Bollywood: Art, Culture, and Hegemony
- All levels
- 21 and older
- $335
- Online Classroom
- 12 hours over 4 sessions
Thankfully we have 7 other Lecture Classes for you to choose from. Check our top choices below or see all classes for more options.
Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom
Delve into the transformative insights of Saidiya Hartman's groundbreaking works on Black life and history. Join us at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research as we explore Hartman's profound reimagining of freedom, agency, and the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade. Engage with critical questions on power, labor, and race in the postmodern era through an examination of Hartman's influential texts alongside other prominent scholars in the field.
Apr 29th
6:30–9:30pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom
Embark on a riveting exploration of trust, deceit, and existential uncertainty in Herman Melville’s masterpiece. Join us at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research as we dissect The Confidence-Man, delving into its satire of capitalist modernity and probing questions of faith, knowledge, and societal norms. Unravel the complexities of Melville’s characters and their morally ambiguous world through close readings and insightful discussions led by expert scholars.
May 5th
2–5pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom
Delve into the profound intersections of race, class, and capitalism in a thought-provoking exploration of contemporary radical movements. Join us for an in-depth examination of Cedric Robinson’s concept of racial capitalism and its implications for understanding modernity, nationalism, and Black Radicalism. Uncover the complexities of these interwoven systems through close readings and discussions led by expert scholars at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
May 7th
6:30–9:30pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom
Embark on a captivating exploration of Mesopotamian civilization through archaeology and material culture. Join us at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research as we delve into the origins, structures, and legacy of this ancient society, unraveling its significance amidst historical interpretations and contemporary geopolitical contexts. Uncover the complexities of Mesopotamia's urbanization, social structures, and technological advancements, and discover how its material remains offer insights into our understanding of the past and present.
May 8th
6:30–9:30pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
Brooklyn Institute for Social Research @ Online Classroom
Uncover the entwined history of psychoanalysis and state power in a captivating exploration of repression tactics. Join us at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research as we delve into the intersections of Freudian theory with military strategy, urban policing, and guerrilla warfare. Through an array of diverse readings, we'll analyze how psychoanalytic concepts have been utilized to pathologize dissent and justify both state and revolutionary violence, raising critical questions about power, resistance, and the psyche.
May 12th
2–5pm EDT
Meets 4 Times
The largest film industry in the world is located not in Hollywood but in “Bollywood,” its yearly film output nearly doubling that of the United States. As it increasingly encroaches on the Western cultural imaginary, Bollywood plays an already titanic role in India—as a site of creative ferment, economic power, and nationalist and ideological myth-making. If Bollywood once emphasized Indian cultural pluralism, today Indian national cinema more broadly—as with the recently celebrated Telegu action epic RRR—represents not simply a challenge U.S. cultural hegemony, but increasingly a role in cementing and projecting a particular Hindutva or Hindu nationalist vision of Indian society, ethnicity, and life. How can we understand the history, aesthetics, and cultural and political power of Bollywood filmography? What explains its increasing cultural traction in the West, and what does it have to do with shifting geopolitical and economic dynamics? How has Bollywood and Indian cinematic production overall figured in India’s post-independence state- and cultural formation? And, what role does it play in the cultural, ethnic, and religious politics of India today—both domestically and across the Indian diaspora globally?
In this course, we will explore the rise, aesthetics, and complex politics of Bollywood and Indian cinema. We’ll begin with a history of the industry, and read from a variety of scholarly and filmic discourses, written at different junctures in India’s post-independence trajectory, to investigate how Bollywood participated in Indian nation-building from the Nehruvian period to today. We’ll place Bollywood in comparison with Hollywood, and seek to understand both their cross-influence and their difference—and what that might tell us about past and contemporary currents of international cultural power. Watching key Bollywood films, and reading works of film criticism and postcolonial scholarship, we will ask questions about Bollywood’s national imaginary, the rampant history of blackface in popular Hindu films, the creation of the a pan-Indian subject via film, and Bollywood’s navigation of India’s political boundaries, from Bangladesh to Kashmir. How does Bollywood work to produce forms of both inclusion and exclusion in the Indian national imagination?
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.
In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.
People who viewed this class also viewed the following classes
Get quick answers from CourseHorse and past students.
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research was established in 2011 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Its mission is to extend liberal arts education and research far beyond the borders of the traditional university, supporting community education needs and opening up new possibilities for scholarship in the...
Read more about Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
This school has been carefully vetted by CourseHorse and is a verified Online educator.
Booking this class for a group? Find great private group events
More in Life Skills
Get special date and rate options for your group. Submit the form below and we'll get back to you within 2 business hours with pricing and availability.