Anthropology

What is Anthropology? introduces students to the study of humans, their societies, cultures, and evolution. Covering the five sub-disciplines of anthropology, the course explores human adaptability, social structures, economies, political systems, and cultural processes. Students learn research methods, including ethnography and participant observation, and examine applied anthropology. Through discussions, multimedia resources, and projects, the course develops analytical, observational, and research skills, providing a comprehensive understanding of human behavior, cultural variation, and societal dynamics across diverse historical, geographical, and ecological contexts.

Biological Anthropology introduces students to the scientific study of human biological evolution and variation. The course traces the historical development of evolutionary thought, from Darwin and Mendelian genetics to the modern evolutionary synthesis, and examines major theories explaining human evolution. It also explores human biological diversity, critically engaging with concepts of race, genetics, and biocultural evolution. Emphasis is placed on understanding the scope and applications of biological anthropology in addressing contemporary human issues. Through interactive discussions, case studies, audiovisual resources, and engagement with research literature, the course develops analytical skills and a comprehensive understanding of humanity’s biological past and present.

Socio-Cultural Anthropology I introduces students to the holistic study of human societies and cultures, emphasizing diversity, interdependence, and adaptation. The course traces the evolution of anthropological thought and familiarizes students with key theories such as evolutionism, diffusionism, functionalism, cultural ecology, and globalization. It explores language, religion, art, media, ethnicity, race, and gender as central dimensions of social life. By engaging with societies different from their own, students develop cultural sensitivity and critical perspectives on contemporary global issues. Through interactive discussions, ethnographic insights, and applied projects, the course fosters analytical thinking and problem-solving skills relevant to real-world contexts.

The Advance Social Psychology course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of social psychological theories, principles, and human behavior. It emphasizes self-concept, social cognition, cultural diversity, persuasion, prejudice, aggression, conflict, and relationships. Students learn to critically analyze research and apply social psychology to real-world situations, including sustainability and social influence. The curriculum integrates theoretical knowledge with experiential activities, research papers, guest lectures, and lab work. Through Socratic teaching, class discussions, and practical exercises, learners develop analytical skills and an ability to interpret human behavior across diverse contexts. The course prepares students to apply psychological insights effectively in everyday life and research settings.

Anthropology Today: Its Application explores the practical relevance of anthropology in contemporary society, business, and governance. The course traces the historical development of applied anthropology and examines its expanding role across biological, bio-cultural, social, and cultural domains. Students engage with applications in health, nutrition, public policy, forensic science, education, media, urban planning, business, and technology. Through case studies, fieldwork, interaction with industry practitioners, and research-based learning, the course builds analytical and critical reasoning skills. Emphasis is placed on identifying real-world problems, conducting applied research, and using anthropological insights to address social challenges and benefit global society.

Introduction to Archaeology: Theory and Techniques course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of archaeology as both a scientific and social science discipline. It explores the historical development of archaeology, excavation methods, site identification, and analysis of artefacts. Students learn to apply interdisciplinary techniques from anthropology, earth sciences, and social sciences to interpret archaeological data. The course emphasizes understanding cultural identity, ancient economies, politics, and technology through material remains. Field visits to excavation sites enhance practical skills, while discussions, case studies, and audiovisual materials foster critical thinking, analytical abilities, and an appreciation of archaeology’s scientific and cultural significance.

Human societies are characterised with the ‘roving instinct’ and many scholar have put forth that migration is natural to humanity since this is what led to the population of the world. The ‘Out of Africa theory’ and various waves of movement into the continents along with the displacement of the Neanderthal cousins by the Anatomically Modern Humans suggests a constantly mobile community often engaged in interactions and conflicts for resources and benefits. In the contemporary and the modern world approximately 3% of the world population live away from the region that they were born in and contribute to the migratory population engaged in economic pursuits for a ‘better life’ away from their homeland. This course aims at engaging in a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary understanding of Migration often understood and closely associated as a ‘problem’ (Castles, 2010) (in both its cause and effect) leading to conflict, violence, social transformation and change throughout history. This course will engage in analysing the phenomena of mobility within and without (international) political and territorial borders through legal and illegal forms due to the classical push and pull factors of climate and culture to the concept of migration not as a sedentary bias but as a normal component of social relations including the determinants, assimilation and conflicts involved.

The ecology and environment of developing countries have been significantly altered through colonization and after independence. Developing countries has had to make negotiations between utilizing natural resources and conserving its environment. In the 21st Century, these negotiations have become more intense as we grapple with reduced resources, natural disasters, urban pollution and global warming. As developing countries gear up for industrial and development projects, they also negotiate with claims of indigenous forest lands, fishing rights, grazing rights etc. This course is aimed at considering the various challenges, policies, laws and approaches of developing countries in negotiating environmental sustenance, and management of ecology and environment. The course will address forests, fisheries, mining, pollution, industrialization, water resources, urban pollution, tribal rights and alternative energy.

