Admission Requirements
The following categories of students may register for this course:
Students enrolled for the Leiden University bachelor’s programme Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology
Students enrolled for the Leiden University bachelor’s programme, South and Southeast Asian Studies
Students enrolled for other Leiden University bachelor’s programmes
Course Description
The countries of the South Asian subcontinent, which include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, share a common cultural realm and history. The partitioning of the subcontinent at the end of British colonial rule in 1947 resulted in the displacement of nearly 15 million people – a number unprecedented in modern history. New nation states arose with borders typically based on arbitrary religious and ethnic demarcations. The postcolonial legacy of that history continues to play out on various scales from the local to the national, and the regional to the global, articulated in discourses and contestations about home, citizenship, and belonging. Perspectives from South Asia offer a key vantage point from which to reflect critically on continuing processes of displacement, migration and diaspora that are matters of global concern.
Whether forced by economic or political compulsion or undertaken voluntarily by people aspiring to better lives, migration has been integral to the social lives of people in and from South Asia. Translating both historically and currently into the movement of large numbers of people, migration has forged connections on various scales, such as between rural areas and megacities at the national level, at the regional level between South Asia and the Gulf, Middle East, and Southeast Asia; as well as globally to the western world.
Historical and contemporary migrations have created a great variety of diasporas, which connect to South Asia culturally, politically and economically. What shapes such diasporic communities, and how can we explain the continuation of their identities over decades, or even centuries?
South Asia is one of the world’s fastest-developing regions. Economic development has, however, deepened inequality. While influential social movements demand equality and social justice, perceptions of basic inequalities between people across religious, regional, caste or ethnic divides, and between genders, remain pervasive. Reflected in contestations over natural resources, territorial sovereignty, and urban space what kinds of displacements have such inequalities instigated? What light do these shed on the human condition?
The course brings together theories, histories, ethnographies and narratives that look at questions of displacement, migration and diaspora in and out of South Asia from anthropological and sociological perspectives.
Course Objectives
On completion of this course students will be able to:
Distil 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; pass an exam, and submit 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.
Schedule
Timetables and the uSis activity-codes required for enrolment can be found on the website.
Mode of Instruction
Total course load for the course:
10 ECTS (280 sbu [study hours]) or 5 ECTS (140 sbu). The 5 ECTS version is not available to CADS students.
For the 10 ECTS version the course load is as follows:
Contact hours in class: 12 × 3 = 36 * 1,5 = 54 sbu
Weekly assignments, totaling 2,250 words = 30 sbu
Additional literature (circa 950 pages) = 136 sbu
Individual research project (for details, see syllabus): 60 sbu
For the 5 ECTS version (not available for CADS students), see the course syllabus on Brightspace.
Assessment Method
Four weekly assignments totaling 2,000-2,250 words and class participation: 30%
Individual research project: 25%
Exam: 45%
Attendance and participation are mandatory for all sessions of the course. Absence without notification can result in a lower grade or even failure of the course.
For the 5 ECTS version (not available to CADS students), see the course syllabus on Brightspace.
Registration in My Studymap
Registration for the lectures and the exam in My Studymap is mandatory for all students. Students also need to confirm the registration for their exams in My Studymap as described below. Registration closes 5 days before the start of the course. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Registration and confirmation of exams
It is mandatory for all students to register for each exam (this inclused re-sits) and to confirm registration for each exam in My Studymap. This is possible up to and including 10 calendar days prior to the examination. You cannot take an exam without a valid pre-registration and confirmation in My Studymap. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Brightspace
Brightspace is the digital learning environment of Leiden University. Brightspace gives access to course announcements and electronic study material. Assignments will also be submitted in Brightspace. Announcements about and changes to courses are given via Brightspace. Students are advised to check Brightspace daily to keep informed about rooms, schedules, deadlines and all details regarding assignments. Lecturers assume that all students read information posted on Brightspace.
- How to login
The homepage for Brightspace is: Brightspace
Please log in with your ULCN-account and personal password. On the left you will see an overview of My Courses.
For access to courses in Brightspace students must be registered for those courses in My Studymap.
Reading list
To be announced in the course syllabus, which will be published on Brightspace preceding the course.