Azim Premji University

BA in History

Engaging with India’s myriad pasts to understand ourselves in relationship with the world. 

Introduction

The study of history teaches us that the past is always contested by those of us in the present. In India and the Indian subcontinent, we encounter these contested, myriad pasts in our everyday lives.

Our programme hopes to help you develop a historical consciousness with which you can examine the past in a clear and comprehensive manner. Our courses will help you examine arguments and claims to independently assess their authenticity, and to understand different periods and themes. Our focus is to help you learn how to communicate our knowledge of history into diverse contexts, and to speak to history from your own experiences.

We hope this programme will help you practice history in everyday and institutional contexts, and to bring your understanding of the historical transformations of the past into possible ways forward into the future.

WE BRING YOU INTERDISCIPLINARY OPENNESS

Our degree encourages you to explore and follow your interests. We design our courses to ensure that you can specialise in a subject of your choice while learning a variety of subjects across disciplines.

A COMMON CURRICULUM FOR ALL STUDENTS

You will meet all your classmates at the beginning of your degree to build all the tools you need for your three years of study. This includes foundational courses, an understanding of India, interdisciplinary studies, and a workshop in creative expressions.

WE OFFER ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE

We provide active academic assistance and ensure that you are able to meet the requirements of the academic programme to fulfil your aspirations.

WE ENSURE FINANCIAL SUPPORT 

We ensure that no student has to drop out of university because of financial trouble or social disadvantage. We provide financial assistance to deserving students.

Course structure

In our classrooms, we train you to grow familiar with different kinds of archives and primary sources that make up the practice of history. We will explore different theoretical and empirical fields of enquiry within the discipline. We believe that it is important to understand the past as an active part of material and discursive lives.

We bring in opportunities for practicing history with some archaeology, oral history, heritage and folklore. Our courses have an interdisciplinary openness, bringing in sociology, economics, environmental science, political science, cultural studies and literature into our examination of history. You will learn about different historical periods across specific topics that examine society, culture, politics, religion and ecology. We will study different times and spaces and take a close look at the lives of marginalised communities. These courses will train you to think historically, working with facts to analyse and critically evaluate the past in relation to the present.

We will train you to read, write and think critically, and to examine ideas of ethical responsibility and action. Reading and writing matter not only for your study of history but for future careers, and written and oral communication across a range of platforms are an important part of this programme.

BA in History (84 credits)

This is elementary for the undergraduate degree with a Major in History.

BA in History with Honours (96 credits)

We offer you the opportunity to take up an additional research project around a topic and work closely with a member of the faculty to write a thesis.

You will meet all your classmates at the beginning of the year for these set of courses. These courses help you understand the broader contexts of each discipline and the porous borders between them. We help you build all the tools you will need for your years of study in the undergraduate programme. 

We introduce you to different modes of thought and themes, including writing and communication skills, strong critical abilities, a facility for language, and the ability to connect ideas across fields of study and inquiry.

We encourage you to make links between your chosen field of study and the world in which we live.

  • Foundations

    These courses will help you develop a toolkit to prepare for your undergraduate study. You will develop your critical reading and writing skills and communication abilities.

    The key areas you will work on are language capacities, reading, writing and speaking. We will work with different forms of writing, ranging from autobiographical writing to mappings and note-taking. These classes will include classroom discussions, presentations, collaborative works, group work and practicums.

  • Creative Expressions

    We relate to the world not only through the intellect but also with our bodies and creative abilities.

    In this set of courses and workshops, you will explore aesthetic, physical and expressive traditions. You can choose workshops in art, music, theatre, dance and sports or fitness. You will develop a guided self-study and choose to learn a sport, art or craft. You could make a performance, produce a piece of work or build a portfolio.

    We offer you a chance to play cricket, basketball, table tennis, or even practice Yoga, Tai Chi or the martial arts. You can choose music, painting, sculpture, dance or photography.

  • Understanding India

    In these courses, we will explore the nature and diversity of the Indian experience. We study the vast diversity of historical, cultural and linguistic aspects that define Indianness.

    You will learn to understand how the subcontinent has changed in its environment, across geography, geology and territory. We will think together about debates on the people who live here, their culture, and the larger questions around population and inequality. Most importantly, we examine the many structures that organise Indian society.

  • Interdisciplinary Studies

    You can choose one interdisciplinary area of study of four courses and a field internship of two weeks.

    These courses are about current Indian and global scenarios, whether social, political, cultural or ecological conditions.

The focus of our core courses is to help you develop domain and methodological knowledge and learn historiography, with a sustained focus on reading, writing and analytical thinking. 

An important aspect of our course is that we believe it is important not only to understand the role of history in society but to preserve and conserve historical knowledge. The role of tradition and heritage whether in museums of urban planning, or art and architecture in archives and folklore, or oral histories, are a very important part of this programme. 

These elective courses are for you to pursue a particular interest in a set of themes or methods to deepen your knowledge of history as a discipline. We have thematically oriented courses across historical periods. 

You can choose two elective courses each semester that are on offer. You are required to take a mix of writing courses, or a field and practice based course. 

  • Economy, Labour, and Environmental Histories

    Using well-established historiographic approaches and subfields in the discipline of history, this set of courses explore key social, economic and political processes that have had impacted labouring peoples and historically marginalised social groups across time.

  • Intellectual and Cultural Histories

    This is a set of courses that look at the meta questions of history and the everyday and material aspects of social life across different time periods. These courses explore intellectual and conceptual history, the history of ideas, the philosophy of history and historiography. These courses are concerned with theoretical movements in the humanities and social sciences, especially anthropology which looks at culture.

  • Public Histories

    In these courses, you will explore the interface between disciplinary aspects of history and the popular dissemination through media. You will also explore contemporary practices of historical preservation, from documents to monuments.

    We hope these courses will help you communicate history for popular audiences. You will explore a wide range of practices in history, from ‘guide’ narratives, folklore and oral history to institutional practices.

  • Global and Connected Histories

    Courses in this cluster of electives will expose students to history in an interconnected and global perspective. They break away from a nationalist mooring of the discipline of history (and its implicit Eurocentrism) to ask questions about shifting territorial and fluvial frontiers, oceanic worlds, diasporas and migrations, and the travel of people, cultures, and ideas across the globe.

We offer you the opportunity to take up an additional research project around a topic and work closely with a member of the faculty to write a thesis. This includes a practice element in which you will work with data visualisation, cataloguing, collection, archiving, surveying and preserving historical materials. 

You will need to complete 12 additional credits.

Total 96 credits

Faculty

All Programme faculty →

  • Language

    English

  • School

    School of Arts & Sciences