2015 Bangalore

Sponsoring Units: Honors Program, Undergraduate Academic Affairs & Comparative History of Ideas, College of Arts and Sciences

Program Dates: July 1 – July 31 (Summer A Term)

20 credits (12 onsite in Bangalore during Summer; 5 in Spring; 3 in Autumn)

More Information

• CHID Study Abroad Fair: 10/29/14 11:30-2:00PM in the Allen Library Research Commons
• Thursday, Jan 22, 2:30-3:30 in MGH 211 B

About the Program

Given the inequalities of the world and the Global South in particular, how do artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, performers and creative people weave together their craft and hopes for a better world? The city of Bangalore has been globalizing, developing and changing dramatically over the last few decades, with questionable success. What is the role of art, film, music, literature and theatre in documenting all this change? What is the role of art and creativity in movements for social justice? Should art be linked to social themes, or does that somehow diminish the creative potential? Through an intense and intentional engagement with Bangalore’s creative scene, what might we– a group of foreigners and cultural outsiders– learn about, perhaps contribute, and bring home?

To help answer some of these questions, we will learn about and explore the current scene of art and activism in Bangalore through local partnerships throughout the city. We will be introduced numerous social issues that affect local communities, and focus our attention on the ways that artists, filmmakers, performers, writers and musicians use their craft to interrupt social injustices (or not). Our program in Bangalore will help us learn about the city and its people, and encourage analysis that takes into account history, language politics, gender relations, caste divisions, sexuality, culture, poverty and affluence.

Program Credit

Students will receive 15 credits of Honors core credit (10 summer credits and 5 spring credits) and 20 credits in total (12 summer credits and 5 spring credits and 3 autumn credits).

Participating graduate students will coordinate the allocation of credits with their advisers.

Alternative credit may be available to students not currently enrolled in the Honors Program.  Alternative credit options must be arranged in advance with your departmental adviser.

Ready to Go? Travel Literatures and the Journeys through Ourselves and Others

Honors 384 (VLPA/I&S)/ CHID 498 (I&S) – 5 credits, spring 2015

Getting ready to go abroad isn’t only about booking a convenient hotel and reading up on the most famous sites. Going abroad also can be thought of as a series of reflective journeys through ourselves as well as others. From this perspective, we can ask a few questions: how do we imagine ourselves and our homes, in this particular society and culture? What would it mean to interact in a new cultural context, with those who seem “different” in some way? Whether we’re talking about traveling across our city, state, nation, or farther away, all travel invokes categories of who we are and who others might be in relation to ourselves. In this class, a required pre-departure course for students traveling to Bangalore, India in the summer, we will read travel literature, memoir, ethnography and creative nonfiction in order to better imagine the relationship between ourselves and others, here and there.

Creative Expressions and Social Relations

Honors 384 (VLPA/I&S)/CHID 474A (I&S) – 5 credits, summer 2015

While in Bangalore, students will learn from local activists, scholars and artists about the changes Bangalore has recently undergone, and what these changes mean to different communities.

Transnational Justice, Challenges and Possibilities

Honors 384 (VLPA/I&S)/CHID 474B (I&S) – 5 credits, summer 2015

Since “social justice” as a philosophy and practice means different things for different people, our time in India will help us reflect on transnational justice. Does “human rights” or “justice” in the US mean the same thing as “human rights” in India, or are these concepts situational and specific to each context?

Introduction to India

Honors 213 (VLPA)/CHID 470 (I&S) – 2 credits, summer 2015

Introduction to India, Indian culture, and social relations.

How to Travel When You’re Back at Home: Global Connections and Local Lives

Honors 384 (VLPA/I&S) /CHID 498 (I&S) – 3 credits, autumn 2015

Our seminar in Autumn 2015 provides a formal space for us to process and make sense of our travels in India. We will have asked each other many questions before and during our journey, and our class gives us the chance to formulate some possible answers about how to continue to animate our trip abroad now that we are back home.

Program Staff

Director

Anu Taranath, Senior Lecturer, Comparative History of Ideas and English

Program Coordinator

Amy Hirayama, Comparative History of Ideas

Program Cost

Program cost is approximately $3,400 per student (this amount includes tuition, a $300 CHID fee, lodging, classroom, some group meals, admission to museums and exhibits, excursions, and partial ground transportation). Course fee does not include airfare ($1,000-$1,600 round trip, depending on when and where you buy your ticket), food (about $30-50 per day), and personal spending money.

Financial Aid

Students may use their regular financial aid and scholarship funds for study abroad. The exception is any scholarship in the form of a tuition waiver. Tuition waivers cannot be used to pay study abroad program fees. Check with the Office of Student Financial Aid in Schmitz Hall for more information.

Funding opportunities are available through the Global Opportunities Program (Go! and Fritz Scholarships).  The Office of International Programs and Exchanges maintains a funding opportunities list.

For information on the Guaranteed Education Tuition Program visit:

GET Program Information

and for Financial Aid Questions:

Financial Aid Information

The Study Abroad Refund Policy details out the program withdrawal process.

Housing in Bangalore

Students will be housed in a combination of university dorms and home stays. Program Director Anu Taranath has built relationships with the staff at these facilities over the past decade.

Travel

To Bangalore

Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to and from Bangalore. Act quickly to reserve the lowest fares; you may wish to explore budget fares offered on discount search websites as well as Council Travel and STA Offices in Seattle.

Within Bangalore

Students and instructors will travel to several locations within Bangalore via buses, rickshaws, and taxis. The program fee covers these group travel expenses.

All participants must have a passport that is valid for not only for the duration of the program, but for 6 months after the program ends. It may take as long as six weeks to obtain or renew a passport.

Application Process

Selection to the program is competitive and acceptance into the program will be decided based on application materials, interviews, and student’s demonstrated motivation to challenge themselves intellectually across academic disciplines and cultures and to work both individually and in groups.   The program directors are seeking students who are interested in engaging fully in the local communities and meeting and dialoging with a wide variety of people on site (e.g. cross generational, community activists, artists, politicians, and educators).  They invite an eclectic range of interdisciplinary students from across campus to participate in this program, from Engineering to Physics, and Ethnic Studies to History. First year students to seniors are welcome to apply. Ideally, students who apply for the “Social Justice & NGO Activism” program to Bangalore will be humble, flexible, curious and able to adjust to environments and conditions that might not always resemble the US. Priority is given to students in CHID and Honors Program. Students of color, GLBTQ students, and/or first generation college students are especially encouraged and welcome to apply!

The program directors, CHID, and the Honors Program will determine final acceptance. Students applying after the deadline will be admitted on a space-available basis.

For More Information

For more information about the program components, please contact:

• Anu Taranath, anu@uw.edu

For questions regarding credits, contact:

• Julie Villegas, villegas@uw.edu