Admission requirements
The following categories of students may register for this course:
Students enrolled for BA-South and Southeast Asian Studies Students in the of the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University
Students enrolled for enrolled for BA “Culturele antropologie en ontwikkelingssociologie” at Leiden University, including the pre-master students of CA-OS
Students enrolled for the Minor CA-OS
Students enrolled for other BA programmes in the Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University
Students in other programmes of LU for who this is an optional course, for example BA International Studies
Erasmus Exchange students and Study Abroad students who have been explicitly admitted to this course
Contract-students
See below the actual registration procedure per category.
Description
The course brings together theories, histories, ethnographies and narratives that look at questions of displacement and development in South Asia from anthropological and sociological perspectives. The countries of the South Asian subcontinent, which include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maledives, share a common cultural realm and a common history. The end of British rule, in 1947, resulted in the widescale displacement of people, as borders between the new states came into being. These borders, often based on arbitrary religious, ethnic demarcations, have since then, triggered violence and contestations, as well as invoked cultural memories that question and/or legitimize the political rationalities of the new nation-states. South Asian borderlands hence, are increasingly controlled and policed, while being subjected to neo-liberal development as tools of nationalist consolidation. South Asia is home to a growing and increasingly wealthy urban middle class, but continues to harbour paradoxically, some of the world’s most abject poverty. While influential social movements demand equality and social justice, perceptions of essential inequalities between people across religious, regional, caste or ethnic divides, as well as between genders, remain pervasive. This course will address these paradoxes of displacement and development, using combinations of textual, visual and audio-visual resources. Regionally the focus will be on developments in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, including their borderlands and transnational linkages.
Course objectives
At the end of this course the student will be able to:
Distill key arguments in seminal historical and anthropological literature on the theme of the seminar
Engage with primary sources – textual and audio/visual – and make connections between multiple sources
Write critical reflections on material presented in class, including weekly assignments, an exam, and a paper.
Make presentations that combine projects with primary sources and secondary literature
Connect current perspectives from anthropology and sociology on South Asia with a wider transnational concepts, methods and material on the seminar theme.
Conduct research on the course topic of ‘displacement and development’, by drawing on key arguments and concepts presented in class to select a relevant case study of their own, and locating relevant resources on this selected case study to write their final paper on this topic.
Demonstrate analytical skills and creativity.
In the paper and assignments, compulsory readings discussed in class are related with relevant (external) resources on the selected topic.
In the exam, students can not only reproduce concepts and arguments put forward in the course literature but also analyse a (new) source on the basis of their acquired knowledge.
Time table
t.b.a.
Mode of instruction
Seminars
Attendance and participation are required for all sessions of the course. Being absent without notification can result in a lower grade or even a failing grade for the course.
Course Load
Total course load for the course: 280 study hours (sbu):
Contact hours in class, 12 × 3: 54 SBU
Weekly assignments: 12 SBU
Readings and exam, 888 pages: 148 SBU
Final paper, 5000 words: 66 SBU
Assesment method
Assessment: Weekly assignments and class participation, Final exam AND essay (5.000 words)
Weighing: Weekly assignments and class participation: 20%, Exam: 40%, Final essay: 40%
Resit: The date for the resit of the exam, and for the redo’s of the paper, will be announced during the course.
Exam review: How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results (in BB) at the latest.
Study material
To be announced through Blackboard.
Blackboard
Blackboard module will be active.
Students who have been granted admission must enroll for this course on Blackboard.
Registration in Usis
Anthropology students who follow this course as part of their 3rd year must register in USIS by using the code of the Faculty of Humanities: 5482KAS10W, activity number: 4583.
Exchange students who have officially been admitted to this course during the Admission Procedure, will be registered in usis by the faculty-administration.
Contract Students: please register as indicated on the website of the Faculty of Humanities.
Contact information
Dr. Sandrien Verstappen (coordinator).
Contact details t.b.a.
Remarks
Students with disabilities
The university is committed to supporting and accommodating students with disabilities as stated in the university protocol (especially pages 3-5). Students should contact Fenestra Disability Centre at least four weeks before the start of their courses to ensure that all necessary academic accommodations can be made in time conform the abovementioned protocol.
Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be familiar with Leiden University policies on plagiarism and academic integrity. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If you submit any work with your name affixed to it, it is assumed to be your own work with all sources used properly indicated and documented in the text (with quotations and/or citations).