Guides: Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2020: India

History and Culture

India in the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present by Tirthankar Roy
Call Number: e-book
ISBN: 9780511920516
Publication Date: 2012
In a journey across two thousand years, this book describes the ties of trade, migration, and investment between India and the rest of the world and shows how changing patterns of globalization have reverberated in economic policy, politics, and political ideology within India.
The Idea of Ancient India by Upinder Singh
Call Number: University Museum Library. DS419 .S53
ISBN: 9789351506461
Publication Date: 2016
The first section of the book discusses religious and regional processes, the second section connects ancient and modern India through a discussion of the beginnings of Indian archaeology, and the third underlines the importance of reconstructing the intellectual landscape of ancient India.
Cultural Citizenship in India by Lion König
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. HM623 .K658
ISBN: 9780199466313
Publication Date: 2016
Explores discursive plurality and the monopolization of interpretation as the poles from which inclusion in and exclusion from the national community are negotiated. The author investigates the ways in which citizenship manifests itself.

Dil Chahta Hai

Bollywood Film Dil Chahta Hai
Watch the entire film on Youtube (begins with advertisement and advertisements run along the bottom of the screen)
Three inseparable childhood friends are just out of college. Nothing comes between them-until they each fall in love, and their wildly different approaches to relationships creates tension. The film is praised for its music.

Clothing and Textiles

The Fabric of India by Rosemary Crill, editor
Call Number: Fine Arts Library. NK8876.A1 F33
ISBN: 1851778535
Publication Date: 2015
Exploration of the different materials, techniques and dyeing processes used in the creation of fabrics from ancient times right up to the present day.
The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India by Pravina Shukla, et al.
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. GT1460 .S55
ISBN: 9780253349118
Publication Date: 2008
Shukla, et al., document the clothing decisions made by ordinary people in their everyday lives. Through fieldwork, the authors conceptualize and realize a model for understanding body art as an aesthetic modification and supplementation to the physical body.
Clothing Gandhi's Nation: Homespun and Modern India by Lisa Trivedi
Call Number: e-book (access may be restricted)
ISBN: 0253116783
Publication Date: 2007
Trivedi explores the making of one of modern India's most enduring political symbols, khadi: a homespun, home-woven cloth. She brings together social history and visual culture to examine khadi as both symbol and commodity.

Bibliographer

Bibliographer
Jef Pierce, South Asian Studies Librarian

Selected and Annotated by
Mia Capozzoli, Liaison Services

Edited by Rebecca Stuhr
Director, Liaison Services

For more information about this Penn excursion, please visit the Penn Alumni Travel website.

Indian Cuisine

Homestay at Sani, Zanskar Valley, India by Sandeepa and Chetan used under Creative Commons License: CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Indian Food: A Historical Companion by K. T. Achaya
Call Number: Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Blank Collection. GT2853.I5 A34
ISBN: 0195634489
Publication Date: 1994
Achaya captures the full range and history of the Indian diet, from prehistoric times to the modern era.
Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India by Colleen Taylor Sen
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. GT2853.I4 S46
ISBN: 9781780233529
Publication Date: 2015
This work takes a historical view of the diet of the Indian subcontinent. Sen describes the country’s cuisine in the context of its religious, moral, social, and philosophical development.

Cinema

Documentary Films in India: Critical Aesthetics at Work by Aparna Sharma
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. PN1995.9.D6 S4925
ISBN: 9781137395436
Publication Date: 2015
Sharma introduces the diverse practices of three practitioners: David MacDougall, Desire Machine Collective and Kumar Shahani, and offers analysis of their documentary methods and aesthetics.
Bollywood's India: Hindi Cinema as a Guide to Contemporary India by Rachel Dwyer
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. PN1993.5.I8 D99
ISBN: 9781780232638
Publication Date: 2014
Dwyer presents the ways in which Bollywood has imagined and portrayed the unity and diversity of India. Her work is based on twenty years of watching, teaching and writing about Hindi films, working with filmmakers and discussions with critics and fans.
India's New Independent Cinema: Rise of the Hybrid by Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. PN1993.5.I8 D485
ISBN: 9781138184626
Publication Date: 2016
This study is an in-depth examination of the burgeoning independent Indian film sector. It locates the new 'Indies' as a hybrid film form, global in aesthetic and local in content.

Bengal Tiger

Royal Bengal Tiger, portrait by Valerie used under Creative Commons License: CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Religion in India

India's Religions: Perspectives from Sociology and History by T. N. Madan
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. BL2001.3 .I53
ISBN: 0195668294
Publication Date: 2004
This collection of readings you will find an examination of the different facets of religion and religious life in India.
Religion and Technology in India: Spaces, Practices, and Authorities by Knut A. Jacobsen, et al.
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. BL265.T4 R39
ISBN: 9780815384168
Publication Date: 2018
The authors of this collection, explore intersections between religion and technology in India, in the present and in the colonial past.
Sacred Groves and Local Gods: Religion and Environmentalism in South Indi by Eliza F. Kent
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. BL583 .K46
ISBN: 9780199895465
Publication Date: 2013
Kent offers a compelling examination of the religious and social context in which sacred groves take on meaning for the villagers who maintain them. She shows how they have become objects of fascination and hope for Indian environmentalists.

Architecture

Learning from Delhi: Practising Architecture in Urban India by Gert Jan Scholte, et al.
Call Number: Fine Arts Library. NA1508.D45 L43
ISBN: 9781935677697
Publication Date: 2017
In this work, Scholte, et al., lay the groundwork for a series of interviews with architects and planners based in the city to explore the city and its architecture.
Indian Islamic Architecture: Forms and Typologies, Sites and Monuments by John Burton-Page, et al.
Call Number: e-book (access may be restricted)
ISBN: 9789047423652
Publication Date: 2008
In this book you will find a historical overview of the subject, ranging from the mosques and tombs erected by the Delhi sultans in the 13th through15th centuries, to the great monuments of the Mughals in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Late Temple Architecture of India, 15th to 19th Centuries: Continuities, Revivals, Appropriations, and Innovations by George Michell
Call Number: Fine Arts Library. NA6001 .M53
ISBN: 9780199454679
Publication Date: 2015
Mitchell investigates the temple architecture from the 500-year period that coincides with the rule of the sultanates, the Mughals, and the British. Through a study of over 300 temples from 17 geographical zones, this book shows that, these years were remarkably creative and vibrant.

Wildlife and Nature

The Deer and the Tiger: A Study of Wildlife in India by George B. Schaller
Call Number: e-book (access may be retricted)
ISBN: 0226736571
Publication Date: 2009
Schaller offers a detailed account of the ecology and behavior of Bengal tigers and four species of the hoofed mammals on which they prey. His study builds upon his observations in India's Kanha National Park.
The Tiger: Soul of India by Valmik Thapar
Call Number: Van Pelt Library. QL737.C23 T47267
ISBN: 9780198069690
Publication Date: 2011
Thapar reveals almost every facet of India’s Tiger in terms of its first impressions on the 8000-year-old cave paintings of Madhya Pradesh to its presence on Mohenjodaro seals, some 4500 years ago.

Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2020: India

Taj Mahal