states? India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and relations between South Asia, China and the United States. We will also examine the centrality of South Asia to the successes and failures of schemes of international health and development, and to global environmental politics in the twenty first century.

The Literature of Empire
ENGLISH 61A
Marina Bilbija
This course investigates how writers in the English-speaking world represented race, nation, and empire at a time when these categories were being renegotiated. We will read a wide range of authors from Britain, the US, the Caribbean, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa, including Kipling, Forster, Twain, Du Bois, Plaatje, Kincaid, and Ishiguro. We will ask: how do national and imperial imaginaries differ? How did minority writers manipulate narratives of empire to gain recognition as citizens?

Department of South Asian Studies, FAS

Capitalism and Cosmology in Modern India
HDS 3529; Jointly offered as South Asian Studies 196
Shankar Ramaswami
This course will seek to understand unfolding processes of development in contemporary India through explorations of the lives, politics, and cosmologies of poor and working people. The course will examine debates on growth, development, and ecology; experiences of migration, work, slums, and cities (Delhi and Mumbai); and the ethical ideals, political activities, and cosmological visions of working people. The course will draw on a range of sources, including ethnographies, economics, religious studies, narrative nonfiction, novels, Hindi cinema, and documentaries.

Literature as History in South Asia
SAS 178
Catherine Warner
What can we learn about the history of modern South Asia from its literature? How have scholars read fiction and autobiography as an archive of the nation, gender, and colonialism? This seminar will explore several iconic as well as lesser known regional texts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will read these in conjunction with a body of historiography that methodologically and theoretically engages with literature as an important source for understanding the making of modern South Asia. Finally, we will consider how history-writing also developed as a contested genre of literature in the colonial and post-colonial periods. Students will be expected to conduct independent research and write seminar papers on a relevant topic.

South Asia as Understood Through Its Regions
SAS 225
Michael Witzel
Topic for Spring 2015: Kashmir and Nepal

The Good Life In Classical India
ETHRSON 19
Parimal G. Patil
What is a good life? How does it relate to personal happiness, to being a good ruler, citizen, or lover? What is the relative value of justice, citizenship, loyalty, friendship, personal profit, and pleasure? Is the good life the same for everyone? This course is devoted to investigating how classical South Asian intellectuals approached such questions and to thinking critically about their responses. As we will see, far from being mere artifacts from someone else’s historical past, classical South Asian texts provide powerful frameworks for thinking about our own lives and the ways in which we reason about them.

Language courses:

Introductory Hindi-Urdu
HIND-URD 101B
Amy Bard
An introduction to the lingua franca of the subcontinent in its “Hindustani” form. Students are introduced to both the Perso-Arabic and the Devanagari script systems. Conventional teaching materials are supplemented by popular songs and video clips from Bollywood. Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.

Intermediate Hindi-Urdu
HIND-URD 102B
Richard Delacy
Continuation of Hindi-Urdu 101. Emphasis on written expression and texts in both Perso-Arabic and Devanagari script systems. Students are introduced to Hindi-Urdu fables, short stories, and various other genres of literature, including poetry. Students must complete both terms of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.

Advanced Hindi-Urdu
HIND-URD 102BR
Amy Bard
Continuation of Hindi-Urdu 103a.

Topics in Hindi-Urdu Literature
HIND-URD 105R
Ali S. Asani, Richard Delacy, Amy Bard
Individual reading course. A course for students with native or near-native proficiency with readings in a variety of genres from Hindi and/or Urdu literature based on student interest.

Introductory Nepali
NEP 101B
Michael Witzel

Intermediate Nepali
NEP 102B
Michael Witzel
This course is designed to provide students with a more sophisticated knowledge of Nepali grammar. Students will also have an opportunity to use Nepali language for communication purposes and will be able to analyze more complex sentence types than the ones taught in the introductory course.

Advanced Nepali
NEP 103B
Michael Witzel
A reading course in Modern Nepali Literature, suitable for students who have at least three years of Nepali learning. This course is designed to help students understand some of the complex literary materials composed in modern Nepali language. The students will have an opportunity to read a wide variety of selected texts, understand the linguistic systems operative in those writings, and come up with their own informed understanding of them.

