Culture and Conflict in the Himalaya
- Course Code:
- 15PSAC291
- Unit value:
- 1
- Taught in:
- Full Year
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
This course will provide students with insights that will enable them to consider more generally issues such as the relationship between ethnic, linguistic and national identities; processes of nation building; the relationship between dominant elites and marginalised minorities; the tension between tradition and modernity; the underlying causes of social and political conflict in a resource-poor environment; the factors that can lead to refugee flight; and the difference between assumed and ascribed identities.
Workload
Total of 22 weeks teaching with 2 hours classroom contact per week.Scope and syllabus
This course is intended to provide Masters students with an opportunity (which is unique in UK Higher Education) to consider and understand current socio-cultural and political issues in the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. It provides a basic framework for the cultural and political history of the Himalayan states, discussing specific questions of national and cultural identity, and takes the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, the flight of ethnic Nepali refugees from Bhutan, and the status of members of the Nepali diaspora in India as important case studies.
