Module Code and Title:         AAS201 Anthropology of the Himalayas

Programme:                          BA in Anthropology

Credit:                                   12

Module Tutor:                       New Tutor #1

General objective: This module aims to allow students to explore the Buddhist Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and India) using anthropological writing about the region. By learning about and discussing regional trends, shifts and differences, students will be able to imagine how Bhutan fits into the regional designation of the Himalayas.

Learning outcomes – On completion of this module, students will be able to:

1. Apply their understanding of ethnography as both a genre of writing and a method to scholarship from the Himalayan region.
2. Examine the Himalayas from a geographical, cultural and political perspective.
3. Discuss the ethnohistory of the region.
4. Evaluate the assumptions that underpin popular culture representations of the Himalayas.
5. Compare and contrast the dominant cultural and religious practices in the region.
6. Assess significant environmental and development trends in the region.
7. Evaluate actual and perceived social and cultural change and continuity in the region.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Assessment Approach:

A. Map Quiz: Portion of Final Marks: 5%

After students have had preliminary lectures that help to locate the region known as the Himalayas as well as to identify key site and significant physical features (such as mountain ranges and rivers), they will be expected to pass a map quiz on the region. The quiz will require students to demonstrate that they can locate these key sites and features on a simple map. It will be evaluated based on accuracy.

B. Leading in-class discussion: Portion of Final Marks: 10%

Students will be responsible for working with one or two partners to lead a class discussion about a particular academic reading. The discussion will be expected to last most of a class period or at least 40 min. The tutor may take up the last ten minutes of class (or spend time in the next class) going over doubts, confusions or inaccuracies but will be a silent observer during the discussion. During the discussion students will be responsible for (1) summarizing the reading in their own words, including identifying and explaining key terms and concepts, (2) preparing discussion questions to stimulate class discussion (3) helping the class understand how the reading links to class concepts and (4) facilitating a clear and helpful discussion that will help them class as a whole to both understand the reading and engage more critically with its main arguments and ideas. Before the discussion, each pair will meet with the tutor to discuss the reading, clarify any doubts or questions they have about the reading and share their strategy for leading the discussion including potential discussion questions.

2%       Pre-discussion meeting (attendance and preparedness)

2%       Quality and accuracy of summary (focus should be on arguments)

3%       Thoughtfulness and effectiveness of discussion questions  

2%       Quality and effectiveness of facilitation of discussion (including balance between facilitator and class participation)

1%       Teamwork (including meaningfulness of each member’s participation)

C. Book Review: Portion of Final Marks: 20%

Students will select one book length ethnographic account of the Himalayas not already covered in class (the tutor will provide students with a list of accessible possibilities) and individually write a book review of 750-900 words. In order to encourage students to respond to feedback and improve their written work, 15% of the final mark will also be based on improvement in comparison to the first draft. The responses will be evaluated on:

3%       Draft of book review (summary and quality of interpretation)

4%       Summary of the ethnography’s main findings and arguments (accuracy and completeness)

7%       Quality of interpretation (includes well stated and original interpretations, uses relevant and adequate support for all claims made, ties interpretation to relevant module concepts)

1%       Organization

1%       Language       

1%       Referencing

3%       Improvement of final product (in comparison to draft, with particular emphasis on consideration and incorporation of feedback provided)

D. Class Participation and preparedness: Portion of Final Mark 10%

Students will be expected to participate substantially in class discussions, with contributions reflecting adequate preparation for topics under discussion. 5% of class participation and preparedness will be assessed before midterm, and the remaining 5% post midterm.

E. Midterm Examination: Portion of Final Mark: 15%

Students will take a written exam of 1.5 hr duration covering topics up to the mid-point of the semester.

