HTOR00017U Imagining Shangri-La

Since the 1930s when the British author James Hilton wrote the novel Lost Horizon depicting a mystical paradise in the Himalayas, the various utopic ideals represented by the term “Shangri-La” has gripped popular imaginations the world over. This course examines the appearance and usage of the concept of Shangri-La, both within a Tibetan Buddhist perspective but also as this concept has taken shape globally in a multitude of other contexts, including but not limited to popular culture and the marketing of tourism destinations. By taking a closer look at how this concept has taken root and spread, as well as the imaginaries that the term ‘Shangri-La’ invokes, we will analyze the growth and impact that social and cultural imaginaries have had in modern myth-making and utopic visions of past and present. In imagining Shangri-La, the inherent ideas and perspectives relating to this imagined place and the people who possibly inhabit this place are by no means benign. These utopic imaginations have also worked to encapture the people and places of the Himalayas in fantasies and myths sustained by Western ideations of self and other. We will examine the workings of Shangri-La by beginning the course with a short history of the origin of the term Shangri-La and how it became invoked and widespread in Western imaginations in the mid-20^th century, providing a background for wider discussions throughout the course. From there we move on to discuss the role of the ‘imagination’ and how social and cultural imaginaries are formed and spread, drawing on philosophical, anthropological and cultural studies literature, for example bringing in theories of modernity, orientalism and myth-making. We will then discuss various forms and cases through which the myth of ‘Shangri-La’ has taken shape and manifested in specific contexts. Students will gain not only a thorough background knowledge about the ideas surrounding ‘Shangri-La’ and the Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhist context through which this concept originally springs, but also the analytical and theoretical skills to analyze the birth, growth and transformation of concepts invoking utopic visions, modern myths and social imaginaries.

The course is offered in English, and students at both the Bachelor and Master’s level are welcome to take the course with Master’s students having a greater reading and work load.  This course is relevant, but not limited to, students following a course of study related to Tibetan, Chinese, South Asian studies, Asian Studies as well as religious studies, cross-cultural studies, minority studies, etc.