Visual South Asia

Course Instructor: Akshaya Tankha
Research Essay Assignment
Write a research essay on any one from the following list of 14 works (see page 3
onwards) that are part of the collections at the Royal Ontario Museum. You are invited to
develop your own thesis concerning the object you choose to write about while keeping
the following considerations in mind:
Museums urge visitors to read images/objects visually and interpretively. However, the
same images/objects are often meaningful in social, religious and cultural capacities that
unfold outside the exhibitionary context of the museum. Your essay should reflect on
how these different contexts animate the image/object in different and/or overlapping
ways.
This assignment will proceed in two phases:
Phase one: Write a one-page outline of your thesis concerning the work. The outline
should include a broad overview of how you intend to argue your case and a bibliography
(see Research Essay Guidelines for details). The deadline to submit the one-page
outline is 7 March (6 PM).
Phase two: Based on the remarks you receive on your thesis outline, a visit to the
museum to see the work in question as well as your secondary research, write the final
essay. The essay will be due on the day of the final lecture on 4 April (6 PM).
Criteria
The research essay must have a central thesis concerning the work in question, accurate
observations about the work(s), their exhibition and coherent and compelling accounts of
their historical and/or contemporary cultural dimensions. It should be written in clear and
correct prose, and when appropriate, include evidence of research to back up the points
you make, which must be referenced according to proper citation guidelines (see course
outline for details).
Research Essay Guidelines
Try to balance your observations about the work with the ideas of others who have
written on the work and/or the topic. I suggest that you begin with your own looking,
perhaps discussing your responses to the work with others. You also need to consult peerreviewed library materials. You need to consult a minimum of 2 peer-reviewed library
materials (monographs, books, catalogues and journal articles, available online or in hard
copy) for the assignment bibliography but are free to include other reference materials as
well. The information in peer-reviewed sources has been evaluated and checked by a
number of experts in the area (this is not always the case with, for example, Wikipedia or
blogs. The latter offer opinion - sometimes highly interesting - but you need to
corroborate information for such sources).
Please refer to the course outline for all matters pertaining to the format of the essay,
guidelines for academic writing, plagiarism as well as resources for help with writing.