Pre-requisites: AFD101: Introduction to Anthropology

Subject matter:

1. Unit I: Introduction to the Himalayas
   • Introduction to the logic and value of area studies
   • Defining the Himalayas
   • Space and place: mapping the Himalayas
2. Unit II: The Politics of Representation
   • The power of representation
   • Orientalism and the post-colonial critique of the “exotic”
   • The Himalayas “The last Shangri-la” (Lopez)
   • Representations of the Himalayas in film
   • Representation of the Himalayas in literature
   • Other representations of the Himalayas
   • Examples of Himalayan self-representation
3. Unit III: The Ethnohistory and Anthropology of the Himalayas
   • Defining ethnohistory; focus, key concerns and concepts
   • Himalayan pre-histories: overview of key trends and theories
   • The arrival of Buddhism in the Himalayas
   • Ethnohistory of the Himalayas: key events, figures and trends
   • Anthropological exemplars of the Himalayas (e.g. Childs, Gorer)
4. Unit IV: Religious Practice and Belief in the Himalayas (Gutschow)
   • Traces of a pre-Buddhist past: overview of key theories and debates
   • Lay Buddhism (everyday rituals and beliefs): overview and examples
   • A return to space and places (holy sites and pilgrimage): definitions and descriptions
   • Non-Buddhists of the Himalayas: descriptions, implications and examples
5. Unit V: Social and Political Relationships
   • Traditional social structure and hierarchies: overview and examples
   • Kinship and marriage patterns across the Himalayas :key trends, implications and examples
   • Questions of identity :key trends, implications and examples
6. Unit VI: The Environment, Resources and Development
   • Ecologies and ecosystems of the Himalayas (Bauer): examples and implications
   • The environment as an economic resource : key trends and implications
   • The environment as a source of vulnerability and risks: key trends, examples and implications
   • Tourism and the Himalayas: key trends and implications
   • The Himalayas as imagined through the lens of international development: key trends and implications
7. Unit VII: Social and Cultural Change
   • Tradition and modernity in the Himalayas (Fisher, Ahearn): key trends and implications
   • New livelihoods and new identities :trends, examples and implications
   • New locations (rural to urban migration) :implications and examples
   • Laments of identity loss and culture corrupted :examples and implications
   • Re-imagined identities (Hybridization, Engaged Buddhism) : examples and implications

Reading List:

1. Essential Reading
   • Brauen, M., & Ramble, C. (Eds.). (1993). Proceedings of the international seminar of Tibet and the Himalayas: September 21-28 1990 at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. Zurich: Volkerkundemuseum der Universitat Zurich.
   • Childs, G. (2004). Tibetan diary: From birth to death and beyond in a Himalayan Village of Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press.
   • Damai, P. (2007). Interrupting ethnographic spectacles in Eric Valli’s Himalaya. Postcolonial Text, 3(4), 1-17.
   • Ortner, S. (1978). Sherpas through their rituals. New York: Cambridge University Press.
2. Additional Reading
   • Ahearn, L. (2001). Invitations to love: Literacy, love letters and social change in Nepal. Ann Arbour: University of Michigan Press.
   • Alter, J. (1999). Knowing Dil Das: Stories of a Himalayan hunter. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
   • Bauer, K. (2004). High frontiers: Dolpo and the changing world of the Himalayan pastoralist. New York: Columbia University Press.
   • Bell, C. (1996). The people of Tibet. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Pvt Ltd. (Original work published Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928)
   • Fisher, J. (1990). Reflections on change in Himalayan Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press
   • Gorer, G. (2005). Himalayan village: An account of the Lepcha in Sikkim. Kathmandu: Pilgrims Publisher.
   • Gutschow, K. (2004). Being a Buddhist nun: The struggle for enlightenment in the Himalayas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
   • Hilton, J. (2012). Lost horizon: A novel. New York: Harper Perennial. (Original work published 1933).
   • Liechty, M. (2003).Suitably modern: Making middle-class culture in a new consumer society. Princeton: Princeton University Pres
   • Lopez, D. (1998). Prisoners of Shangri- La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
   • Mumford, S (1989) Himalayan Dialogue: Tibetan Lamas and Gurung Shamans in Nepal Madison: University of Wisconsin Press
   • Pigg, S. L. (1992). Inventing social categories through place: Social representations and development in Nepal.Comparative studies in society and history, 34(03), 491-513.
   • Shneiderman, S. (2010). Are the Central Himalayas in Zomia? Some scholarly and political considerations across time and space. Journal of Global History, 5(02), 289-312.

Date: March 15, 2018