suedasien.info : Wissenschaft

CfA: Doctoral Scholarships in Transcultural Studies

Do, 14 Jan 2016 14:56:10 GMT

The Graduate Programme for Transcultural Studies of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" at Heidelberg University welcomes applications for up to four doctoral scholarships beginning in the winter semester 2016/17. The programme offers a monthly scholarship of 1.200 Euro. It further supports scholarship holders in framing their research through advanced courses as well as individual supervision and mentoring. Half of the scholarships are reserved for young scholars from Asia. Applicants are expected to propose a doctoral project with a strong affiliation to one of the four research areas of the Cluster (Governance&Administration, Public Spheres, Knowledge Systems, Historicities&Heritage). They must hold an M.A. or equivalent in a discipline of the humanities or social sciences with an above-average grade. Applications, including a CV, a letter of intention, a project proposal, a schedule for the dissertation, and two letters of recommendation are submitted through an Online Application System: https://vjc.w2system08.de/intern/start_start_for.php The deadline for applications is March 15, 2016. For more information about the Graduate Programme for Transcultural Studies and the scholarships see http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/gpts or send an e-mail to application-gpts@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de. We would be grateful if you circulate this email among prospective candidates. With best wishes Jule Nowoitnick, Graduate Programme Manager Verena Voeckel, PR Manager -- The Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" is an interdisciplinary network of researchers at Heidelberg University. About 200 scholars examine in which dynamics the transcultural processes between and within Asia and Europe develop. http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/

Jahrestagung 2015 „Scales of Knowledge“

Mo, 03 Aug 2015 12:48:33 GMT

Die siebte Jahrestagung des Exzellenzclusters „Asien und Europa im globalen Kontext“ findet vom 7. bis 9. Oktober am Karl Jaspers Zentrum für Transkulturelle Forschung an der Universität Heidelberg statt. Das Thema der diesjährigen Konferenz ist „Scales of Knowledge: Zooming In and Zooming Out“. Der Begriff und die Verwendungsweisen von Maßstäben bzw. Scales in der kulturwissenschaftlichen und historischen Forschung stehen dabei im Mittelpunkt. Scales sind in vielen Disziplinen ausführlich diskutiert worden: ob als ontologische Annahmen über die „realen” Dimensionen von sozialen und natürlichen Phänomenen, als methodologische Werkzeuge zur Erklärung unterschiedlicher Aspekte ein und desselben Objektes, oder als Perspektiven, auf die menschliche Akteure zur Ordnung ihrer Welterfahrung zurückgreifen. Umfassende begriffliche Linsen, wie „Kultur“, „Stratosphäre“ oder „Krankenhaus“ führen zu Erkenntnissen, die wenig gemeinsam haben mit den Einsichten, die Studien einzelner Akteure, isolierter Atome oder einer bestimmten medizinischen Praxis erbringen. Diese Beispiele zeigen einerseits, dass unterschiedliche Forschungsobjekte mit Hilfe unterschiedlicher Maßeinheiten untersucht werden müssen; andererseits illustrieren sie, wie unterschiedliche Skalen menschlicher Aktivität unterschiedliche Effekte erzielen. Eröffnet wird die Konferenz mit einem Abendvortrag des Anthropologen Prof. George Marcus (University of California, Irvine) zum Thema „Scaling and Multi-Sited Research“. Vier Plenarsitzungen widmen sich Themen wie “National, Local and Global Scales in the Study of Modern East Asia”, “‘Global’ vs. ‘Local’ Scales: A Misleading Distinction?”, “Scales of Environmental Knowledge I: Technologies, Representations and Power”, und “Scales of Environmental Knowledge II: Waterscapes and their Boundaries”. An den Nachmittagen finden neun parallel laufende Panels statt, in denen Wissenschaftler die Forschungsergebnisse ihrer Arbeit in der regionen- und disziplinenübergreifenden Forschungsumgebung am Exzellenzcluster „Asien und Europa“ vorstellen. Weitere Informationen über die Konferenz finden Sie unter http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/annualconference. Bitte nutzen Sie für die Registrierung zur Konferenz dieses Onlineformular: http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsevents/events/annual-conference/archive/annual-conference-2015/registration.html