Readings in Modern Nepali Literature
NEP104B
Michael Witzel
A reading course in Modern Nepali Literature, suitable for students who have at least three years of Nepali learning. This course is designed to help students understand some of the complex literary materials composed in modern Nepali language. The students will have an opportunity to read a wide variety of selected texts, understand the linguistic systems operative in those writings, and come up with their own informed understanding of them.

Development of Nepali Language and Literature: Contributions of Local Languages
NEP 105B
Michael Witzel
Investigates the impact of the various non-Nepali speaking groups (janajati)on Nepali literature, as well as their linguistic contributions.

Elementary Sanskrit
SANSCRIPT101B
Gokul Madhavan
Introduction to Classical Sanskrit, the translocal language of intellectual life in South Asia for much of the last two millennia. This course provides the essential grammar and reading proficiency necessary to take up the language’s many rich literary traditions: scripture (Upani?ad), epic (R?m?ya?a and Mah?bh?rata), poetry, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, etc. After completing the textbook, we will read a narrative (Hitopadesa) drawn from one of the most popular literary works in the pre-modern world.

Intermediate Sanskrit
SANSKRIT 102
Parimal Patil
Continuation of Sanskrit 102a.

Advanced Philosophical Sanskrit
SANSKRIT 201BR
Gokul Madhavan

Nth Year Sanskrit: Seminar
SANSKRIT 250R
Parimal G.Patil
An advanced course for students who have completed at least four years of formal Sanskrit instruction. Texts and topics will vary from year to year.

Elementary Tamil
TAM101B
Jonathan Ripley
Continuation of Tamil 101a

Intermediate Tamil
TAM102B
Jonathan Ripley
Continuation of Tamil 102a

Advanced Tamil
TAM103BR
Jonathan Ripley
Continuation of Tamil 102. Covers topics of advanced grammar and is designed to further develop proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Texts include modern literature, classical poetry, devotional literature, epic literature, and selections from minor literary forms. Films and other audiovisual materials will be used as well.

Introductory Thai II
THI 101B
Parimal G.Patil
Continuation of Thai 101a

Readings in Thai II
THI 103BR
Parimal G.Patil
Continuation of Thai 103ar

Elementary Classical Tibetan
TIBET 101B
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Continuation of Tibetan 101a

Intermediate Classical Tibetan
TIBET 102B
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Continuation of 102a

Advanced Colloquial Tibetan
TIBET 104BR
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp

Intermediate Colloquial Tibetan
TIBET 105BR
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
Continuation of Tibetan 105ar.

Readings in Madhyamaka/Dbu ma
TIBET 203
Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp
In this course, we will deal with Gser mdog Paa? chen’s (1428-1507) critique in selected passages from his Dbu ma rnam nges rgya mtsho of Tsong kha pa’s (1357-1419) Madhyamaka position. To do so we will also aim to identify those passages from Tsong kha pa’s oeuvre that are criticized in the context of the writings of their Indian Buddhist precursors.

Harvard Divinity School

Intermediate Pali II
HDS 4055
Beatrice Chrystall
This course is the final part of a two-year program designed to allow the student to read Buddhist canonical materials in Pali independently. This course will focus particularly on the reading of verse in the Pali canon. The readings are taken from the canonical collections and are chosen and arranged thematically, exposing the student to key aspects of the teachings of Theravada Buddhism. The course readings are chosen to enrich the student?s understanding of these teachings, at the same time as strengthening language skills. The course will also introduce the student to commentarial material. The Theravada tradition has a rich body of material that explicates and comments on the canonical texts. Gaining familiarity with this style of writing will greatly benefit the student in subsequent reading of Pali material. Prerequisites: Intermediate Pali I or equivalent (with the permission of the instructor)

Scriptures and Classics
HDS 3225
William A. Graham
An introduction to the history of religion through selective reading in significant, iconic texts from diverse religious and cultural traditions. Considers important themes (e.g., suffering, death, love, community, transcendence) as well as problems of method and definition as they present themselves in the sources considered. Readings from texts such as the Upanisads, Bhagavad Gita, Dhammapada, Lotus Sutra, Analects, Chuang Tzu, Gilgamesh , Black Elk Speaks , Aeneid , Torah, Talmud, New Testament and Qur’an. Jointly offered as Religion 13

Studying Buddhist Thought Contextually
HDS 3245
Charles Hallisey
How does one study Buddhist thought contextually? What is the value of studying Buddhist thought contextually? What are the risks? This course is a critical introduction to contextual study as a range of approaches to understanding and explaining Buddhist thought, and thus it is primarily a course in methodological self-consciousness. The focus of the course will be on interpretive practices in their own right, with most examples in the course taken from the thought of Shinran, the medieval Japanese founder Jōdo Shinshū. No previous study of Buddhism is required.

