The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship will support Galen's fieldwork in Nepal and Tibet from November 2014-July 2015. His research examines how international politics and cultural identities intersect and are mutually constituted through development. Using roads as a lens of observation, he will conduct an “ethnography of geopolitics” in Mustang and Rasuwa, Nepal that studies how international road developments in Nepal are influenced by Trans-Himalayan geopolitics and responsible for regional socio-cultural transitions. Galen uses three main bodies of literature (critical geopolitics, cultural materialism, and development studies) and mixed methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, and archival methods) to address the complex dynamics presented by road development at multiple scales. Building upon extensive previous experience in the Himalaya region, this research will advance scholarship on Trans-Himalayan trade and infrastructure development in South Asia and facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between multiple development constituents in Nepal.
See US Department of Education Fulbright-Hays for more information.