Summer School: Art of border zones in times of crisis

Mo, 01 Jun 2015 10:00:15 GMT

[b]UPDATE: The application deadline has been extended to June 14. Kindly circulate this information among graduate students who might be interested. The Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” welcomes applications for the Summer School “Walking the line – Art of border zones in times of crisis.” It will take place from July 26 to 31, 2015 at Heidelberg University in Germany.[/b] The summer school will engage with the production, circulation and the disruption of art and visual practices as they navigate the (thin) line between creative and destructive impulses in times when wars, struggles for national independence and conflicting ideologies result in border contestations and territorial partitions. These crises produce both immediate and enduring physical, economic and political consequences for persons living within affected regions, including flight from one’s homeland, traumatic histories left unprocessed between generations, and the elaboration of repressive political systems and surveillance. Art might be used as a propaganda weapon that affirms and enforces demarcations or it could be a creative path to transgress contested borders, a space to envision alternatives. The notion of the border will be explored both as a divisive force and as a zone of crossing by discussing larger questions about the complex and often seemingly contradictory relation between trauma and visual/aesthetic practices on the one hand, and complex issues of space and politics that (in-) form these practices on the other. The summer school is organised around three themes dealing with Partitions, Art and Civil Society, and Trauma and Memory. In particular, it will examine narrative modes and structures which emerge when the raw history that inhabits subjects is transformed into representation, or its refusal. While artistic articulations in conflicted border zones often explicitly reflect upon collective as well as individual experiences, they might equally be marked by the attempt to gloss over the existence of wounds and political and social divides. Artistic strategies become necessary as expressions in/on border zones. The complex spatial dimensions involved call on disciplines such as art history and anthropology to develop critical approaches for analyzing these artistic negotiations as striking aesthetic and cultural practices. Eschewing an understanding of art as a looking glass to view cultures in terms of geo-political units, the discussions will encourage critical ways of locating transregional and transcultural relationships within a discursive field of knowledge production and disciplinary practice. We welcome advanced graduate students and junior researchers to apply and present their research on the relation between art and border/political/societal conflicts or crises. The summer school provides a unique opportunity for learning through participant-oriented discussions and a hands-on approach to writing. Instruction will be delivered through individual lectures, a plenary forum and interactive afternoon sessions consisting of guided group workshops. Participants will bring their own written and visual material for dialogue with an international community of peers and distinguished scholars present at the summer school, with the objective of developing individual visual essays relevant to the participants’ research project or new trajectories for future work. The keynote address will be delivered by Iftikhar Dadi – art historian, artist and curator (Cornell University) – who has extensively researched Islamic Modernism and is currently investigating new avenues of civic participation among emergent urban publics in South Asia. Confirmed guests include art historian and independent curator Eckhart Gillen who will discuss the impact of the East-West division on art production in post-War Germany, Raminder Kaur (University of Sussex) who will focus on issues of censorship and cultural regulation in South Asia, Friederike Wappler (Ruhr University Bochum) who will question the productive use of trauma as a concept for analyzing modern and contemporary art, and Patricia Spyer (University of Leiden) who will elaborate on the circulation of Muslim jihad VCDs in Indonesia in the 2000s. Contributing scholars from Heidelberg include Christiane Brosius and Cathrine Bublatzky (Visual and Media Anthropology), and Monica Juneja and Franziska Koch (Global Art History). For further details of the programme and how to apply, visit the Summer School website at [url]http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/summerschool[/url].

CfA: Promotionsstipendien in Transkulturellen Studien

Do, 22 Jan 2015 14:23:30 GMT

Das Graduiertenprogramm für Transkulturelle Studien des Exzellenzclusters "Asien und Europa im globalen Kontext" der Universität Heidelberg vergibt vier Promotionsstipendien zum Wintersemester 2015/16. Die Stipendien haben eine Höhe von 1.200 Euro pro Monat. Die Stipendiatinnen und Stipendiaten erhalten zusätzliche Förderung in Form von weiterführenden Kursen, individueller Betreuung und Beratung. Die Hälfte der Plätze ist für junge Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus Asien vorgesehen. Von den Bewerberinnen und Bewerbern wird erwartet, dass sie ein Promotionsprojekt einreichen, das in engem Zusammenhang zu einem der vier Forschungsschwerpunkte des Clusters steht. Sie müssen einen überdurchschnittlich guten Magisterabschluss oder einen anderen gleichwertigen Abschluss in einem Fach der Geistes-, Sozial- oder Kulturwissenschaften besitzen. Bewerbungen werden über eine Online-Plattform eingereicht; sie enthalten u.a. einen Lebenslauf, ein Motivationsschreiben, einen Projektvorschlag, einen Zeitplan für die Dissertation und zwei Empfehlungsschreiben. Nach einer ersten Vorauswahl werden die Bewerberinnen und Bewerber gebeten, Kontakt zu möglichen Betreuerinnen und Betreuern am Cluster aufzunehmen, um ihr Vorhaben zu diskutieren. Die aussichtsreichsten Bewerberinnen und Bewerber werden Mitte Mai nach Heidelberg eingeladen, um ihre Projekte dem Auswahlkomitee zu präsentieren. Die Vergabe der Stipendien wird zeitnah dazu erfolgen. Der Bewerbungsschluss ist der 15. März 2015. Für weitere Informationen über das Graduiertenprogramm für Transkulturelle Studien und die Stipendien besuchen Sie [url]http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/gpts[/url].

Ausschreibung des Gisela Bonn-Preises

Fr, 25 Apr 2014 05:15:00 GMT

GISELA BONN-PREIS Der Indian Council of Cultural Relations hat 1996 einen Preis gestiftet, in Würdigung von Professor Dr. Gisela Bonn, der großen Indienkennerin und Förderin der Deutsch-Indischen Beziehungen. Dem Vorsitzenden der Deutsch-Indischen Gesellschaft e.V. obliegt gemäß der Satzung des Preises der Vorsitz der Auswahl-Jury. Der Gisela Bonn-Preis wird jährlich für be-sondere Leistungen auf dem Gebiet der Deutsch-Indischen Beziehungen verliehen. Er soll vor allem die Arbeit von jungen Wissenschaftlern und Journalisten honorieren. Der Preis ist an kein bestimmtes Thema gebunden und deckt sowohl die politischen und ökonomischen, wie auch die kulturellen Aspekte der Beziehungen beider Staaten ab. Dem Preisträger soll mit der Finanzierung ei-ner zweiwöchigen Reise nach Indien, die Möglichkeit gegeben werden, seine bisherigen Studien fortzusetzen und zu vertiefen. Der Indian Council of Cultural Relations wird hierfür, falls dies gewünscht wird, die Kontakte zu Regierungs- oder Forschungseinrichtungen vor Ort herstellen und organisieren. Die Reiseplanung und -gestaltung richtet sich vor allem nach den Wünschen des Preisträgers. Sollte Ihre Institution einen Kandidaten oder eine Kandidatin für den Gisela Bonn-Preis vorschlagen können, bitten wir Sie, uns diese Vorschläge bis zum 30.04.2014 zu-kommen zu lassen. Bei Rückfragen wenden Sie sich bitte an unsere Bundesgeschäftsstelle, Oskar-Lapp-Str. 2, 70565 Stuttgart.

