India: Arts and Culture

Location:
Bangalore, India

Sponsor:
School For International Training

Program:
Culturally complex and diverse, with a mainly rural, traditional, and agrarian population, India is also a major industrial power experiencing rapid urban growth and rural-urban migration. It is a nation undergoing significant political, economic, and social change, while at the same time struggling to maintain many of its traditions and customs.

The southern city of Bangalore, a technology hub and a major center for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in issues of social change, provides rich academic resources for your study of development strategies in cultural contexts. As you examine development issues in relation to gender-traditional roles and values, shifting economics, and current cultural norms, you gain an in-depth understanding of differing perspectives toward development in a multicultural society.

Course Offerings:
This 16-credit program includes the following:

  • Program Orientation: Academic, cross-cultural, health, safety, and program orientation conducted by the Academic Director and other contributors during the first week of the program. Material covered includes program rationale, organization, and logistics; attitudes and tools for immersion in another culture; academic and personal expectations; evaluation methods and criteria.

  • Homestay: Three to four weeks in Bangalore. Other accommodations during the program include hostels, guest houses, educational institutions, or small hotels.

  • Intensive Language Study - Kannada: Emphasis on beginning oral and comprehension skills through classroom and field instruction.

  • Culture and Development Seminar: An interdisciplinary course in English, with required readings. Lectures and discussions generally include: Indian Life and Culture; Development Issues; Educational Excursions.

  • Field Study Seminar: A course in the concepts of learning across cultures and from field experience. Introduction to the Independent Study Project. Material covered includes cross-cultural adaptation and skills building; project selection and refinement; appropriate methodologies; ethics in field study; developing contacts and finding resources; developing skills in observation and interviewing; gathering, organizing, and communicating data; and maintaining a work journal.

  • Independent Study Project: Conducted at a South India location appropriate to the project. Possible topics of study include: village case studies; family planning and child health; adult education; identity and the Indian novel; the cooperative movement; alternative energy resources; Gandhian approaches to technology; nongovernmental organizations in urban or rural areas; growing economy of the export sector; effects of monoculture on rural habitats.
  • Program Evaluation: Oral and written presentation of the Independent Study Project. Final assessment in language. Overall program synthesis and assessment.

Contact Information:
School for International Training
Kipling Rd., P.O. Box 676
Brattleboro, VT 05302-0676 USA
Phone: 802-258-3212 or 888-272-7881 within the US
Fax: 802-258-3296
E-mail: csa@sit.edu
http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/asia/indiaculture.html