This course introduces key themes in modern political thought and the emergence of international organizations, with a focused study of global justice in an era of intensified transnational interaction and conflict. It critically examines the power and influence of the United Nations, international courts, and transnational actors in shaping global norms of justice. Core debates include global citizenship, international equality, world poverty, limits of sovereignty, cosmopolitanism, and the human capabilities approach. Drawing on thinkers such as Rawls, Sen, Nussbaum, Pogge, and Singer, students engage through essays, presentations, and an in-depth theoretical analysis.

This course examines the critical role of women in conflict, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction across diverse global and regional contexts. Moving beyond the depiction of women solely as victims, it highlights their agency as negotiators, activists, and peacebuilders. Through case studies from Rwanda, North-East India, Jammu and Kashmir, the Middle East, and Sri Lanka, students analyze women’s participation in conflict resolution and its impact on sustainable peace. Using interdisciplinary readings, discussions, and visual media, the course develops an informed understanding of gendered perspectives in conflict and long-term peace processes.

This course offers a critical sociological understanding of globalization as a complex and contested process shaping contemporary society. It examines the historical evolution and multiple dimensions of globalization—economic, cultural, social, and ecological—while engaging with key theoretical perspectives. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between knowledge and power, the crisis of globalization, and its unequal impacts on marginalized communities. Through themes such as gender, migration, environmental challenges, and resistance movements, students develop analytical skills to evaluate globalization’s consequences and explore alternative futures in an interconnected global society.

This course attempts to introduce students to classical and contemporary approaches to urban studies and the complications that lie within them. The objective of the course is to trace the deployment of The City in the understanding of modern life in varied historical contexts. In doing this, the course unfolds in four modules- two dedicated to discussing key classical and contemporary theorists on the city and two to gaining familiarity with urban experiences across the world. One of the latter modules focuses on exploring cities in India in their historical and political contexts. Students are expected to engage with and bring to the discussion diverse positions on urban life. The course is also intended as an exercise in exploring methodological and disciplinary diversity in urban studies, as both the texts and the discussion seek to transcend conventional boundaries of disciplines and techniques.

People are biologically very diverse, and often these differences are thought of in terms of race or ethnic groups. Human variation can be visible (e.g. Differences in skin color, hair form and nose shape) or invisible (bio-chemical differences, e.g. Blood group antigens, serum proteins, and molecular traits). Anthropologists have studied these variations for years and have attempted to understand why populations have different traits or same traits with different frequencies. A major goal in studying human diversity is to determine the genetic similarity or dissimilarity between populations. The unique approach that anthropology takes in the study of human diversity is to focus on understanding, studying and explaining variation between human populations by applying evolutionary theory. We try to understand how these differences help humans adapt to varying environments rather than to simply document differences in order to create racial groups. The course provides the basics of population genetics, genetic polymorphism, and the important genetic markers in human populations, and biological consequences and consanguinity.

This is the class for people who want to understand the world and make a difference (and have a life, too!). The primary focus will be on recognizing levels of violence and conflict – from interpersonal, community-level to intrastate, interstate, and global. Within these levels, there is direct violence (physical, observable violence/aggression) and structural violence (in the form of institutional oppression). Many of the insights gained through the course are subject for discussions and possible applications for peacemaking and peacebuilding. My interpretation of peacebuilding is as broad as conflict resolution, to traditional peace movements to a full range of dispute resolution and peacebuilding roles. Also included in this idea are closely related fields like human rights, development, security, social justice and advocacy. I will not use tests. Instead, I will ask you to complete a number of fairly structured assignments that demonstrate that you have mastered key insights from the class. These assignments incorporate a fair amount of flexibility, allowing you to focus on those aspects of the course that you find most valuable. The focus of the course, therefore, is practical theory which provides a basis for adapting to unforeseen circumstances.

Almost all media is commercially driven today. John Dewey suggested, in the 1920s, that we have a paradoxical relationship with media. Large-scale democracy is impossible without modern technologies that facilitate mass communication (and transportation). But what will happen to our democracy when the role of media becomes an unapologetically profit driven one? How will the democracy work if the media looks at citizens as potential target customers for their industry partners, their advertising clients? What is the nexus between media, industry and government? Advertising is part of an extremely sophisticated system of corporate communications that is embedded within and acted upon by contemporary culture. It has the power to shape consciousness and makes firm and definitive statements about culturally ‘normal’ and desirable relationships and behaviour. Advertising thus plays an important role in helping people form ideas about themselves and their social relationships. This course aims at helping students study the phenomenon of corporate communications in general and advertising in specific. It will expose them to different schools of thought related to culture and the specific culture of consumption. It will also explore the power we believe advertising possesses and it’s positive and negative implications on the life we lead.