Master's Programme "Modern Indian Studies"

Mi, 16 Apr 2014 05:31:28 GMT

Applications are open for the interdisciplinary MA programme in "Modern Indian Studies" taught in English and covering the following disciplines: - Modern Indian History - Indian Economic Development - Indian Religions - State and Democracy in Modern India - Society and Culture of Modern India - Anthropology of Public Health in South Asia The English-language interdisciplinary Master's programme in Modern Indian Studies at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) integrates perspectives from the humanities, the social sciences and economics. Thematically, inequality and diversity link our analyses of modern Indian politics, history, society, religion and economy. Master's students may select from a wide range of interdisciplinary courses offered by lecturers and researchers from CeMIS, and from the faculties of the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Economics. These are complemented by courses taught by international visiting scholars. Courses in modern Indian languages are also part of the programme. The Modern Indian Studies MA is a two-year course, including a semester spent at one of our South Asian partner universities. Applications accepted: 06.04.– 15.05.2014 Fees: approx. € 217 administration, student body, student service fees/semester For more information please refer to: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/131257.html Contact: Michaela Dimmers, Study Programme Coordinator Phone: + 49-551-3920238 e-mail: michaela.dimmers@cemis.uni-goettingen.de

CfA: Summer School "Sites of Knowledge", August 4-8, 2013, H

Mi, 24 Apr 2013 14:55:02 GMT

The Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" at Heidelberg University welcomes applications for its Summer School 2013 "Sites of Knowledge: Space, Locality, and Circulation between Asia and Europe." It will take place from August 4 to 8 in Heidelberg, Germany. This year´s Summer School will explore the significance of space and locality for the generation and circulation of knowledge. Starting from the premise that space and place shape the social interactions in which knowledge is made and remade, the Summer School will address questions such as: Is all knowledge local? Does the situatedness of knowledge preclude claims to 'truth' and 'universality'? And how can we best conceptualize the liminal spaces in which knowledge is traded or transmitted? Individual sessions will focus on selected places involved in circulations of knowledge between and within early modern Asia and Europe, ranging from courts, schools, academies, temples, and observatories to print shops, bazaars, roadhouses, ports and ships. The Summer School addresses graduate students in humanities and social sciences with an interest in theories and practices of knowledge production in Asia and Europe. The academic program combines informal lectures with more interactive elements such as reading groups and writing workshops. The invited scholars represent a wide range of backgrounds and share an interest in engaging in critical dialogue across regional and disciplinary boundaries. Confirmed speakers include Christian Jacob (Paris), Dhruv Raina (Delhi), Ruth Rogaski (Vanderbilt), Stephan Günzel (Berlin), Fan Fa-ti (Binghamton) Henrique Leitao (Lisbon), Martin Dusinberre (Newcastle), Eric Hayot (Penn State) and, from Heidelberg University, Frank Grüner, Rui Magone and Joachim Kurtz. In addition to the academic program, a range of excursions and leisure activities in and around the city of Heidelberg is on offer. The application form can be found on our website and is to be sent together with a letter of motivation by May 31. For more information see www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/summerschool.

7th HIP Workshop

Mi, 17 Apr 2013 21:40:13 GMT

May 03, 2013: 4:00-8:15 pm Department of South Asian Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies Invalidenstr. 118, Room 217 4:00-4:45 pm: Fatima Saleh (Faculty of Law, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): The Notion of Gender Equality in Pakistan: Present Status and Future Strategy. 4:45-5:30 pm: Sushmita Nath (JNU, Dehli/ IAAW, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): Can the State be Neutral? A Comparative Examination of the 'Shah Bano Controversy' in India and the 'Headscarf Debate' in Germany. 5:30-6:00 pm: Coffee/Tea Break 6:00-6:45 pm: Anna Maria Reimer (Institute of English Studies, Universität Potsdam): The Poetics of the Real and Aesthetics of the Reel in the Contemporary Indian English Novel. 6:45-8:15pm Max Kramer (BGSMCS, Freie Universität, Berlin): 'Sufis Entangled' (Documentary, India 2012, 61') Screening with introduction and discussion. (Subtitles: English; Directors: M. Kramer, E. Ettmueller & S. Ewald). 8:15 onwards Drinks and snacks

