Society, Culture and Politics in Nepal
- Course Code:
- 155901305
- Unit value:
- 1
- Year of study:
- Year 2
- Taught in:
- Full Year
Prerequisites
None. This course must not be combined with the course 155900812 - South Asian Culture.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
This course is intended to introduce undergraduate students to the culture and history of Nepal, the distinctive features of modern Nepali society, and current socio-cultural and political issues and debates in Nepal. It is intended to complement courses in Nepali language and to provide students with the proper context for their more advanced study of language and literature.
Workload
A total of 22 weeks teaching with 2 hours classroom contact per week.Scope and syllabus
The course will involve a weekly lecture followed by a seminar. Most lectures will involve slide and powerpoint presentations and students will also be introduced to online resources such as Digital Himalaya. The weekly topics will be as follows:
- Course introduction and context setting: geography, ethnicity, language, religion
- The ancient past: Licchavis to Mallas
- The medieval period: Gorkha to the Ranas
- Caste, ethnicity and the Muluki Ain
- Modernity 1: Panchayat to the first Jan Andolan
- Modernity 2: democracy 1990-2002
- Modernity 3: the Maoist People’s War and its aftermath
- Culture, language and identity: the Tarai
- Culture, language and identity: the hill regions
- Culture, language and identity: the mountains
- Culture, language and identity: the Newars
- Nepali cultural and political identity outside Nepal
- Constructing the state: the new Nepal constitution
- Political parties
- Civil society and the Nepali media
- Democracy, development and fatalism
- Gorkhas, Gurkhas and Lahures
- Sherpas and tourism
- Gender and Nepali law
- Refugees from Bhutan
- The history and development of Nepali literature
- Two Nepali poets: Laksmiprasad Devkota and Bhupi Sherchan
Texts are read in English translation