The Lotus Sutra: Engaging a Buddhist Scripture
HDS 3244
Charles Hallisey
A critical introduction to the literature and religious thought of the Lotus Sutra, considered in the light of the historical contexts of its formation and the contexts of its reception across Buddhist Asia, including commentarial, devotional, and artistic contexts. Close attention will be given to both ecumenical and sectarian engagements with the Lotus Sutra. This course is part of a series of five courses on the critical interpretation of Buddhist scriptures; unlike the others, the foci of which are defined by key interpretive issues in the study of Buddhist scriptures generally, this course focuses on the range of interpretive demands made by a single Buddhist scripture, albeit a very important one. There will also be a separate hour for those who want to read the selections from the Saddharma PundarA

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Discourses and Methods: Conservation, Destruction, and Curating Impermanence
HIS 0447500
Natalia Escobar Castrillon, K. Michael Hays
This seminar on critical conservation aims to develop concepts and strategies able to describe and curate the transitory and dynamic nature of architecture, landscapes and cities. It combines readings discussions on the philosophy of history and conservation with lectures on case studies in which the premises of permanence and stable meaning – the assumptions upon which the traditional conservation discipline operates – become material or theoretical impossibilities.

Extreme Urbanism IV: Looking at Hyper Density – Dongri, Mumbai
STU 0150700
Rahul Mehrotra
In recent years, housing has become an extremely scarce commodity in Mumbai. In 2007, Mumbai was the sixth most expensive city globally to rent an apartment. A 2013 report by Knight Frank, a global reality consultancy, lists Mumbai as the most unaffordable housing market in the country with 29% of its under-construction dwelling units exceeding the 10 million rupee mark. Reports estimate that approximately 57 percent of the total households in the city live in single room tenements while the 2011 census estimates that 40 percent of the city’s population lives in slums. Exponential real estate values coupled with a burgeoning population and lack of investment in affordable housing have created an acute housing shortage in the city. Owning a house in central areas of Mumbai has become a distant dream not just for the low-income households but also for the middle class. In the impulse to solve this problem, most policy privileges disproportionate FAR allocations to the perceived carrying capacities of these areas. This studio will address the challenge of strategically and advantageously leveraging the existing extremes of metropolitan and parcel-scaled development policies. It will investigate development promoted by this approach through a series of transects in the Inner City of Mumbai and explore strategies to reinforce and extend existing urban fabrics, making these transitions easier for local communities.

Living in the Kinetic City: Mapping Housing in a Landscape of Flux, Mumbai
ADV 0912900
Rahul Mehrotra
Increasing concentrations of global flows have exacerbated the inequalities and spatial divisions of social classes in Mumbai. In this context, the creation of an architecture or urbanism of equality in an increasingly inequitable economic condition requires a deeper, critical look at the city, understood as a set of disparities between formal urban design and planning intentions and their spatial manifestations on the ground. In the Kinetic City these blurred lines of contemporary urbanism and the changing roles of people and spaces in urban society are not manifest more enigmatically than in issues of housing. In Mumbai, the uneven formalization of the city and the blur between what could be defined as formal and informal challenges the agency and practice of architecture, urban design and planning. This seminar course will identify and interrogate housing typologies in Mumbai. Students will work in groups or individually to examine a set of sites through a series of lenses including politics and policy of housing, questioning notions of affordability and amenities, historic evolutions of form and infrastructure, issues of public health and sanitation, and access to broader urban systems such as transportation. Through each lens of analysis contributing to this semester-long research, students will build towards the construction of a critical, multi-faceted framework for interrogating housing in Mumbai, culminating in a final two-week module during which students will speculate and schematically represent how specific typologies may be modified or programmatically tweaked in light of their preceding analysis.