Call for Papers und Announcement - Tamil Studies

Mi, 13 Mrz 2013 17:33:37 GMT

Tamilen haben eine bemerkenswert lange Geschichte, sich als eigene, abgegrenzte "Community" mit besonderen sozialen Eigenschaften wahrzunehmen. CeMIS in Kooperation mit den Universitäten Heidelberg und Tübingen plant daher, ein Netzwerk für Tamilstudien einzurichten, um dieses Phänomen genauer zu untersuchen. Der erste Workshop des Netzwerks wird sich mit "Rituals of Community and Political Ritual: The Making and Remaking of a Tamil People" beschäftigen. Er findet am 7. und 8. Juni 2013 am CeMIS statt. Für weitere Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte bis zum 15. März 2013 an Ulrike Schroeder . Falls Sie präsentieren wollen, senden Sie bitte bis zum 1. April 2013 ein Abstrakt an Rupa Viswanath . Die endgültige Auswahl wird bis zum 21. April 2013 getroffen. [b]Call for Paper[/b] Rituals of Community and Political Ritual: The Making and Remaking of a Tamil People Tamils have a remarkably long history of imagining themselves as a distinctive “community” with culturally and socially unique traits. From the clear counterposition of cultured Tamil against its dialectal variants as well as against Sanskrit that one finds in the earliest Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam (c. 8th century CE), to the heated linguistic policy debates of the 20th century and the rise of Dravidian nationalism, Tamils across the centuries have, in distinctive and historically specific ways, produced ideas of what being a (proper) Tamil person means and what an (ideal) Tamil society should look like. For the first meeting of the network, we hope to examine some of the practices and strategies used to create Tamil subjects, to make what in modern democratic jargon is called “a people.” What forms of moral, ethical and pedagogical work have been carried out to produce a Tamil people? What routines and rituals—religious, political, domestic, bodily, and so on—have been introduced to faciltiate or in other ways accompany these processes? What different forms have practices of people-making taken in different sub-regional milieux and under different political-religious regimes? We invite papers from historians, anthropologists, political scientists, Indologists, scholars of religion and others whose empirical research pertains to these broad thematic concerns. Topics that might be addressed include, but are not limited too: Rituals and sovereignty Violence and community Gender regimes and Tamilness Populism as politics in the postcolonial Tamil world Religion and/as Tamilness Elite and subaltern Tamils Conceptions of caste and castelessness in Tamil society “Othering” in Tamil social worlds

Call for Papers

So, 06 Jan 2013 08:46:35 GMT

"Reviewing Identity and Nation-Building in Pakistan" From 15th to 16th of March 2013 an international workshop, funded by the German Hanns-Seidel-Foundation, will be organized by Prof. Dr. Azam Chaudhary and Prof. Dr. Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu from the National Institute of Pakistan Studies together with Prof. Dr. Ilhan Niaz from the Department of History at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. This international workshop is the first of a series of events conducted under a three-year research cooperation titled "Ideas, Issues and Questions of Nation-Building in Pakistan", focussing in 2012-2013 particularly on questions of identity and nation-building. Rationale Throughout the world processes of and debates about nation-building are marked by a set of characteristic ideas, issues, questions, discourses and challenges to societies engaging in such endeavors throughout their history. Among others, a particular focus lies on questions of and contestations about identity. Which identities and subsequent narratives and ideas are taken into account? What are their sources and which legacies are shaping them? How are they balanced, negotiated or instrumentalized in everyday private life, societal interactions and in politics? What could and should be modes to address and negotiate different identity-related aspirations within and for the state, at the local, regional, national and transnational as well as international levels? Pakistan is an exemplary case in this regard, in the sense that there have been repeated ruptures as well as reform processes in its nation-building process. This has been accompanied by continuous debates and ideas uttered by multiple actors drawing on different agendas and interests when it comes to questions such as collective-individual relations, state-society relations, questions of reform/ change, preservation, historical and cultural legacies and documenting and discussing existing practices, discourses and ideas. Call for Papers for Panels and/or Individual Presentations Contributions are invited to the following topic clusters and issues: · Shaping ideas of 'I', 'We', 'Us and them' – contemporary discourses of 'identities' and their ethno-political and religio-political 'purposes' · The past is the past? - civilizational legacies and influences on contemporary society and politics · Imagining 'identity' and the idea of a 'nation-state' – nationalist movements at subnational levels and challenges of identity-formation(s) and nation-building · Who are we, when, where and why? - multiplicity of identities and questions of divisions, balancing and negotiation across spaces and levels · 'National identity - whose part of it?' - marginalized and silenced identities and hegemonic discourses and practices / policies · Identity upside-down and forth-and-back? - identify-formation, contestations and influences in situations of migration (internal / international) and diaspora · Primordial, fluid or hybrid? - transnational identity configurations and organizations (e.g. madrassas, Sufi orders) · Tales of socialization, or: It's all in a book... - Educational contents and practices of school curricula and textbooks in Pakistan's segmented education system Academics and practitioners interested to participate are asked to submit abstracts for individual workshop presentations or panels along with a short CV. Abstracts should be no longer than 350 words, outlining title, research question, method(s) as well as potential theoretical framework employed along with major ideas to be covered. The short biographical info of maximum 150 words should include full name and contact details (email, postal address, phone) along with institutional affiliation and milestones in terms of career and publications. Travel costs have to be covered by participants themselves. Submitted workshop papers will be considered for a special issue of our academic journal SCRUTINY as well as for the project's final book publication, both subject to peer review processes. A first author's meeting will be held during the workshop proceedings to discuss details with those selected. The abstract should be submitted by 10th January 2013 via email to andrea.fleschenberg@yahoo.de. Those selected for presentation will be invited by 31st January 2013 and are asked to submit their paper by 28th February 2013.

