DH Textbook

In summer 2020, Savitribai Phule Pune University approved a digital humanities course that will be taught starting January 2021 at a number of colleges at the Masters level. The course syllabus (posted below) was submitted by CDH Pune.

Approved Syllabus

Objectives

• To enable the students to see how the humanities are emerging into digital humanities
• To acquaint them with the nature and features of digital humanities
• To introduce some tools and branches of digital humanities
• To bring to the fore the possibilities of undertaking various DH projects

Course Contents

1. DH: Introduction (15 clock hours): The humanities- development & core concerns; The transitions – oral, text-based, & digital; Global DH; State of digital humanities in India
2. DH: Meaning and Nature (15 clock hours): Meaning and definitions of digital humanities; Major features of digital humanities; What is digital scholarship?; Digital Pedagogy; Some noteworthy digital projects
3. DH: Approaches and Perspectives (15 clock hours): Race, caste and coloniality in digital media; Feminist Digital Humanities; Code and Platform Studies; New Media Studies; Game Studies
4. DH: Methods and tools (15 clock hours): Digital Archiving; Data Visualization; Computational Text Analysis; Multilingualism in DH

Textbook Project

Update: Please note that we have identified writers for all the sections save “Code and Platform Studies.” Please read below for a call for the second round of the project.

CDH Pune is undertaking a project to create an open access textbook that can be assigned for the course. The textbook will be posted online, and will be free to use. It will mainly comprise of short entries on selected topics and accompanied by a reading list and sample assignments. The chapters will be accompanied by digital project & platform reviews and interviews with DH practitioners. For the first round of this project, we will focus on the topics listed on the syllabus. In the second round of the project, we hope to expand the topics with community suggestions.

Each chapter will have an introduction, four subsections, sample assignments/activities, and recommended reading list. Each sub-section is about 7-8 pages double spaced. Contributors will be asked for no more than 10 pgs double-spaced for that particular sub-section, including the reading list and sample assignments. The textbook is aimed for students who are new to digital humanities. The language will be accessible, and we encourage contributors to illustrate with examples, definitions, and explanations whenever possible. We also ask contributors to ground their pedagogical approach in liberatory theorizing and praxis, and to orient their citational practices around Indian DH practitioners, and scholars who write about critical DH (focusing on race, caste, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, class, coloniality, and so on).

All contributors will be acknowledged equally as co-editors of the textbook. The open peer review will take place in October 2020.

We welcome inquiries from DH colleagues who want to write for the textbook project, or propose new DH topics for the textbook. We are especially looking for:

• DH scholars who specialize in Code and Platform Studies, Digital Archiving, Data Visualization, Computational Text Analysis, or Multilingualism in DH
• Dalit-Bahujan scholars who are working in any area related to digital humanities, digital media, or social media
• Advanced Masters or PhD students specializing in any area of DH at Indian institutions
• Professionals working in Indian museums, archives, NGOs who do work related to digital archives, digital media, or digital activism

Please contact Dr. Dhanashree Thorat at dhanashreepune[at]gmail[dot]com

Timeline
Sept 15, 2020: Accepted contributors send completed draft (no more than 10 pages including the write-up, recommended readings, and sample assignment/activity) to Dr. Dhanashree Thorat
Oct 1, 2020: Textbook sent out for review to DH practitioners in India/open peer review
Nov 1, 2020: Drafts returned to contributors for revisions based on review
Nov 30, 2020: Contributors send final draft to Dr. Dhanashree Thorat

 

Second Round of the Project

We hope to have the second part of the project underway within a short duration of time after the first draft of the textbook is assembled. Acknowledging that the first round of topics has likely not addressed the specificity and wide ranging coverage of “digital humanities,” we ask for community suggestions to continue building this open-access textbook. Our commitment remains to keep this project openly accessible and grounded in liberatory theorizing and praxis.

This second round will include new dedicated sections on DH in other South Asian countries, as well as Black and Indigenous DH. Please use this Google form to submit your suggestions. You can either submit a topic and nominate a writer (yourself or someone else) and just suggest a topic for us to consider.

All due dates for this second round will be in Spring 2021.