Universität Wien
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240515 SE MM3 De-colonising border study: border-making and mobility in South Asia (2023W)

Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used.

The use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) for the attainment of partial achievements is only allowed if explicitly requested by the course instructor.

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 04.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 11.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 18.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 25.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 08.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
  • Wednesday 15.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 22.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 29.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 06.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 13.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 10.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 17.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 24.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Wednesday 31.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Teaching content:
What does the study of borders tell us about the role of mobility and space in the constitution of societies and the state today? Why have borders received renewed interest since the 1990s in the social sciences, and in anthropology in particular? This course, firstly, concerns the history of the social sciences approach to borderlands in Asia, in particular, the criticism of the state-centred perspective on borders and space in social science disciplines on the ground that it reproduced colonial concepts of territory, mobility and society. It secondly focuses on the representation and experience of the border by people living in border regions with a specific focus on South Asia, and more specifically on India. This concerns the influence of borders on borderland people, trans-border migrations and mobility, and how they contribute to both making and challenging state territorialisation.
The course will show how the decolonisation of the approach to borders and territories as well as a reconceptualization of the role of mobility in social dynamics from the 1990s led to reconceptualise the border and the state; it will also show how anthropology and ethnographic research in border regions can contribute to this reconceptualization by highlighting the construction and deconstruction, as well as the performance of borders.
Aims of the course:

Assessment and permitted materials

Oral presentation of one academic text (article or book chapter): 20 points
Preparation of two question on a text presented by another student: 10 pts
Participation in the discussion during the seminar sessions: 10 pts
Oral presentation of the written essay: 20 pts
Written essay (4000 words): 40 pts

1 (very good): 91-100 points
2 (good): 81-90 points
3 (satisfactory): 71-80 points
4 (sufficient): 61-70 points
5 (not sufficient): less than 60 points.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Participation in collective discussion during the seminar sessions; reading of the texts presented by other students; efforts to understand the texts, and clarity of the oral presentations. For the final written essay: Reading and understanding of the written sources, capacity to find relevant academic sources, structure of the essay as in academic publications (precise explanations will be given during the course sessions); clarity of writing; in-text quotation and reference to literature as in academic publications (explanations given during the course sessions).

To pass the course, a minimum of 61 points is required

Examination topics

Reading of academic sources on the topics of the seminar, and oral presentations of these sources (with support of PowerPoint) during the seminar sessions; writing of a final essay (max. 4000 words) structured as an academic article, also on the topics of the seminar.

Reading list

Preliminary reading list:
Aggarwal, R. 2004. Beyond Lines of Control: Performance and Politics on the Disputed Borders of Ladakh, India. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Gohain, S. 2020. Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands. Culture, Politics, Place. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
Horstmann, A.; Saxer, M.; and Rippa, A. 2018. Routledge Handbook of Asian Borderlands. New York: Routledge.
Scott, J. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed. An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press
van Schendel, W. 2002. “Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance: Jumping Scale in Southeast Asia”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 20: 647–68.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 03.10.2023 16:28