Jahrestagung 2012 „Things that connect - pathways of materia

Do, 26 Jul 2012 11:19:29 GMT

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Sehr herzlich möchten wir Sie zur vierten Jahrestagung des Exzellenzclusters „Asien und Europa im globalen Kontext“ einladen. Sie findet vom 10. bis 12. Oktober 2012 am Karl Jaspers Zentrum für Transkulturelle Forschung in Heidelberg statt und wird in Kooperation mit dem Sonderforschungsbereich „Materiale Textkulturen“ der Universität Heidelberg veranstaltet. Die Tagung mit dem Titel „Things that connect – pathways of materiality and practice” beschäftigt sich mit der Erforschung von Materialität und der Macht, die diese in kulturellen Prozessen ausübt. Das größer werdende Forschungsfeld der „materiellen Kulturen“ hat eine neue Dynamik für eine Reihe von Fachrichtungen gegeben, von Archäologie und Epigraphie zu Anthropologie, Konsumgeschichte, Alltagsleben, Technologie, Museumsstudien, Ästhetik und Kunstgeschichte. Zu den internationalen Referenten zählen Neil MacGregor, der Direktor des British Museum in London und Autor des Buches “A History of the World in 100 Objects“, und Ian Hodder (Stanford), der über die Beziehungen von Mensch und Dingen sprechen wird. In vier Podiumsdiskussionen werden “The Obstinacy of Things”, “Multiple Materialities: Local, National, Global”, “Material Text Cultures on the Move”, and “Materializing Messages: Metamorphoses and Placement of Texts in Early China” thematisiert. Am Nachmittag finden parallel kleinere Panels statt, in denen Wissenschaftler die Forschungsergebnisse ihrer Arbeit in der kongenialen, trans-regionalen und transdisziplinären Forschungsumgebung am Exzellenzcluster „Asien und Europa“ vorstellen. Am letzten Tag wird eine abschließende Diskussion im Plenum stattfinden. Weitere Informationen über die Konferenz finden Sie unter http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/annual-conference-2012. Bitte teilen Sie uns mit, wenn Sie an der Konferenz teilnehmen möchten, indem Sie bis zum 31. August 2012 eine Email an annualconference@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de schicken. Wir würden uns freuen, wenn Sie diese Information an Ihre Kollegen und potentielle Teilnehmer weiterleiten würden, und danken Ihnen für die Unterstützung. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Elena Welscher, Research Area Coordinator Alexander Haentzschel, Press Officer

Master's Program "Modern Indian Studies"

Mi, 02 Mai 2012 08:59:14 GMT

Applications open now for the Master's Program "Modern Indian Studies" Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Goettingen, Germany: Interdisciplinary MA in "Modern Indian Studies" taught in English and covering the following disciplines: - Modern Indian History - Indian Economic Development - Indian Religions - State and Democracy in Modern India - Society and Culture of Modern India - Anthropology of Public Health in South Asia The English-language interdisciplinary Master's program in Modern Indian Studies at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) integrates perspectives from the humanities, the social sciences and economics. Thematically, inequality and diversity link our analyses of modern Indian politics, history, society, religion and economy. Master's students may select from a wide range of interdisciplinary courses offered by lecturers and researchers from CeMIS, and from the faculties of the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Economics. These are complemented by courses taught by international visiting scholars. Courses in modern Indian languages are also part of the program. The Modern Indian Studies MA is a two-year program, including a semester at one of our South Asian partner universities. APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED: 06.04.2012 – 15.05.2012 TUITION FEE € 500 per semester + approx. € 217 administration fees per semester For more information please refer to: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/131257.html or contact Michaela Dimmers, Study Program Coordinator phone: + 49-551-3920238 e-mail: michaela.dimmers@cemis.uni-goettingen.de

Understanding Pakistan, 8. Mai, 2012, Berlin

Mo, 23 Apr 2012 14:36:30 GMT

anlässlich eines Besuchs einer Delegation aus Pakistan veranstaltet die Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung zusammen mit dem Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung eine Podiumsdiskussion zum Thema "Pakistan vor und nach den Wahlen - Neue Koalitionen für politischen Wandel?". Dazu möchten wir Sie sehr herzlich einladen am: Dienstag, den 08. Mai 2012, von 19.00 - 21.00 Uhr, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin. Die Veranstaltung wird simultan deutsch-englisch gedolmetscht. Wir würden uns über Ihre Teilnahme sehr freuen und möchten Sie bitten, uns diese baldmöglichst per Email (Julia.Schultz@fes.de) zu bestätigen. Weitere Informationen zur Veranstaltung entnehmen Sie bitte der dieser Email angehängten Einladung. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Jürgen Stetten Leiter des Referates Asien und Pazifik der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Third Annual Dissertation Workshop in World History

Mo, 23 Apr 2012 14:33:56 GMT

Third Annual Dissertation Workshop in World History, July 22-August 5, 2012. Northeastern University and The World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh are happy to announce the third annual two-week summer workshop on the construction of dissertation projects in world history, to be held in 2012 at Northeastern University in Boston. The workshop will include common readings and discussion about how to formulate questions and researchable topics in world history, broadly conceived as any project that crosses the usual area studies rubrics. During the first week, experts in the fields of Digital Humanities and network analysis will provide short workshops about technologies and inter-disciplinary methodologies that might be of use in formulating world historical projects. Participants will also work up model research proposals and bibliographies for mutual discussion and in close consultation with the workshop mentors, Heather Streets-Salter(Northeastern University) and Peer Vries (University of Vienna). The workshop will take place at Northeastern University in Boston. For more Information see: http://www.hum.leiden.edu/posthumus/news/dissertation-workshop-world-history.html Contact in Vienna: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peer Vries E-Mail: peer.vries@univie.ac.at Vice Dean of the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies Department of Social and Economic History Room: ZG2O1.78 1010 Wien, Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 1 T: +43-1-4277-413 10 F: +43-1-4277-9 413

