The Collaborative Master’s and Doctoral Specialization in South Asian Studies offers entry into a graduate student community, as well as a basic methodological grounding for students already accepted into a graduate program in one of the collaborating departments (listed on the program website). The program is not a degree-granting program. Rather it is designed to give students from a wide range of departments at the University of Toronto an interdisciplinary overview for the critical study of South Asia as a field of expertise and as a lens through which to read a wide range of global processes. Engagement with these questions through the collaborative program will be noted on the transcripts of participating students.
All students who wish to participate in the collaborative program, at the master’s or doctoral level, are required to take the core course, SAS2004H, Critical Issues in South Asian Studies: A Region and the Disciplines. This course aims to familiarize students with aspects of the construction and critique of area studies, the history of disciplinary engagement with the region, and major contemporary debates in the field.
Students in the program are also required to be active participants in the Centre for South Asian Studies lecture and seminar series. The wide range of events organized by the Centre and the Asian Institute offers a significant opportunity for students to think critically about the role of area studies in providing new perspectives on problems of universal significance, as well as to meet regularly and build a community. For further information about the program requirements and collaborating departments, please visit the Centre for South Asian Studies website.