About this event
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), within the School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, has research themes focusing on democracies, post-colonial politics, development and emerging powers. There is an explicit focus on engagement with communities and places that are relatively ignored in mainstream politics and international relations. Bhutan is one such place. Despite being a pioneer in innovative forms of governance, climate policy, sustainability, and politics, including the widely known concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), little attention is given to Bhutan in the academic and public sphere. Dr Nitasha Kaul's work within CSD has been crucial in challenging this neglect of Bhutan with her extensive range of research, presentations and publications on the history, politics and geopolitics of Bhutan as a small Himalayan state.
This public event brings together Dasho Karma Ura, one of Bhutan's foremost intellectuals, in conversation with Dr Kaul.
Dasho Karma Ura is the President of the Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies, Bhutan. The event marks the impending release of his two-volume book, "Bhutan: The Unremembered Nation". Volume I is subtitled ‘Community and Livelihood’, and it unfolds with accounts of births and rebirths in a household, making of houses and matrimonies, rearing of children and livestock in a village, and husbandry of lands and forests. After sketching these fundamental aspects of existence, it details seasonable migration, backpack and caravan trade, and travel over different climatic and linguistic areas. Colours, sounds, and other sensory experiences of ordinary people are described before ending on the rhythm of farming of major crops such as millet, maize, rice, and wheat. Volume II is subtitled ‘Art and Ideals’ and discusses the monumental architecture of dzongs (castles), administration of the country, authority and power, cosmological concepts and rites, visual arts and meditation, folk festivals and faiths, that animate the daily life of the people.
Dasho Karma Ura will be in conversation with Dr Nitasha Kaul, Associate Professor (Reader) at CSD. A continuing strand of her research over time has been on small states and on different aspects of Bhutan's representation, political history, and international relations; she has further led research council awarded projects on Bhutan's democratisation, as well as on Bhutan as a biodemocracy that links politics and ecology.
This event will provide an excellent opportunity for students, scholars, policymakers, and other guests to learn about Bhutan and its relevance in the international system. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and a drinks reception.
Event format
- 5.30–6pm – On-site registration
- 6–7.30pm – Conversation and Q&A
- 7.30–8.30pm – Drinks reception
Registration
The event is open for all to attend, prior online registration via Eventbrite is mandatory.
Location: Fvyie Hall, 309 Regent Street
About the speakers
Dasho Karma Ura
Dasho Karma Ura (BA, MA Oxford Univ. MPhil Eco. Edinburgh Univ. PhD Nagoya Univ.) is the president of the Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies, Bhutan. His interests include happiness and wellbeing, statistics and indicators, and Buddhist literature and fine arts. He has painted the frescoes of Dochula Druk Wangyel Lhakhang, as well as a piece in the British Museum. He was bestowed the order of Druk Khorlo (Wheel of Dragon Kingdom) by His Majesty the King for his contributions to literature and fine arts. He received the Govt. of India’s Vaisakh Samman Prahasti Patra for 2020 in recognition of his scholarship and fine arts in Buddhism. He is an advisory member of the World Happiness Report, Wellbeing Centre, Oxford University, and School of Wellbeing in Bangkok, and several other bodies. He has been a visiting fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies and Nagoya University in Japan, and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Oxford University.
Dr Nitasha Kaul
Dr Nitasha Kaul is a multidisciplinary academic, novelist, poet, artist, and economist. She holds a joint doctorate in Economics and Philosophy (2003) and an MSc in Economics with a specialisation in public policy (1998) from the University of Hull, and a BA (Honours) in Economics from SRCC, University of Delhi. She is an Associate Professor (Reader) in Politics and International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. She has previously been an Associate Professor in Creative Writing in Bhutan and an Assistant Professor in Economics at the Bristol Business School. Over the last two decades, she has published on themes relating to democracy, political economy, technology, identity, the rise of right-wing nationalism, feminist and postcolonial critiques, Bhutan, India and Kashmir. Her books include Imagining Economics Otherwise (Routledge, 2007), Future Tense (Harper Collins India, 2020), and Can You Hear Kashmiri Women Speak? (co-edited; Kali for Women Press, 2020), and Man-Asian Literary Prize short-listed Residue (Rainlight, 2014), which was the first novel in English by a Kashmiri woman. She is on Twitter @NitashaKaul and links to all her published, spoken, and media work are on her website.
