Presentation
The South Asian Studies Circle (CEAS) of CRIA draws on the strengths of researchers who focus on varied locations within the subcontinent and have diverse research interests. Central to the aims of the study circle is the correction of the tendency within the field where the study of India replaces the study of this vast geographical space of great diversity. CEAS, therefore, is interested not only in study of the states of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and The Maldives and the regions within these states, but also in the interactions of these regions and states with the polities and communities that may lie outside the nation-state they are nested in.
CEAS’ area of interest encompasses not merely the subcontinental space, but also communities that have origins in this part of the world but have since moved to other locations of the globe, as well as the interactions of these communities with other ethno-linguistic groups.
Towards these research ends, CEAS intends to bring together not only anthropologists involved in the study of South Asia, but also encourage transdisciplinary approaches to these geographic contexts and the resident and globally dispersed populations, thus inviting researchers that work across the humanities, social sciences, history, politics, cultural studies, among other areas within the region geographical locations.
CEAS aims at organising periodic events and discussion forums around the complex variety of themes within the scope of South Asian Studies, addressing critical issues and approaches of global significance.
By encouraging knowledge sharing and promoting teamwork, CEAS intends to develop research projects that bring together researchers from different areas around a theme as comprehensive and transdisciplinary as South Asian Studies.
Staying true to the aims of the discipline of anthropology, members of CEAS have lent their skills and expertise in the area to aid sectors of Portuguese society and state to appreciate immigrant communities from the region who have made Portugal home.
