Covering Arts and Culture

The course develops the context for reading arts and culture not as a soft package to be tucked into a conventional week-end journalistic format, but as central to the very comprehension of how a society functions. It focuses on the specificity and diversity of the arts and culture context in India and Asia. It introduces students to the value of empirical and analytical tools for studying the arts and culture.

The course ranges over the fine and plastic arts, books and literature, visual and electronic arts, performing arts, cinema and mass entertainment, popular expression, craft and design. Several critical issues are addressed, including issues relating to pre-colonial foundations of cultural principles, the makings of a national cultural policy, the tension between state patronage and private funding, and how the arts are housed. Through a brief history and also a contemporary appraisal, students are introduced to the art of reporting the arts - a critique of reviewing.

The course offers opportunities to visit artistic and cultural events, to meet and converse with artists, and to generate an all-round sensibility in this complex area through lectures, debates, discussions, seminars, and actual coverage.