Our Head of School says:
The study of language gives unique access to the culture of a region, to its contemporary life and its historical civilization. Starting from this premise, the South Asia Section of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics is devoted to research and teaching in the languages, literatures, cinemas and cultures of the Indian subcontinent, with the aim of reaching better understanding of one of the most complex and significant areas of the world.
This section's teaching and research complements that of other SOAS South Asianists whose disciplines include History, Religious Studies, Music, Art, Politics, Anthropology, and so forth, and who are based in other departments within the School. Together we constitute one of the largest centres of South Asian studies outside the subcontinent; and being located in a city which itself contains a virtual microcosm of South Asia brings incalculable benefits to us and our students.
The research interests of the Section's staff members include, but are not limited to: Indian cinema and popular culture; diaspora studies; postcolonial literature; literary and linguistic studies associated particularly with Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Nepali, and Sanskrit; classical Hinduism; feminism; representations of Islam; the politics of Nepal and Bhutan; and literary translation.