16. Ausschreibung Gisela-Bonn-Preis für das Jahr 2012

Sa, 17 Mrz 2012 14:00:30 GMT

Der Gisela Bonn-Preis wird jährlich für besondere Leistungen auf dem Gebiet der Deutsch-Indischen Beziehungen von der Deutsch-Indischen Gesellschaft verliehen. Er soll vor allem die Arbeit von jungen Wissenschaftlern und Journalisten honorieren. Der Preis ist an kein bestimmtes Thema gebunden und deckt sowohl die politischen und ökonomischen, wie auch die kulturellen Aspekte der Beziehungen beider Staaten ab. 2012 sollen vor allem junge Journalisten/Filmemacher zur Einreichung ermutigt werden, die im Bereich des dokumentarischen Journalismus und der Publizistik in Film, Hörfunk und Internet tätig sind. Dem Preisträger soll mit der Finanzierung einer zweiwöchigen Reise nach Indien, die Möglichkeit gegeben werden, seine bisherigen Studien fortzusetzen und zu vertiefen. Der Indian Council of Cultural Relations wird hierfür, falls dies gewünscht wird, die Kontakte zu Regierungs- oder Forschungseinrichtungen vor Ort herstellen und organisieren. Die Reiseplanung und -gestaltung richtet sich vor allem nach den Wünschen des Preisträgers. Sollte Ihre Institution einen Kandidaten oder eine Kandidatin für den Gisela Bonn-Preis vorschlagen können, bittet die Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft Sie, ihr diese Vorschläge bis zum 30.04.2012 zukommen zu lassen. Die Preisverleihung wird voraussichtlich am 29. September 2012 in Nürnberg stattfinden. Kontakt: Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft e.v. Bundesgeschäftsstelle Oskar-Lapp-Str. 2 70565 Stuttgart Tel. 0711-29 70 78 Fax 0711-299 14 50 Email info@dig-ev.de www.dig-bundesverband.de

Ausstellung, South Asians Making Britain, Berlin

Do, 23 Feb 2012 09:53:34 GMT

South Asians Making Britain Ausstellung über Beitrag von Einwanderern zum britischen Leben (1858-1950) Seit Jahrhunderten zieht es Menschen aus den verschiedensten Herkunftsländern in das Vereinigte Königreich. Diese Ausstellung befasst sich vor allem mit der Einwanderung aus den Gebieten Indien, Bangladesch, Pakistan und Sri Lanka und deren Beitrag zu vielen Bereichen britischen Lebens. Die Ausstellung kann im ersten Stock des Großbritannien-Zentrums, Mohrenstr. 60, 10117 Berlin besucht werden. Mo-Do 9-15 Uhr, Fr 9-13 Uhr, Eintritt frei. Kontakt und weitere Informationen: www.gbz.hu-berlin.de Die Ausstellung beleuchtet viele Südasiatisch-Britische Netzwerke und Austauschprozesse sowie ihren Beitrag zu kulturellem und intellektuellem Leben, Familienleben, politischem Aktivismus, Widerstandsbewegungen, Innen- und Außenpolitik und Sport. Die Ausstellung zeigt einige Ausschnitte aus der umfangreichen Forschung eines Projekts, das aus der Konferenz “Bharat Britain: South Asians Making Britain” (September 2010) hervorging und neue Quellen aus Archiven in Indien, Sri Lanka, den USA und dem UK erschlossen hat.

41st Annual Conference on South Asia

Do, 23 Feb 2012 09:40:31 GMT

Dear Colleagues and Past Participants, We are happy to announce that the 41st Annual Conference on South Asia will be held on October 11-14, 2012 at the Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 West Dayton St., Madison, WI 53703. The Conference is hosted by the Center for South Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Annual Conference on South Asia attracts over 650 scholars and other interested parties annually, who travel from countries all over the world and much of the United States. The conference features nearly 100 academic panels and roundtables, as well as association meetings and special events ranging from performances to film screenings. Several pre-conferences are held in conjunction with the Annual Conference on the Thursday prior to the event and are open to all attendees. Another important component of the conference is our exhibit space which allows University presses and independent publishers to provide conference participants with high quality resources and the best publications on South Asian topics. This year a plenary session will be organized around the theme of "Corruption and Culture." We especially welcome panels that similarly address questions of corruption and its cultural manifestations and understandings from a variety of disciplinary and evidentiary perspectives. For individuals interested in forming a panel, the conference staff is able to solicit calls for papers on the conference listserv and website. Please visit the conference website http://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/ for registration and lodging information. Online submissions are being accepted for: Preconference, Panel, Roundtable, and Single Paper sessions. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, April 1, 2012 (by midnight). We welcome requests to hold meetings during our conference from coordinators for Association Meetings. Request forms are available online to purchase Exhibit Space at the conference venue and/or Advertising Space in the program book. If you have any questions please visit http://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/FAQ.html or contact us at conference@southasia.wisc.edu. We look forward to welcoming you to Madison in October! Sincerely, Donald R. Davis, Conference Chair, 41st Annual Conference on South Asia Associate Professor, Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia and J. Mark Kenoyer, Director, Center for South Asia Professor, Department of Anthropology -- Annual Conference on South Asia Center for South Asia University of Wisconsin-Madison 203 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Dr. Madison, WI 53706 - USA phone: (608) 262-9224 http://southasiaconference.wisc.edu/