Harvard Kennedy School

Decision Making in Recent Crises
IGA-224
Meghan O’Sullivan
This course uses some of the greatest contemporary challenges in American foreign policy to explore the broader issue of how and why important foreign policy decisions are made. Employing a decision making framework developed in class, students will examine more than a dozen specific, historic decisions made in regard to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan over the past twelve years. This format allows students not only to gain knowledge about the recent past, but also to gain insight – through positive and negative examples – into how policymakers can make the best decisions in the face of imperfect information and various constraints. The course enables students to extract lessons from recent experiences which are relevant for current and future interventions and nation-building efforts by the United States or other powers. Students will emerge from the course not only with substantive knowledge about Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, but equipped with analytical tools to understand and evaluate foreign policy decision making more generally. To see a short VIDEO describing this course, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c9zj9FEdQg.

Economic Development: Using Analytical Frameworks for Smart Policy Design
PED-102
Asim Khwaja, Rohini Pande, Lant Pritchett
This semester-long course examines how economic theory and rigorous evidence can be harnessed to design development policies that respond to market and political failures in developing economies. The course builds on the analytical framework and evidence base provided in PED-101 (which is a prerequisite). Topics covered include: Policies for Productivity Growth, Policy Design for Markets in Human and Financial Capital, Governance Reform and Environmental and Climate Change Policy Design. Prerequisite: PED-101. This course is open to MPA/ID students. Others by permission of the instructors only.

Management, Finance, and Regulation of Public Infrastructure in Developing Countries
PED-209
Henry Lee
This course will explore efforts to manage, finance, and regulate the transportation, telecommunication, water, sanitation, and energy infrastructure systems in developing countries. Issues to be discussed include public-private partnerships, the fundamentals of project finance, contract and discretionary regulation, and managing the political context in which infrastructure decisions are made. The course will rely on case material taken from infrastructure programs in developing countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, Laos, Argentina, Chile, Lesotho, Uganda, Madagascar, and India, as well as some developed countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Harvard Law School

International Trade Law
2132
Mark Wu
This course focuses on the law governing international trade as established by the World Trade Organization. It engages in an in-depth analysis of WTO rules and case law. The class will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the existing regime and discuss the difficulties in reforming the system. Besides focusing on the basic principles governing trade in goods and services, the course will also examine specialized areas such as technical standards, agriculture, food safety, environment, and intellectual property. In addition, the course will focus on the geopolitcal tensions between major trading powers, particularly with respect to the US, EU, and the emerging powers (China, India, Brazil).

Islamic Law: Human Rights Advocacy in the Muslim World
2517
Kristen A. Stilt
This course will focus on human rights advocacy in the Muslim world. After providing an introduction to Islamic law, the course will address difficult questions at the intersection of human rights law and some interpretations of Islamic law. Topics to be examined include religious freedom, sexual relations and sexuality, domestic relations, the rights of children, and public dress and behavior. The course will focus on how human rights organizations — international, regional, and local — have worked on cases in these areas of concern, and will consider how such organizations can most effectively address issues that involve religious belief and practice.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Intl Prsp Justice for Children
GHP511-01
Cecile Aptel and Jacqueline Bhabha
This course seeks to help students resolve some of the crucial challenges that arise when children interact with the legal system as victims, witnesses, or alleged offenders. By studying the many country-specific, formal and informal justice systems that exist to protect, punish, and rehabilitate children, the course will also examine a number of thematic concepts related to child discrimination, especially on the bases of gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Students will learn to rely on data from justice systems, clinical medicine, social science, and public health to inform the evidence base for discussions, and merge these sciences with legal precepts and human rights to advance actions that are in a child’s best interest. By exploring case law pertaining to decision-making within and outside the formal justice system, this course will lay a foundation for further study in the discipline, and also bolster the repertoire of professionals using the law in advocacy work.

Societal Response to Disasters and War
ID205-01
Jennifer Leaning and Hilarie Hartel Cranmer
Designed for physicians, public health officers, or others who may be charged with responsibility for intervention during crisis situations. The focus will be on societal response to disasters and war as well as decision-making under stress. The course will examine U.S. and international case studies within the established research and policy frameworks for disaster response and humanitarian action.

