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Himalayas from its Edges 

Dr. Aniket Alam gave a talk on his research paper, Periphery as Capital: Understanding the Historical Transformation of Spiti  at a conference on Himalayas from its Edges: Mobilities, Networks, Geographies organised by Ashoka University in partnership with University of Westminster from 27 – 28 January. 

Here is the summary of Dr. Aniket Alam’s talk in his words: 

My proposed paper examines the historical transformation of Spiti, a remote mountainous region in the Indian Himalayas, through the lens of “periphery as capital”. It argues against much recent scholarship which argues that the region’s peripheral status has been both a constraint, by showing that periphery has also been an asset in shaping its economic and social development. The paper draws on historical and ethnographic research to trace the ways in which Spiti’s peripheral location has been leveraged by various actors, including religious leaders, tourist entrepreneurs, and the State, to access resources, mobilise labour, and construct identities. The paper also explores the implications of these processes for the region’s inhabitants and their relationship to the broader Himalayan region. The paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship on peripheral regions and their role in shaping global systems of power.

January 2023