Urdu-Intensivkurs an der Universität Erfurt

Do, 23 Feb 2012 09:37:13 GMT

Urdu-Intensivkurs an der Universität Erfurt > > Vom 13. bis 31.08.2012 findet am > Lehrstuhl Islamwissenschaft der Universität Erfurt ein > 3-wöchiger URDU-Intensivsprachkurs statt. > > Im Anfängerkurs erwerben die Teilnehmer Sprech-, Lese- und > Schreibfertigkeiten und entwickeln das Hörverständnis. Sie > eignen sich Grundkenntnisse der Grammatik und einen > Grundwortschatz an und machen sich mit der Gesprächsetikette > des Urdu vertraut. Vorkenntnisse der Schrift werden > vorausgesetzt. > Auf dem Niveau des Aufbaukurses werden die kommunikativen > Fähigkeiten entwickelt, die grammatischen Kenntnisse > ausgebaut und gefestigt und der Wortschatz erweitert. > Im Fortgeschrittenenkurs wird der Umgang mit komplexeren > Texten geübt. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt auch dem freien > Sprechen und der Entwicklung des Hörverständnisses. > > Interessierte Studenten können sich bis Ende Mai bewerben > unter: (ines.scheidt@uni-erfurt.de). > > Ausführliche Informationen zu den Teilnahmevoraussetzungen > und Bedingungen finden Sie auf der Homepage der Universität > Erfurt unter:

Call for Papers: 2nd Conference on Bengal Related Studies

Fr, 17 Feb 2012 07:48:59 GMT

[b]Second Conference on Bengal Related Studies for Students and Young Scholars, October 27/28 2012 in Halle (Saale), Germany[/b] The South Asia Seminar of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, with the support of Bengal Link e.V. and the Arbeitskreis Neuzeitliches Südasien of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Asienkunde e.V. (DGA), is pleased to host the Second Conference on Bengal Related Studies for Students and Young Scholars. The committee welcomes contributions from graduate and postgraduate students as well as young scholars still working on their career qualification. The aim of the conference is to provide an inter-disciplinary venue for students and young scholars who focus on the Bengal regions in their studies. The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg is one of the two German universities where research on the Bengal regions, Bengali language and culture has been an integral part for a long time. After the emergence of numerous studies on the Bengal regions disciplines other than South Asian Studies (e.g. Social Anthropology, Sociology, Development Studies, Urban Planning), the conference organisers realised the necessity of giving students and young scholars an option to discuss their various topics and research approaches among each other across disciplinary borders, and of building up an interdisciplinary network for Bengal Related Studies. After the success of the first conference in 2010 the organisers are very much looking forward to hosting the second one. There is no overarching theme. Any topic from the humanities and social sciences is welcome as long as the region of study is either Bangladesh or Bengali speaking India. Each participant will be given 20 minutes for a presentation followed by 10 minutes of discussion. We invite abstracts (max. 300 words) from graduate and postgraduate students and young scholars at any stage of their career. Please send your abstract along with your affiliation details and a short CV till April 30th, 2012 to Carmen Brandt (details below). The committee will inform the applicants until May 31st whether their papers have been selected for presentation or not. The conference will begin with an informal dinner on Friday (October 26th). Since the conference committee is aware of the fact that students are often financially strained, the cost for the participants will be kept as low as possible, and proposals for individual financial support will be considered. Contact: Carmen Brandt, MA Email: carmen.brandt@suedasien.uni-halle.de Postal address: Südasien-Seminar, Orientalisches Institut, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 06099 Halle (Saale), Germany Homepage: www.suedasien.uni-halle.de Partners in organising the conference: Bengal Link e.V. (www.bengallink.org) & Arbeitskreis Neuzeitli-ches Südasien of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Asienkunde (www.asienkunde.de)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: International Summer School

