Semester in South India
Fall - 2009
Academic Program
The University of Iowa’s Semester in South India Program is open to UI and other U.S. undergraduate students who have a serious interest in South Asian Studies. Faculty involved in the UI’s South Asian Studies Program developed the program in 1998 and provide academic oversight.
Dr. M.S. Nagaraja Rao, former Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, serves as the Program Director. Faculty and guest lecturers are drawn from a variety of educational institutions in Mysore and Bangalore. The program includes the following courses: Indian Culture and Civilization, focusing particularly on Karnataka (4 s.h. required); Science, Technology and Sustainable Development; Indian Women: Tradition and Change; Environment & Health in Modern India; and intensive Sanskrit, Kannada, or Hindi Language (all 3 s.h. elective). Students also have a choice of 1 s.h. courses including yoga, mridangam (drum), sitar, bharatanatyam (dance) and Carnatic vocal music.
Time for travel is built into the program so that students are able to explore India on their own. Three-day weekends allow for travel to places around Mysore and the rest of South India. Longer vacations include a one week group tour of cultural sites in Karnataka, guided by Dr. Rao, during the Dussera festival in October, and three weeks off for the Diwali holiday, immediately thereafter. (The former is a lengthy religious festival, for which Mysore is famous, and the latter a family holiday in some respects similar to Christmas.) During the latter vacation period students may travel to other parts of India on their own.
Commonly students travel north to places such as the Himalaya Mountains, Rajasthan or Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.
Others prefer to explore South India, visiting the backwaters of Kerala, for example, or staying in an ashram at Pondicherry.
Under the Program Director, Dr. M.S.N. Rao, former director of the Archaeological Survey of India, students visit places they learn about in the classroom. One trip includes a visit to the Gomateshvara statue, one of the oldest and most important Jain pilgrimage centers in India, and two Hoysala temples at Halebid and Belur.
The week long fieldtrip covers the rock-cut architecture of Badami; Pattadakal and Aihole, both developing grounds for South Indian temple architecture; the Islamic architecture of Bijapur; and the impressive ruins of the medieval Hindu empire of Vijayanagar at Hampi. Several students have written essays about their experiences on these excursions. They can be downloaded here:
India Research
During the final month, students pursue independent research projects (PDF) or participate in an internship (3 s.h. required). Research projects are carried out under the guidance of Indian professors, and are designed by students to focus on their specific academic interests. Internships in governmental and non-governmental organizations located in either Mysore or Bangalore focus on sustainable development, women’s issues, health, business and management, or other contemporary concerns. Grading of course work is administered by UI faculty of the South Asian Studies Program.
India Research