This Independent Study course enables students in Peace and Conflict Studies to pursue an in-depth exploration of a specialized topic aligned with their academic interests. Designed as a self-directed learning experience, the course emphasizes independent research, critical inquiry, and sustained intellectual engagement under faculty supervision. Students design and implement a semester-long research or field-based project, developing advanced analytical, evaluative, and reflective skills. Through regular consultation with a faculty advisor, learners produce a substantial scholarly or applied work, fostering academic independence, methodological rigor, and interdisciplinary thinking in peace and conflict studies.

In this course we will explore intersections between Culture and Power and develop interdisciplinary approaches to analyse them in the post-colonial India. We will focus on cultural practices ranging from cinema and literature to paintings, drama and sculptures to engage with “cultural politics” in post independence India. At a more specific level, we will think of culture as: 1) a whole way of life, and 2) a site of struggle over meaning, representation and identities. We will view cultural practices through the prism of ideas of nation, class, gender and sexuality, caste, communalism and secularism, and globalization in a society like ours. The course will introduce students to the history of Cultural Studies, a range of cultural practices and movements in the post-independence India and their historical socio-political determinants, approaches and concepts in structuralist, post-structuralist, Marxist, Post-Colonial, Feminist theories of culture.

This course examines popular culture and media as key sites through which everyday life, power, and politics are produced and contested. It introduces students to sociological and cultural approaches to understanding media, representation, and identity in Indian and global contexts. Through the study of visual media, cinema, performance traditions, sports, and beauty cultures, the course analyzes constructions of gender, class, sexuality, and nationalism. Using interactive discussions, multimedia resources, and continuous assessment, students develop critical skills to interpret popular culture as a dynamic force shaping social meanings and identities.

A need to comprehend or engage in writings about the ‘other’ has been a pre-occupation of civilized societies. Beginning with Herodotus ‘the father of History’ during the classical Greek era to the Islamic world with Ibn Khaldun’s The Muqaddimah and some of the most recent works like, Modernity at Large by Arjun Appadurai, Anthropology as a discipline has journeyed through contrasting paradigms with the ‘other’ to ‘ones own community’ or the ‘global culture’. This course will engage in analyzing the original works that have contributed to Anthropological Theory and History from the mid 19th century onwards. The course is not an attempt to look at the people and cultures studied in these texts but the emphasis will be on comprehending the textual data that will reveal the theoretical orientations of the authors who worked on these texts and the emerging history and paradigm shifts in Anthropology. Through anthropologies changing and emerging history, the course will also study the changing trends in the writing of Anthropology through contemporary studies of issues that emerge out of the changing global structure. There is increasing need for the discipline to engage itself with changing times in developed and developing countries for its new identity free of the colonial baggage.

One of the principal concerns of this course to understand how and why political systems develop the way they do. Why do some countries develop into democracies, while others experience various forms of authoritarian rule? How do factors such as class conflict, timing of industrialization, the nature of the elite, and the influence of political culture affect the development of political institutions? This course reviews the literature in various cross-disciplinary fields which includes comparative politics, political economy and sociology focusing on these concerns. While most of the cases are drawn from the histories of the advanced industrial states as well as developing regions some attention is also accorded to countries which are currently deemed "underdeveloped".

This course explores conflict, diplomacy, and war as central processes shaping the international system. It introduces key theories of international relations and examines how internal socio-economic and ideological factors influence external relations. Using historical and contemporary case studies, students analyze the causes, types, and resolution of conflicts, the role of diplomacy, and the dynamics of war. Models of conflict resolution and major theoretical perspectives are critically assessed. Through interactive discussions, continuous assessment, and applied research tasks, the course develops analytical skills essential for understanding world politics.

This course explores world music as a dynamic intersection of space, place, culture, and identity in a globalized world. Drawing on anthropological and ethnomusicological perspectives, it examines how music reflects and shapes social histories, power relations, and cultural politics. Through diverse case studies—including colonial brass bands, jazz, hip-hop, diaspora music, and popular media—the course engages debates on globalization, authenticity, appropriation, and identity. Using critical listening, readings, and reflective writing, students develop informed, independent perspectives on music as a cultural practice and a site of social meaning.

