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 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
Abstract: 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 demaractions, 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 consoldiation. 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 materials discussed presented in class, including weekly assignments and an exam
Make presentations and articulate arguments during in-class discussions that reflect on literature and audio-visual resources
Connect current perspectives from anthropology and sociology of South Asia with a wider transnational concepts, methods and material on the seminar theme.
Students following the course at the 200 level will finalize the course with an exam. Students at the 300 level finalize the course with an essay.
Timetable
Mondays 15:00-18:00 hrs, block I and II. Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
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 SBU
Contact hours in class, 11x3 hours, plus 3 hours examination time = 36 SBU
Readings equivalent to 888 pages: 148 SBU
Films, research assignments, and preparation for class discussions: 26 SBU
Weekly assignments (AQCI): 6x5 = 30 SBU
Exam preparation, 40 SBU
Assessment method
Assessment
Weekly assignments and class participation
Final exam
Weighing
Weekly assignments and class participation: 50%
Exam: 50%
Resit
The date for the resit of the exam will be announced in the course guide.
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.
Blackboard
Blackboard module will be active.
Students who have been granted admission must enroll for this course on Blackboard.
Note: this course can be taken on different levels, but there is only one Blackboard page for students on all levels. Please subscribe to the Blackboard page of the BA course (10 EC), course code 5482KAS10.
Reading list
t.b.a.
Registration
Students are required to register through uSis. To avoid mistakes and problems, students are strongly advised to register in uSis through the activity number which can be found in the timetable in the column under the heading “USIS-actnbr.”.
Not being registered, means no permission to attend this course. See also the 'Registration procedures for classes and examinations' for registration deadlines and more information on how to register.
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
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).