Do, 16 Feb 2012 17:26:52 GMT

International Summer School at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), Göttingen, 16 – 21 July 2012 [b]"The city and the village: separations, linkages and conflicts over social space in modern India"[/b] For its 2012 International Summer School, the Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS) at the University of Göttingen invites applications from PhD students working on modern South Asian societies from the perspectives of history, anthropology, sociology, politics, development studies, cultural studies or other related disciplines. This one-week course will be jointly taught by an interdisciplinary and international group of senior South Asia scholars including Ravi Ahuja, Henrike Donner, Chitra Joshi, Arvind Rajagopal, Anupama Rao, Srirupa Roy, Palagummi Sainath and Rupa Viswanath. The format of the International Summer School combines lectures, reading sessions and discussions based on research papers presented by the participating PhD students. Applications are to include (a) a cover letter detailing the applicant’s specific interest in the International Summer School’s thematic as specified below, (b) a detailed CV, (c) an outline of the applicant’s PhD project, (d) a writing sample (30 pp. max.). Applications are to be submitted by [b]24 February 2012[/b] and successful applicants will be informed by 6 March 2012. The International Summer School is co-funded by the DAAD with support of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). A limited number of travel bursaries are available for students from India and Germany. For further information contact: Prof. Rupa Viswanath (academic issues) rupa.viswanath@cemis.uni-goettingen.de; Gaelle Shrot (administrative issues) gaelle.shrot@cemis.uni-goettingen.de Two shibboleths about modern India, and to a lesser extent about other South Asian countries, have been dominant: first, the assertion of a new and uncontrollable social and economic dynamism powered by the cities, and second, the old saw that 'India lives in her villages'. Both assertions have an unmistakable ring of truth: the premise of this summer school, however, is that it is necessary to attend closely to the ways city and countryside have been both linked and separated by economic processes, political decisions and struggles, and ideological projects. We identify, tentatively, six clusters of themes regarding the dynamic relationship of Indian cities and villages since the late eighteenth century that could be explored fruitfully by participants, without, however, seeking to limit the summer school to these clusters alone. 1. Dynamics of settlement patterns: While India’s enormous and swiftly transforming ‘megacities’ and ‘metros’ have received disproportionate attention from the media and in academia, there has been little sustained discussion of the unevenness and complexity in the overall development of settlement patterns. According to the 2011 Census, a mere 31 per cent of India’s population lived in towns and cities despite a considerably faster growth of the urban population. Inspite of having 33 cities with more than a million inhabitants, India is the world’s least urbanized region by far in quantitative terms. While these disparities date back to the colonial period, how is their persistence into the present to be explained? How have the dynamics of urban change and the forms of urban settlement been affected by successive postcolonial policies of statist planning and 'liberalization'? How have city-village linkages been transformed; is there a new role for the 'middle-sized' regional city; are processes of 'rurbanization' observable that have remoulded the social functions of rural settlements? 2. Changing economies of the urban and rural: Policy shifts since the 1980s appear to have reconfigured—rather than reduced—economic disparities between city and countryside rather than their reduction. The de-industrialization of India’s older metropolitan mill districts, the rise of new large-scale manufacturing and service centres, especially in formerly middle-sized cities, the increasing competition between Indian states offering tax reduction and cheap land to attract corporate investment, the expansion of rural-based industrial units, the co-existence of formidable economic growth in the cities and deep agricultural crisis in the countryside, the growth of a speculative urban property market with the concomitant rise of powerful estate 'developers' and a massive urban construction boom – these recent developments as well as their historical genesis are appropriate subjects for papers to be presented at the summer school. 3. Conflicts over land: Many of South Asia's recent political controversies and social tensions have centred on the acquisition of agricultural land or the redistribution of urban land for the benefit of industry, agri-business, and real estate. In various parts of the subcontinent, the alienation of land for the purposes of various kinds of capitalist investment has taken either consensual or compulsory forms, both of which have yielded a harvest of social changes and conflicts, whether in the form of the upward mobility of rural landholders, the physical transformation of rural landscapes into urban ones, the fierce resistance offered by locally organized movements to acquisition and slum resettlement, or the travails of millions of people who have been displaced from their land, with fatal and largely unrecorded consequences for their lives. The summer school will welcome papers that deal with the many-sided forms and repercussions of land acquisition and concomitant transformations in rural landscapes, livelihoods and ecologies. 4. Circulation and resettlement: Circuits of migration have connected villages and cities for a long time in South Asia. This has primarily taken the form of impoverished agriculturists and rural wage-labourers moving to towns and cities in search of alternative or supplementary livelihoods. Sometimes these migrations have been permanent in character; sometimes cyclical; sometimes neither. These patterns have been linked to regimes of 'footlose', informalized labour, have generated specific and often precarious forms of habitation, reinforced gender divisions, promoted new modes of quotidian culture and plebeian political expression. The summer school will welcome papers that seek to map and track the establishment of circuits of migration, their impact upon both urban and rural life, and the social experiences that have attended them. 5. Transformations of the ruling bloc: Urban and rural elites, as many sociologists, political economists and historians have pointed out, constitute a powerful but often uneasy ruling bloc in contemporary South Asia. In postcolonial times, in India in particular, there have been massive shifts in the composition of both sets of power-wielders – the 'dominant caste' matrices that have in many parts of rural India replaced older landlord elites, and the discernible growth of a broader-based industrial and finance-capitalist elite in the cities being two prongs of these transformations. How have the relations between dominant classes in city and countryside been reconfigured in the process, to what extent have they been channelled into new hegemonies or provoked plebeian dissent? Looking at this might involve analysing patterns of local electoral politics, the role of rural potentates in central and state-level administration, shifts in patterns of elite consumption and investment in rural areas, and the control of agrarian resources and technologies. 6. Representations and ideologies: The summer school will also welcome contributions on cultural representations of the city and the village and the relations between the two – themes bearing on these problems have been a major concern of both literature and cinema in modern South Asia. Linked to this is the way in which the city and the village have shaped ideological imaginaries, both spaces standing in for imagined virtues or vices, aspirations and tragedies, in ways that usually pit the two spaces in Manichean contrast and opposition to each other. Exploring the forms that such practices of representation and ideological positions have taken, the way the structures of feeling that govern them have shifted across time, and the role of various kinds of media – in the broadest sense – in disseminating these structures of feeling, are some of the themes that could be fruitfully explored.