Harvard Extension School

The Economics of Emerging Markets: Asia and Eastern Europe
ECON E-1317
Bruno S. Sergi
This course concentrates on the growth and development of the emerging economies in Asia and Eastern Europe the front-runners of the global economy. While the world is attracted to their promise of strong growth opportunities, abundant low-cost labor, and a rising middle class, upon closer examination we find the landscape is fraught with challenges and complex risk. Focusing on China, India, other Southeast Asian emerging countries, and the entire post-Soviet region, we examine approaches to support further economic adjustments, to develop new high-tech trajectories, and to strengthen regional economic integration. We also examine opportunities available to international firms for successful business operation in these emerging markets. Students research and present studies about the nature of the rapid economic transformations these countries are currently undergoing, including the most recent economic policy strategies.

Introduction to Islamic Mysticism: The Sufi Tradition
Ali Asani
RELI E-1555
This course is an introductory survey of the Sufi tradition within Islam, focusing on its fundamental concepts, ritual practices, institutions, and its impact on literary and sociopolitical life in different Muslim societies.

Water, Health, and Sustainable Development
ENVR E-171 (24549
Joseph Michael Hunt
According to Fortune, water promises to be to the twenty-first century what oil was to the twentieth century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations. And the health of nations as well. This course introduces students to environmental assessment methods of water projects and programs, including health impact assessment, that contribute significantly to health protection and environmental sustainability. The course takes three approaches to the water question. The first, a new sustainable development goal (2015-2030), targets water supply and sanitation (WSS) for all. Lectures identify causes of slow progress in the least developed countries and examine how the lives of 2,000 children lost unnecessarily every day to enteric diseases could be saved. We analyze three contributing risk factors (access to WSS, girls’ education and life expectancy, and food security including dietary quality). Case studies are drawn from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The second approach studies women, watersheds, and the welfare of children, and looks at climate change, persistent drought, and the reclamation of river basins for meeting human needs. We also examine managing the water-energy nexus for population health, with detailed investigation of the future prospects of hydropower as a low carbon source of electricity in rural areas given climate uncertainties, potential biodiversity losses, and peripheral spread of infectious and vector-borne diseases. The third approach involves water planning, technology, and management for healthy cities. The United Nations projects that three-fifths of humanity will live in cities by 2030, and by 2050 one-third may exist in a state of congealed misery in informal urban settlements without suitable aerated housing or affordable water and sanitation facilities. Coastal cities face the further threat of rising sea levels as a direct risk to life and indirect risk to potable water security. Harvard’s extensive policy and planning research on China’s healthy cities initiative is an important theme for the course. At course end, students apply practical methods that inform prudent investment decisions on water security and safety, and describe evidence-based water planning paradigms that support economic growth, social and health development, and environmental sustainability.

MIT

South Asian America: Media, Culture, & History
CMS.334/21W.788 (Open to Cross Registration from Harvard)
Vivek Bald
This course will focus on the lives of South Asians in the United States and images of South Asians in U.S. popular culture. We will look at a range of different media – from American newspapers and print advertising at the turn of the 20th century to film, TV, and the Internet in the 21st – tracing out how migrants and immigrants from the subcontinent went from being curiosities to “undesirable aliens” to “model minorities” to “terrorist threats”. The course will be taught seminar style with an emphasis on group discussion. In each session we will look at original media sources: news clippings, photographs, silent and sound films, songs and music videos, television episodes, blogs and websites in combination with historical and other scholarly writing that put these media in context.
We will assess the ways that mainstream images, portrayals and stereotypes of South Asians – as exotic, spiritual, threatening, devious, or exemplary high-achievers – have or have not changed from the era of snake charmers and acrobats in 19th century American circuses to the era of The Mindy Project, Harold and Kumar, Master of None, and taqwacore punk. Importantly, we will examine how, as South Asians have increased in number in the U.S. and become media makers themselves, they have challenged, changed, and expanded their own representations.
Over the course of the semester, students will write two papers based on the course materials and their own interests and they will shoot and edit a short documentary video focused on the experiences of South Asians or other immigrants in the U.S. No prior video experience necessary – this training will be provided so students will be able to develop their own media production skills as part of the class.

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