Thursday, 29 June - 14.00-18.00

Special IIAS/ASIA Roundtable:

Border Zones and Illicit Movements in South Asia

with Itty Abraham, Tanka Subba, Willem van Schendel, Vazira Zamindar, and Barak Kalir

This roundtable presents ways of thinking about South Asian societies that challenge the national frameworks that have structured South Asian studies so decisively ever since Partition. Our examples look at 1) borderland societies that straddle South Asia's international borders, and b) cross-border connections and practices that states in South Asia have outlawed even though participants may consider them perfectly acceptable.  The presentations are linked to two recent books in the field: The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia, and Illicit Flows and Criminal Things: States, Borders, and the Other Side of Globalization.