Public Talk by Sara Schneiderman - The irony of open borders: Mobility, citizenship and ethnicity in Himalayan South Asia

Forelæsning — Sarah Schneiderman is Associate Professor at Dept. of Anthropology, University of British Colombia. Shneiderman is a socio-cultural anthropologist working in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, India, and China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region, and serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology as well as in UBC’s new School of Public Policy and Global Affairs/Institute of Asian Research. Her research explores the relationships between political discourse, ritual action, and cross-border mobility in producing ethnic identities and shaping social transformation. Her Current research projects include a new transdisciplinary partnership focused on Nepal’s post-earthquake reconstruction; an ethnography of “post-conflict” state restructuring in Nepal that focuses on lived experiences of citizenship, territory and religiosity since 2006; an exploration of trans-Himalayan citizenship across the historical and contemporary borders of India, China, and Nepal; participation in a University of Toronto-based project on infrastructure and development in Nepal’s agrarian districts; and collaboration in a Yale University-based project on urbanization and land use change in the Himalayas. The seminar is free and registration is not necessary. All are welcome.