Programme Specific Outcome | History

PROGRAMME SPECIFIC OUTCOME

The B.A. (Honours) course in History seeks to inculcate a deep sense of understanding of what history means, and how it can be relevant and relatable to contemporary issues. Pursuant to this goal, the course begins in Semester I with the very foundations of human civilization, encompassing both the immediate Indian context and the global one. Concepts like biological and geological evolution pave the way for studies of cross-continental migrations and cultural intermixtures, which laid the foundations of our interconnected world, thus allowing for a deeper understanding of human populations and societies both past and present.

From this foundation, students proceed into the Classical ages, wherein they learn how concepts and vital texts such as the Vedas, Upanishads and Epic poetry that play a pivotal role in religion and culture still, came to be. These milestones are contextualized by developments in Classical and post-classical Europe, and their gifts of concepts like democracy to the world. Students learn of the important position that India had within the global order of the ancient world, whether it be in the spread of religions like Buddhism and Jainism, or that of trade.

As we move from the golden eras of Sanskrit and Latin into the early medieval of Semester II, notions of decline are sought to be dispelled by a more nuanced understanding of the development of early versions of modern languages and cultures, including Apabhramsha, Magadhi, early Tamil, early Bengali, etc. Once more, this is paralleled by a study of European developments, seeking to ensure that students develop vital skills of comparison and correlation when studying concepts like feudalism.

Equally importantly, the concept of historical periodization and relevance of one social and economic system vis-à-vis another is brought to the fore when we enter the early modern period of Europe and the medieval period of India in Semester III and IV. Moving beyond traditional dynastic histories, this specific programme encourages students to string threads of commonality between the social, economic, religious and cultural developments of previous periods with what happened post the arrival of so-called Islamic powers in India and the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe. In the Indian context, complex strands of intermixture, cohabitation and also conflict are brought out through the study of Sufi and Bhakti traditions on one hand and cases of iconoclasm on the other, thus creating a deeper appreciation of the evolution of Indian society in young minds. Studying Europe brings forth vital linkages (such as that of Vasco da Gama) and a deeper understanding of ideas that shaped Europe and would shape India as well in the future.

At the same time, it is realized that a purely theoretical dissemination of knowledge is insufficient for both a holistic learning and preparation for the job market in the future. Training in the skills of archiving, retrieval, preservation and transmission in various forms is crucial to bequeathing our heritage to future generations, and students get their first glimpse of the effort and care involved through Skill Enhancement Courses accompanying Core Courses in Semesters III and IV. Alternatively, they can also learn about methods of producing history from unconventional sources like folk tradition and film through special lectures by scholars actively involved in these fields and hands-on training in institutes relevant to these fields.

In the penultimate Semester V, students carry their widening knowledge of Indian and world cultures to understand how the world around them finally came to be. Pivotal developments like the French Revolution, the Revolt of 1857 and the World Wars allow students glimpses into the real meanings behind oft-bandied terms like liberalism, socialism and nationalism. Amidst this broad context, the freedom struggle and the national movement are explored beyond the monolithic concepts taught in schools to understand the many voices within, and the uneven nature of many “modern” changes such as industrialization, colonization and establishment of “modern” institutions. Roles of leaders are accompanied by studies of groups like tribals and depressed classes who pursued their dreams and achieved progress in their own ways.

These ideas about India and the world are further enriched through Discipline Specific Elective (DSE) courses in Semester V and VI. These courses offer students a rich bouquet of options where each option improves concepts relating to a particular region or culture. Thus, students can learn more about their home province of Bengal, or venture into the relatively unknown world of China, Japan, USA or Southeast Asia. All these courses feed into the modules taught in the core courses and help further contextualize the skills learnt in Semesters III and IV.

The final Semester serves to bring students up to date with developments occurring just generations before their own, whose results can be felt even today. The struggles of a newly independent India, and the conflicts of the two power blocs are intertwined to help understand independent India’s non-aligned foreign policy, which continues to this day.
By the time students complete their three years of this programme, it is expected that they would be able to forge in their minds a strongly interconnected but not monolithic view of history wherein each region and period stretches into others to produce the myriad identities, societal structures and ideals that informed humanity through the ages, and some of which continue to do so.