Modern India

Provides a comprehensive framework for the study of modern India and the development of expertise in one of a number of disciplinary and professional fields. Equips students to deal with the conceptual challenges relating to work in and on India and to analyse the fundamental problems of contemporary India in relation to global concerns.

• Offers students the opportunity to connect the study of India to both more general theoretical concerns and a more practical perspective.
• A distinctive perspective on contemporary India, enabling the analysis of fundamental problems in relation to global issues.
• A wide range of optional taught modules drawing on King’s-wide expertise.
• The location in the heart of London brings outstanding advantages. Students enjoy excellent academic, social and cultural opportunities, unrivalled access to library and archival resources, and easy access to resources in Europe.

Student destinations Programme leader/s Awarding Institution Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent) Duration Location Year of entry 2013
Offered by Closing date Intake Fees Contact information Email Website

The programme provides high quality postgraduate teaching and research training in the study of Modern India. The study of modern India provides an intellectual laboratory through which to focus global theoretical and policy questions. Students will be encouraged to use the Indian experience to question assumptions within established disciplinary fields and to challenge settled global consensuses, while simultaneously deploying larger perspectives to analyse India in ways that enable them to differentiate between what is universal and what is specific and contingent to the modern Indian experience.

The programme will explore the specific characteristics of modern India by connecting theory and practice at a concrete level. The themes students can study include India’s democratic politics, contemporary history, environmental contexts and entrepreneurial forms, security issues and dilemmas of secularism, urban and public health problems, varieties of cultural production and consumption, economic growth and diverse social change, the role of India's media and consequences of India's science and technology policy choices.

The programme is built around two core courses, which aim to develop students' awareness of, on the one hand, the working of political power and the changing social and economic order in India, and, on the other, the deep historical forces that shaped the Indian subcontinent both before and after independence and partition in 1947:

• Modern India I. Political Power and Social Order in Historical Perspective
• Modern India II. State, Society, and Economy since 1947.

Students take additional options from one of six thematic strands, but also have access to a range of external modules offered by departments across the Schools of Arts & Humanities and Social Science & Public Policy.

The MA is based in the newly established King’s India Institute and benefits from a growing and dynamic staff strongly committed to research and teaching. Students also benefit from the expertise of Associates of the King’s India Institute, who are based in a number of disciplinary departments across the College.

Core programme content
Core modules:

• Modern India I. Political Power and Social Order in Historical Perspective;
• Modern India II. State, Society, and Economy since 1947;
• Dissertation (10,000 words).

Compulsory modules:
At least 40 credits must be taken from modules within one of the thematic strands outlined below. Modules listed are for illustration only: the precise courses offered will be confirmed each Spring.

1. Business and Political Economy
• India in the Global Economy;
• Reforming India's Political Economy;
• Economic Growth and Social Change;
• The Politics of Land in Modern India.
2. History, Society and Culture
• Narrating India's Nations
• India in the World: Anthropological Perspectives on Modern India
• Law, Politics and Social Change in Modern India
• State Power in Postcolonial India
• Music and Empire
• Religion and Politics in South Asia
• Caste, Region and Religion in Modern India
• Contemporary South Asian Women’s Writing
3. Strategy and Security Studies
• Themes in Indian Defence Policy
• Afghan and South Asian Security
• Nuclear India
• India and the Great Powers, 1947-2010
4. Science and Environment Policy
• Nuclear India
• Science and the State in Modern India
• Health Policy in India
• Development and Environmentalism in the 'South'
5. Reporting India. Journalism and Non-Fiction Writing
• India in the Media: Historical Perspectives
• Making the News in India
• Reporting India
6. Urban Studies
• Urban Policy in a Globalizing World
• The Politics of Indian Cities.

Indicative non-core content
A further 40 credits can also be taken from the list above, but may include a graduate language module (Hindi, Panjabi or Urdu) or 20 credits from MA modules across the Schools of Arts & Humanities and Social Science & Public Policy (full list of options to be confirmed).

The programme consists of 180 credits: a 60 credit dissertation, 40 credits of taught compulsory modules, 40 credits within one thematic strand, and 40 credits of optional modules which may include a language module. The core courses are assessed by essays.


General entry advice

All applications are assessed by an admissions tutor.

Please submit a one page personal statement with your application, explaining why you wish to apply for this programme and why you feel it matches your interests, academic background, and, if relevant, your career plans. Please include details of your previous exposure to India, e.g. through coursework on your undergraduate degree, language studies, career interests, time spent in India, etc.

Self-funded. Applicants should consult our postgraduate funding database at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/graduate/funding/database for information on funding opportunities from King's College London and other organisations.