Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme (CSASP)

Description

Oxford University has a rich history of engaging with the states and societies of South Asia, as well as with scholars and people from the region. The university has been associated with Governor Generals, Freedom Fighters, Rhodes Scholars, and various other notable individuals.

The Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme (CSASP) consists of permanent academic staff, teaching assistants, research associates, and an administrator.

CSASP administers the 12-month MSc in Modern South Asian Studies and the 21-month MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies courses in collaboration with the Faculty of Oriental Studies. These courses offer students the opportunity to learn from scholars in both the Humanities and Social Science Divisions.

CSASP also participates in the new Area Studies DPhil programme. The programme welcomed its first two South Asianists in Michaelmas term 2018, with another joining in 2020. Applications for the October 2022 entry are now closed, and applications for the 2023 entry will open in September 2022.

CSASP has a growing community of post-doctoral researchers. Additionally, the program hosts visiting scholars who work on various research projects, including Masculinity in Indian Cinema, Gender in South Asia, and Sports as Soft Power Diplomacy in South Asia. In 2020, the program welcomed the inaugural cohort of Rangoonwala Visiting Fellows, and it will soon host its second Charles Wallace Trust Visiting Fellow for Pakistan.

CSASP collaborates with the Faculties of Oriental Studies and History, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Oxford Department of International Development for the Modern South Asian Studies seminar series. The series is hosted by St Antony's College and administered by the Asian Studies Centre. Recent conferences organised by CSASP include topics such as the Political Economy of a Transforming Society in Pakistan, the Punjab Research Group Conference, Caste in South Asia and its Diasporas, India under Narendra Modi: Reconsidering Indian Foreign Policy, and the Political Economy of Development in India. The program also holds occasional Chatham House-style events with closed invitation lists, allowing students to ask probing questions. Recent events featured discussions with a senior Pakistani military officer, a well-known BBC investigative journalist, and a senior member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Office. In collaboration with Wolfson College, CSASP organised the inaugural Foreign and Commonwealth Office Oxford day in 2017, hosting 50 members of the FCO, Ministry of Defence, and Department for International Development for a day of lectures and discussions led by CSASP staff. Another similar event was organised in 2019.

CSASP facilitates two annual staff and student exchanges with Warsaw University (Poland) and the Lahore School of Economics (Pakistan).

Other events organised by CSASP include South Asia-themed tours of the Oxford Ashmolean Museum, termly Documentary Discussion evenings featuring presentations by directors, and the Annual Sarfraz Pakistan Lecture, held in collaboration with Wolfson College.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University of Oxford
Oxford