Globalization was described by Thomas Larson in 2001 as “the process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to the increasing ease with which somebody on one side of the world can interact, to mutual benefit, with somebody on the other side of the world.” In its colonial tradition, anthropology studied or understood ‘Development’ as a mechanism through which the differences between the urban, industrial, educated, modern (among other features) ‘West’ and the ‘Other’ was to be obliterated. Recently [it] has taken on the limited meaning of the practice of development agencies, especially in aiming at reducing poverty and the Millennium Development Goals (Thomas, 2004: 1, 2). Current academia, the government agencies and the population who either benefit or struggle with both development and globalization have (each) their own underpinnings. This course in Anthropology with its interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspective with a focus on human society as a participant and recipient in / of these processes aims to study and analyze the causes, effects and controversies surrounding development and globalization. Since the process is too broad to be covered in totality the course will focus and evaluated issues including urbanization, migration and displacement, individual identity, ethnicity and fundamentalism. This course is about the ways that anthropology can contribute to the understanding of "development" and “globalization” and the basic human problems that seem to have evolved from these processes. The aim is to find solutions and address the issues at hand at local and global levels.

Identity is the individual or group notion and expression of affiliations such as language, religion, race, ethnicity, social class and other differences that can be used distinguish people and cultures. Identity formation and transformation is a psychological and social construct with multidisciplinary underpinnings. The individual is the cause or the agent of and for social action consequentially leading to a social product of identities for individual and group. Ethnicity, Nationalism and Fundamentalism all integrate with identities in varied relations that need to be understood for the sustenance of the individual and group cohesion in the contemporary global culture. The need to interact at multiple levels for maximum output in this global economy enforces these multiple identities to engage in dialogue. The course will enable students to identify this exchange in an effort to realize the associated and contentious issues. The concepts discussed have been part of the learning process through the course, though here they will be clearly outlined with the existent controversies that go hand in hand with these established ideas in various disciplines.

The course seeks to look at the present modern day India from the perspective of India of the yesteryears. It aims to acquaint the learner with the various interactions between the past and the present in the Indian context as also with the reasons and methods employed by academics in dealing with the same. It seeks to focus on aspects of the Indian past that aren’t dead but continue to persist in the present, shape and influence it.

Current Events is a one-semester course /workshop, structured to give the student an understanding of current issues in areas as wide as sports, politics, culture, history, science, economics, finance etc. In this course a cultural or sporting event could be analyzed along with political, financial and other issues. We will make an attempt to look beyond the obvious and develop critical understanding. The course emphasizes research done by the student covering topics that hold meaning in today’s life.

This course offers a sociological exploration of urbanization through the lens of Pune city, linking local experiences to global urban processes. It examines the historical trajectory of Pune’s urban growth, diverse urban aspirations, and everyday urban realities shaped by consumption, commodification, and inequality. Key themes include spatial segregation, social exclusion, migration, poverty, and the formation of urban identities. Through classroom discussions, visual media, and field research, students develop a grounded understanding of urban culture and critically compare Pune with global cities to analyze contemporary urban transformations.

This course in Genetics (minor) attempts to address some of the basic and fundamental issues related to field of genetics. It further narrows the focus of genetics to deal with concepts in Human Genetics covering areas from basics like DNA, inheritance and the occurrence of mutations, mechanisms that lead to uniqueness in humans, to understanding the prevalence of genetic disease in humans, that modes of passing through generations and our understanding of how they need to be tackled on the social and psychological front through Genetic Counseling. The course also includes a short understanding of where the subject of genetics is applied in our everyday lives and how it will affect the way we look at our lifestyles in the future.

This course introduces the biological foundations of physical health for students from a humanities and social sciences background. It explains health, illness, and disease in accessible terms, encouraging informed perspectives on the body and healthcare choices. Beginning with basic anatomy and physiology, the course examines major categories of disease, including infectious, genetic, immunological, and lifestyle-related conditions. It also explores prevention and treatment through different systems of medical care such as allopathy, homeopathy, and alternative medicine. The course concludes with a discussion on vaccines, antibiotics, and emerging challenges like antibiotic resistance.

This course offers a cross-disciplinary exploration of urbanization, situating Indian cities within historical, theoretical, and global frameworks. Drawing on history, sociology, anthropology, and geography, it traces the origins and evolution of urban processes in India while engaging with key Western theories of the city. Students examine classical and contemporary perspectives on urbanism, urban planning, and governance, with particular attention to colonial, post-independence, and post-liberalization contexts. Through readings, discussions, media, and field-based learning, the course develops a nuanced understanding of cities as dynamic social, cultural, and political spaces.