The programme option provides the candidate with:
Knowledge
- Advanced knowledge of key research topics in the broad field of contemporary South Asia, and specialized insight in a limited area relating to South Asian culture, society or politics.
- Thorough knowledge of key theoretical debates pertaining to the analysis of cultural and social changes in the non-Western world, and the ability to apply such theories in the analysis of empirical material from South Asia.
- Knowledge of and experience in using relevant research methods such as fieldwork, qualitative case studies, and textual analysis in investigating contemporary topics within South Asia studies.
- Ability to analyse South Asian societies on the basis of a thorough knowledge of the historic, linguistic, religious and socially diverse character of the region.
- Ability to place South Asian experiences in a comparative perspective.
Skills
- The methodological and theoretical skills needed to identify and critically analyze relevant sources and actively use these to understand South Asia.
- The competence to produce data through fieldwork or textual studies, and to analyze this data from perspectives drawn from the broad field of social sciences and humanities, of which South Asia studies are part.
- The competence to design and execute an independent limited research project under the supervision of experts on South Asia, and with an awareness of the potential ethical dilemmas involved in social science or humanities research and the proper way to handle them.
General competence
- The ability to draw on a sound knowledge of South Asia to analyze ethical dilemmas in the study of other people and places.
- The ability to critically reflect on the process of knowledge production and interpretation within the study of other people and places.
- The ability to critically compare social, cultural and political processes across South Asian and Middle Eastern contexts.
- The ability to facilitate effective communication of the results of extensive research on South Asia both to a specialist audience and to a wider public, both in writing and through oral presentations.
- The ability to actively contribute to new knowledge about South Asia based on both theoretical and empirical insights.