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Kaul and Anand on “Himalayan Geopolitics: Bhutan, Tibet, and Beyond”
October 19, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
The UVA Tibet Center is pleased to welcome Dr. Nitasha Kaul and Dr. Dibyesh Anand from the University of Westminster for a shared talk on “Himalayan Geopolitics: Bhutan, Tibet, and Beyond” on Wednesday October 19th at 4pm in Nau 211.
Contemporary Himalayan geopolitics is often reduced to being a playground for big power rivalry between China and India, akin to the 19th century so-called ‘Great Game’ between imperial powers. The speakers will examine the various complex and contradictory dynamics of history, politics, culture and international relations in the Himalayas that challenge the ‘great power obsession’ and call for greater attention to states, polities and peoples inhabiting the region.
About the Speakers:
Dr Nitasha Kaul (PhD, MSc, BA Hons) is a multidisciplinary academic, novelist, poet, artist, and economist. She holds a joint doctorate in Economics and Philosophy (2003) and an MSc in Economics with a specialization in public policy (1998) from the University of Hull, and a BA (Honours) in Economics from SRCC, University of Delhi. She is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. She has previously been an Associate Professor in Creative Writing in Bhutan and an Assistant Professor in Economics at the Bristol Business School. Over the last two decades, she has published on themes concerning international relations, democracy, political economy, technology/AI, identity, rise of right-wing nationalism, feminist and postcolonial critiques, Bhutan, India and Kashmir. The Himalayas, small states, and Bhutan have been an important focus area in her work since 2006.
Professor Dibyesh Anand is the Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, UK. He is also the co-chair of University’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee as well as the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Network and elected as the nominee for Staff Governor for the University’s Court of Governors. He has authored monographs Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination and Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear and published a number of chapters in edited collections and articles in journals on varied topics including Tibet, China-India border dispute, Hindu nationalism, and postcolonial international relations. He is also a Visiting Professor in Politics and International Relations at New College of the Humanities in London.