Contact the teacher of each course that you are considering to attend since different teachers have different opinions due to classroom-size constraints, etc. A few do approve of class auditing, where the only difference with enrolling would be that auditing does not result in a letter grade on your transcript.

Please visit the University of Pennsylvania Transfer of Credits page for more information.

To declare a major in SAST, prospective students should email both the Undergraduate Chair, and the Department Coordinator, to schedule a meeting by the second semester of their sophomore year. In addition, the student should consult their academic advisor about their decision. To declare a minor in SAST, prospective students should email the department coordinator expressing their interest.

Sector I: Society

• SAST 0002: The City in South Asia
• SAST 0057: Planning to be Off-shore
• SAST 0059: Doing Research: First-Year Seminar
• SAST 0511: Global Inequalities: A Comparative History of Caste and Race

Sector II: History and Tradition

• SAST 0001: Introduction to Modern India
• SAST 0003: History, Culture, and Religion in Early India
• SAST 0050: Introduction to Indian Philosophy
• SAST 0060: Modern South Asia and the World

Sector III: Arts and Letters

• SAST 0004: India's Literature: Love, War, Wisdom and Humor
• SAST 0006: Hindu Mythology
• SAST 0007: Introduction to Modern South Asian Literatures
• SAST 0010: Musical Cultures of Modern India
• ARTH 1040: Introduction to Art in South Asia (See: SAST 1040)
• COML 1025: Narrative Across Culture (See: SAST 1124)

Sector IV: Humanities and Social Science

• SAST 0008: India: Culture and Society
• SAST 0054: Religion and Resistance in South Asia
• SAST 0063: East & West: Commodities and Culture in Global History
• ENGL 0519: Benjamin Franklin Seminar: Postcolonial Literature (SAST0519)
• GRMN 0018: Climate Change and Community in Indonesia (See: SAST 0018)
• RELS 1460: Islam in Modern World (See: SAST 1460)

A thesis is not required for the major unless you would like to graduate with Honors in the Major. For more information about Honors requirements, please visit the honors page.

Language proficiency tests in Gujarati, Hindi, and Urdu are offered by the Department once a year in the Fall term only, usually in the first few weeks of classes in the Fall. The date will be posted just before the fall term begins each year. Other languages proficiency tests can be arranged through the Penn Language Center.

The best way to get involved with ongoing research in the department is to take classes with professors whose research interests you, and talk to other professors in the department. To learn more about the research interests of our faculty, please visit the Faculty research Page, or to learn about general research opportunities and research funding, please visit the research opportunities Page.

Information for non-Penn students whose home institutions have a reciprocal arrangement with Penn to register for a South Asian language course at Penn, must submit a written approval from your home institution's Registrar's office to the Penn's College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS)  office:

3440 Market Street, Suite 100
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3335
Telephone: 215.898.7326
Email: [email protected]

Information for non-Penn students whose home institutions don't have a reciprocal arrangement with Penn, make your application to the College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS) according to the instructions at: https://www.lps.upenn.edu/about/contact-lps