The Governor-General’s palace at Simla in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas was the venue of conferences in 1945 and 1946 that determined the future of the Indian nation. The British Government, the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and representatives of all sections of Indian society from the ‘untouchables’ to the aristocratic ruling princes all took part. After much wrangling and negotiation, the final outcome of the conference was Partition of India on the one hand and Pakistan (and what became Bangladesh) on the other. It was an outcome that satisfied no one, and in the chaos that followed up to one million refugees lost their lives.

Reverberations from Partition continue to impinge of the security of South Asia to this day. How did the decision to partition India come about? Did it have to be like this? Were other outcomes possible? It the focus of this course to explore the dynamics and personalities that lead to Partition  and to answer in part these question.

In this highly innovative course we use role-play to recreate the Simla conferences. Each students will take on the roles of one of the participants including the British and India participants. The aim of the game is to form alliances with sufficient numerical strength to convince the British Government to adopt of model of India that meets the needs of each individual or faction. Students may have to compromise their  principles to build such alliances, but  at the same time must remain accountable to their constituents.  The success of the course depends on each participant in the game undertaking a heavy reading load in the first few weeks as students master the historical background to the conference and become familiar with the role they are to adopt. To negotiate effectively with other faction students will also have to understand their backgrounds, goals and motivations.

• Improve group and individual negotiating techniques and strategies

• Strengthen public speaking capacity and confidence<!--[endif]-->

• become skilled in role-play based learning activities

Initial in-class test: ‘Civil Service Examination' (week 4) 10%

1st presentation (1000 words and in-class presentation ) 30%

2nd presentation (1000 words and in-class presentation) 30%

Weekly reflective learning journal (300 words/week) ‘Famous Last Words' 10%

Online learning community contributions (300 words/week): ‘Read and Respond' 10%

Self-assessment (500 words) 10%

(Five points will be awarded to members of factions who achieve their objective)