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SCSNEI organises a seminar by Swargajyoti Gohain

SCSNEI organises a seminar by Swargajyoti Gohain

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SCSNEI organises a seminar by Swargajyoti Gohain
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Event From Date: 
Friday, 29 March 2019
Event End Date: 
Friday, 29 March 2019
Event Title: 
SCSNEI organises a seminar by Swargajyoti Gohain
Event Details: 
MONTHLY SEMINAR SERIES

SPECIAL CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF NORTH EAST INDIA

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES – BUILDING I

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

HIMALAYAS AS AN IMAGINED GEOGRAPHY

Swargajyoti Gohain

Ashoka University

In the contemporary global order of nation-states, how can we think about modes of belonging that do not conform to conventional political geographies and identities? Zomia, a concept given by Willem Van Schendel and popularized by James Scott was an attempt to describe spatial identity in a non-contiguous territorial frame, for Zomia covered dispersed hill-dwelling minorities in several Southeast Asian states. I use the notion of imagined geography both in a parallel and contrasting sense to the idea of Zomia – to understand new forms of cultural identity in the Himalayan region. Based on ethnographic work in the Monyul border of Western Arunachal Pradesh, I show how in certain discursive practices in this Tibetan Buddhist cultural region, the Himalayas are reconfigured to indicate not simply a physical geography, but also an imagined geography. This imagined space of belonging materializes through particular visions of Monyul as a Tibetan space, supported by collective programmes for upholding Tibetan Buddhist traditions in the region. These new circuits of belonging that I call a Himalayan imagined geography draws into its fold not only Monpas living in Monyul, but also Buddhist people from surrounding Himalayan regions, such as Sikkim, Bhutan, and Nepal. Although arising in and manifesting through a political demand for local Mon autonomy, the Himalayan imagined geography does not have only Monyul as its single territorial referent but covers politically discontinuous units spread across the entire Himalayas. I show how reimagining the Himalayan geography in this manner enables us to reflect on the contours of post-national geographies (Appadurai 1996) that may not have a territorial character.

DATE: March 29, Friday, 2019

TIME: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

VENUE: Room no.324, 3rd Floor, SSS-I, JNU

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.