BASAS Annual Conference 2021

Welcome to BASAS Annual Conference 2021

We are very much looking forward to hearing your ideas, engaging in discussions and interacting with you during BASAS Annual Conference 2021.

The conference is being organised by colleagues from the Centre for South Asian Studies. Founded in 1988, CSAS is the central academic unit at the University of Edinburgh and indeed for much of Scotland dedicated to the study of South Asia. We bring together a group of highly reputable academic colleagues from across Anthropology, the College of Art, Engineering, Geography, History, Languages and Cultures, Law, Politics and International Relations, Religious Studies, Sociology, and the Vet School from within the University to provide a vibrant core of academics that have a keen interest and expertise on South Asia.

Whilst we are very sorry that we will not get to host you all in person in Edinburgh, we are working with IT support to ensure that the platform(s) used for the event are as interactive and user friendly as possible, so that there are opportunities for the informal exchanges and connections that are the best thing about any conference. Although a vaccine is in the offing, nothing is certain as yet, and so signing up for this online event guarantees the chance to hear great talks, meet fine scholars and exchange ideas. In addition to a variety of interdisciplinary and stimulating panels, the conference will host a keynote lecture titled ‘South Asia in Crisis’ delivered by Tariq Ali, British Pakistani political activist, writer and journalist.

We hope that you will choose to join us online in April 2021 (please register before 24 March!) and very much look forward to seeing you then.

With best wishes,

The Edinburgh Organising Committee

About the conference

The University of Edinburgh will host the BASAS annual conference between Tuesday, 20th of April and Friday, 23rd April 2021. The conference will be held online in light of ongoing uncertainties and disruptions caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Panel and paper submissions for the 2021 conference were accepted for consideration until the end of November 2020. Authors will be notified about the selection results by the end of January 2021.

As with the 2020 conference at the University of Southampton, which had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, there is no specific theme for the conference – we invite proposals from across humanities, arts and social sciences for both panels and independent papers within the broadest reach of South Asian studies, and including work on diasporas and the Indian Ocean world. We will automatically consider all abstracts passed on to us by the organising committee for the Southampton conference.

Registration

Registration for BASAS 2021 is now open. The deadline for presenters of accepted submissions to register is 28 February 2021. In order to register for the conference, you must first ensure that you are a member of BASAS. Once membership is confirmed, registered members will receive the password that unlocks the registration form for BASAS annual conference.

For further information on how to register for BASAS 2021, please check the Registration page.