Isabel Huacuja

This course covered South Asia including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh from the 1500s to the post- colonial period. It showed how South Asian history is completely intertwined with global history and certain events such as WW2 can only be fully understood by looking at India's position and involvement. One of the highlights of this course was the annotated bibliography project in we were allowed to choose any period and topic that pertained to S.A history and explore it greater detail. I enjoyed that I was able to look at a movement that has gained contemporary attention (The Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement) and understand it in more detail because of the background I gained in class.

I briefly learned about the Mughal Empire during the start of the class and extensively learned about the East India Company. Later on, some larger topics covered within the class went in time order, including the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, Early Nationalism with Dadabhai Naoroji, the "Revolutionaries" with Gandhi and Ambedkar, World War II in relation to South Asia, and ending the course with discussion on the Partition. I gained a very good understanding of South Asia pre-partition and leading figures which eventually led to 1947. There was also a focus on media and radio throughout certain lectures which added a depth to the material being taught since it is not traditionally discussed, adding a new (and much needed) perspective to South Asian history. Most importantly, alongside this knowledge, I was able to refine my skill of research. There is a large emphasis placed on individual research with our final projects which allows you to experience gathering, analyzing, and structuring sources to add a new understanding to the research that has already been established. I was also able to present this research to my class, and as a freshman, that in itself was a very meaningful experience.

Course covers material from 1500s with the Mughal empire up to the post colonial era with Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. However there is a focus on analytical thinking, primary source analysis, independent research, and studying the region as a whole rather than isolation. This is a great course to build skills to take future history classes.

This class both allowed me to build a deeper, more comprehensive, and more nuanced foundation in the history of South Asia. Additionally, I developed a better understanding of the academic research process and strengthened my reading, note taking, and analytical/argumentative skills.

I learnt about South Asian history throughout the 20th century, as well as the larger global context it existed in. Through the course, we analyzed different approaches one might have to history--whether that be primary sources, media/imagery, or secondary accounts.

Take this course if you want to develop your research skills and want a general (but still quite in depth) background on South Asia.

Professor Alonso is one of the most approachable and passionate professors I've met at Columbia. She teaches the class very well and only assigns relevant readings so the workload is not excessive. She is very flexible with deadlines and understanding of the stress of being a student at Columbia. She offers a really unique perspective on the topic, and as someone who had never studied the region before I found it extremely eye opening. This is a great course for 1st/2nd year students since there is also a focus on how to effectively create a research plan and read analytically.

I would recommend this class to my peers regardless of their experience or interest in the subject matter. Regardless of your interest level in south asian history, you will develop transferrable research and discussion experience that will aid any academic analysis.

I learned a lot about the late colonial and early post-colonial periods of South Asian history.

How to write a research paper outline, how to create an adequate historical question, how to make connections within the study of history