How have different disciplines recognized, or not, the importance of political histories for understanding dynamics of change across the Himalaya? When have investigations of specific polities yielded productive inquiries and when have such boundaries been limiting? How have people, ideas, and goods moved across boundaries over time, and what kind of scholarly frameworks do we need to understand such movements? Is there value in considering an unbounded trans-regional Himalaya as a unit of analysis; what is gained or lost? Chair: Eklabya Sharma (ICIMOD) Saul Mullard (EPHE, Sorbonne) Ken Bauer (Dartmouth College) William Sax (Heidelberg University) Respondent: Gunnel Cederlof (Uppsala University)