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My class hasn't started yet so I'm leaning into #ScholarsStrike as a movement, not a moment. This week, I've been helping bring together scholars in South Asian religions to do teach-in modules & share resources but I've also been finishing my fall quarter syllabus, a syllabus 
I'm adjuncting & teaching "Intro to Hinduism." I leaned into furthering the anti-colonial take of a previous course. I'm terrified of public scholarship (better 1 on 1) but here goes: My syllabus journey twds a "Hinduism" class that isn't just new colonialism by white people 1/
Also I say "Hinduism" because I prefer to use Hindu traditions or communities whenever possible, but Twitter word counts and such 2/
A lot of the "traditional" chronological approaches to teaching "Hinduism" mirrors colonial-era books on Hindus. A good ex is Monier-Williams' *Hinduism* (1877) that goes a little like this: Vedas, Upanisads/Brahmanical Philosophy, Trimūrti, Sectarian development, puranas... 3/
tantras, medieval Hinduism, modern worship, "holy places and times" (thanks David Lorenzen). This textual-belief based approach is Brahmanical Hinduism. There's no room for anyone else's Hinduism, lived practices, or experience. 4/
I tried to make my course flip this take while recognizing that this is the dominant model. I also tried to amplify voices and concerns of actual practicing Hindus. This isn't a class on the development of Hinduism. It's focused on lived religion 5/
This syllabus is not perfect. While there are dominant white, non-Hindu voices still in here, I ask the students to ask why that's the case and what it does to the discussion. Also this is for a quarter system in a pandemic, so it's a quick class.
Ok, so finally, the syllabus 6/
Ok, so finally, the syllabus 6/
Week 1: Decolonizing the syllabus/Orientalism/What are we doing here? Students read "How colonialism Created 'Religion'" by Alicia Izharudin; "Taking other religions seriously" by @AjayVerghese, and they watch videos on Edward Said 7/
In our Zoom session we go over these things and do some video based analysis of Iggy Azalea's Bounce and Oprah's into to Hinduism video as ex of things we'll tackle this qtr (thanks @agleig and @deighton_rose @seails for your recs on this section!) 8/
Week 2: Definitions. Students ready "Who Invented Hinduism" by David Lorenzen and "On Hinduism and Hinduisms" by Julius Lipner. I'm not thrilled with these but I want students to talk about these at a meta level. More on this in a min. 9/
In Zoom we discuss how it's mostly white/western folks who write about definitions of characteristics of Hindu traditions - why? Then we switch to discussion the purusharthas as a way of framing Hindu worldviews - not *the* but *a*. We. Do. Not. Start. With. The. Vedas. 10/
- side note - while the Vedas are an integral part of framing Hindu traditions in Brahmanical Hinduism, they are but one part of a network of sources of authority in these communities. So why not highlight others? So that's what we are doing, or trying to do, here. 11/
Week 3: From purusharthas to deities. Students read overviews of concepts (again the white folks defining things) & an excerpt from Fruitful Journeys by Ann Grodzins Gold. I'm not thrilled with these selections, but it gives the students an example of the definition issue 12/
In our Zoom session we chat about Diana Eck's polytheistic imagination and I talk about darshan, deities, and sensory ways of being with divinity. I don't assign Darshan as a text because I wrote my dissertation saying this book ain't it folks. 13/
Week 4: *Everyday Hinduism* by Joyce Flueckiger, "Dark is Divine" on Naresh Nil's photography project, "Dark goddesses and Me" from Brown Girl Magazine, Manjari Sharma's interview on her "Darshan" exhibit, and The Juggernaut's "Anti-Blackness Goes Back to Ancient Times" 14/
- by the way - each week students are turning in *some* kind of reflection (written, tiktok, podcasted, whatever) tying in the readings with our class discussion. They do this in pairs outside of class time in anyway they like. This idea is from the fantastic @meredithlmccoy 15/
In our zoom session for this week we finally get to the Vedas, specifically their role as sources of authority (as well as the shastras) and an introduction to caste. 16/
Week 5: The Gandhi-Ambedkar debate, "Freedom from Caste" & "Is Caste Intrinsic to Hinduism" by Anantanand Rambachan, The Wire's "Meet the Women who Blackened Manu's Statue," videos from the Casteless Collective, http://Scroll.in 's article on Dalit priests in Kerala. 17/
Students are asked to compare the visions of a post-caste future from these different perspectives.
In our Zoom session we discuss reflections and switch gears to the Puranas and oral/visual narratives as sources of authority 18/
In our Zoom session we discuss reflections and switch gears to the Puranas and oral/visual narratives as sources of authority 18/
Week 6: Students split the readings - Mahishasuramardini summary, "Durga did not kill Mahushasur" by Moumita Sen, "Not just Durga, Mahishasur Also Worshipped" and "Devotees of Durga, Asurs Unite Mythologies," ... 19/
"Dalit Religious Tradition and the Village Deities" Suneetha Rani & Ganjha Chakrapani & "Continuity and Change in the Worship of Local Goddesses: A Study on the Protest Religion of Marginal Communities in Coastal Andhra Pradesh" Sujatha Devarapalli
Zoom: epics/Ramayana 20/
Zoom: epics/Ramayana 20/
Week 7: Ramayana summary, Flueckiger's "Sanding in Cement" abt cement Ravanas and Ravana worship, VN Rao's "A Ramayana of their own: Women's Oral Tradition in Telugu," and Sita Sings the Blues - comparing and contrasting who tells stories, who gets to tell stories, and why 21/
In Zoom we move to bhakti and puja. Students read selections of poetry ( I kind of like this article from Scroll in actually https://scroll.in/article/838860/eight-bhakti-poems-that-show-india-had-multiple-and-diverse-paths-to-devotion) 22/
Week 8:my god the quarter is almost over. Students read: *Everyday Hinduism*, "The Art of Resistance: Chokhamela’s songs spoke of the Dalit experience as part of Bhakti movement" from Scroll, https://feminisminindia.com/2017/03/15/sant-soyarabai-essay/ 23/
and a podcast from Engaged Bhakti (thanks to Layla Karst for that rec!)
Zoom: we move to festivals, samskaras, & vrats as sources of authority (recall: all the zoom markers are looking at how these concepts help to frame worldviews and how they are a part of lived religion) 24/
Zoom: we move to festivals, samskaras, & vrats as sources of authority (recall: all the zoom markers are looking at how these concepts help to frame worldviews and how they are a part of lived religion) 24/
Week 9: lol what is life even. Students read *Everyday Hinduism*, "Sapna Pandya on Faith Tradition and Sexuality" from Sarika D. Mehta, and a NatGeo piece on "Transgender spiritual order finally finds acceptance at Hindu pilgrimage"25/
In Zoom we move to appropriation and students read from *The Karma of Brown Folk* by Vijay Prashad and @DrArjana's *Buying Buddha/Selling Rumi* as well as excerpts from @shreenaniketa's Classical Ideas Podcast interview 26/
Week 10: Presentations.
That's it! Students work on a scaffolded interview/research project in groups. They interview or research social justice orgs that have a reference to Hindu traditions or communities and present a short overview to the class. 27/
That's it! Students work on a scaffolded interview/research project in groups. They interview or research social justice orgs that have a reference to Hindu traditions or communities and present a short overview to the class. 27/
This syllabus isn't perfect. It's a start. The next round I hope to upset this structure even more and expand on the voices in the class. I needed this class to *do* something for the students but also for me and now hopefully it can be helpful to others!
