[Reader-list] CFP_Democracy and Development in the Himalayas

[Dr. Vibha Arora]

FYI: Call for Papers to an edited volume on Democracy and Development in the
Himalayas

Co-editors: Dr Vibha Arora (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi) and Prof.
N.Jayaram (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)



Geographically, the Himalayas extend from the modern nation states of
Afghanistan and Pakistan in the west towards Nepal, Bhutan, parts of
Bangladesh and the Tibet Autonomous region, and Myanamar/Burma in the east.
In the middle of this vast mountainous expanse lie the Indian states of
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttranchal, Sikkim, parts of West
Bengal, together with the ‘historic seven sisters’ of Northeast India namely
Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland.
Political developments in the Himalayan expanse region deeply impact South
Asia and it will be erroneous to dismiss them as a ‘borderland’ of
insignificance.  All ideas of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ are relative given
the constant negotiations of boundaries and shifting borders and emergent
conflicts within the states of the Indian Union and the other nation-states
of this Himalayan region. There can be no ‘centre’ unless the border is
territorially defined and secured. It goes without saying that insurgency
and counter-insurgency, boundary conflicts, secessionism and
ethnic-nationalism, terrorism, political movements, and factionalism
dominate debates on Northern South Asia. The region has been the locus of
intense political engagement in the post-colonial period with people
forcefully expressing ‘democratic’ aspirations by employing a combination of
and either civil protest, non-violent resistance and sometimes engaging in
violent confrontations with the government and the power elites to demand
cultural rights, citizenship rights, ethnic-territories, political autonomy,
and participatory development. The culture and history of the various groups
and the region as a whole intersects these political developments to
uniquely give direction to their political expressions and democratic
aspirations. The aim of this volume is to highlight ongoing political
negotiations, understand the process of democratization, explain the
shifting relationship between macro and micro perspectives, discuss the
reworking of centre-periphery relations and acknowledge the strategic
importance of the Himalayan region for South Asian studies, Sociology and
Social Anthropology.



Confirmed Contributors include:

Gerard Toffin (CNRS Paris, France)

Martin Gaenszle (University of Vienna, Austria)

Renske Doorenspleet (University of Warwick) & Bal Gopal Shrestha (University
of Leiden)

Mona Bhan (DePauw University)

Duncan McDuie-Ra (University of New South Wales, Australia)

Saloni Gupta (University of London, England)

Nayana Bibile (University of Berne, Switzerland)

Nel Vandekerckhove (Ghent University, Belgium)

Fiona McConnell (Univ of London)

Vibha Arora (IIT Delhi)


We are seeking 1-2 other papers focussing either on Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Burma, or Bangladesh to complete this volume. Interested contributors should
email abstracts of 250 words with name and affiliation to
vibhaaurora at yahoo.com by 15th June 2009. Full papers need to be submitted by
1st July 2009.

Many Thanks and looking forward to a good response



Vibha Arora and N.Jayaram (co-editors)


-- 
Vibha Arora, DPhil (Oxon)
http://web.iitd.ac.in/~aurora/

Assistant Professor in Sociology
Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Indian Institute of Technology,
Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016
INDIA
aurora at hss.iitd.ac.in; vibhaaurora at yahoo.com