SITA member and affiliate colleges grant a full semester or year of credit for satisfactory performance in the program. Students should clear their academic plans with their home school advisors before departure, however, and home schools ultimately retain the right to review all work done on the program before granting academic credit, and to determine and allocate the credits awarded and the manner in which they are recorded on official transcripts.
Students are required to take Tamil Language and Directed Field Research, and choose two of the three elective courses. A total of 16 credits is granted for successful completion of the SITA semester.
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Course Offerings |  |
| Tamil Language (required—5 credits) |
Emphasis is on conversational ability in daily language use. |
| Directed Field Research (required— 5 credits) |
This course, led by the Resident Director, combines training in ethnographic methods with original field research on a topic of students’ choosing. Readings and lectures are combined with fieldwork assignments during the coursework period, and a month-long field research period at the end of the program provides students the opportunity to focus on a topic of particular interest and explore it in detail, with the help of local guides and interpreters. Research results are presented in a final paper and discussed in a seminar that concludes the program. |
| Socio-Political Issues (elective—3 credits) | Focuses on social factors such as caste, community and gender as they relate to India-specific and developing world issues. Includes visits to local NGOs and guest lectures by local activists. |
| Myth, Religion, and Art in South India (elective—3 credits) |
Examines artistic and ritual expressions of religious beliefs in Tamils' daily lives. Visits to temples, shrines and village festivals are part of the curriculum. |
| Indian Literature (elective—3 credits) |
Study of literary form and content in Indian fiction, viewing social factors such as family life, marriage, gender roles, and the caste system in a literary context. |
In addition to the credit-bearing courses described above, all students are given the option to take an Expressive Culture class of their choice. This may include yoga, cooking, bharatanatyam (dance), mrindangam (percussion), veena, or another musical instrument, silambum (Tamil martial arts), Tanjore painting, batik, or henna design.
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Sample Syllabi • SITA Faculty • Year-Long Program |  |