Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

Titel:  Frugale Innovation in Indien – Ein Vorbild für Deutschland?

Wann?

Mittowch, 05. August 2015, 14.00 Uhr

Wo?

Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Invaldienstraße 118

Raum 217

Titel:  Rise to Power: Modi's India Inc.

Wann?

Mittowch, 05. August 2015, 11.00 Uhr

Wo?

Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

Invaldienstraße 118

Raum 217

Where?

Deptt. of South Asian Studies

Institute for Asian and African Studies

Invalidenstr. 118, Room 217

When?

Thursday, 9^th July, 2015

18:00 ct

Abstract:

The future (and/or desired) postcolonial neoliberal city is increasingly imagined through the influence of what is referred to as the 'Dubai effect'. Pakistan is no exception to this. (Even a cursory glance at the urban landscape of high rise buildings, shopping malls, and chain stores indicates this 'aspiration').

However, the 'global' imagining of the 'multinational' city also includes a darker lived reality of refugees, undocumented migrants, and disenfranchised citizens who, to borrow from Mike Davis form a part of the new 'wretched of the earth', marginalised and pushed aside in urban spaces. 

In this talk I juxtapose the lives of one of the world's largest protracted 'refugee' displacements in the world – Afghans – with those of Pakistan's urban poor, and draw out the ways in which Afghans and Pakistanis often live shared realities that step beyond orthodox understandings of refugeedom, citizenship, and belonging in urban spaces. In fact I discuss how urban spaces in Pakistan (and other global South states) moving toward shared 'denizen' or 'underclass' zones.

About the speaker:

Sanaa Alimia holds a PhD, without corrections, from the Politics and International Studies Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (2013). Sanaa's research interests involve oral histories of Afghan refugees and urban poor residents in Pakistan. Her work pays attention to Pakistan, Afghanistan, urban politics, refugees, biopolitics, necropolitics, and enumeration mechanisms.

Readings:

The presentation will be followed by a discussion, focused on the the following readings. You can download these from our moodle course. Please write to me (sadia.bajwa@hu-berlin.de) for the password.

Asef Bayat. "The Quiet Encroachments of the Ordinary." In: Life as Politics. Chapter 3.

Khosravi, Shahram. 2010. 'Illegal' Traveller: An Auto-Ethnography of Borders. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 7, 121-29

Hasan, Arif. 2012. 'Anti-Poor Bias in Policy'. Dawn News. 27 March 2012. [opinion piece]. http://www.dawn.com/news/766974/anti-poor-bias-in-policy

This comprehensive history of modern South Asia explores the historical development of the Subcontinent from the beginning of the eighteenth century to the present day from local and regional, as opposed to European, perspectives. Michael Mann charts the role of emerging states within the Mughal Empire, the gradual British colonial expansion in the political setting of the Subcontinent and shows how the modern state formation usually associated with Western Europe can be seen in some regions of India, linking Europe and South Asia together as part of a shared world history. This book looks beyond the Subcontinent’s post-colonial history to consider the political, economic, social and cultural development of Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as Sri Lanka and Nepal, and to examine how these developments impacted the region’s citizens.

South Asia’s Modern History begins with a general introduction which provides a geographical, environmental and historiographical overview. This is followed by thematic chapters which discuss Empire Building and State Formation, Agriculture and Agro-Economy, Silviculture and Scientific Forestry, Migration, Circulation and Diaspora, Industrialisation and Urbanisation and Knowledge, Science, Technology and Power, demonstrating common themes across the decades and centuries.

This book will be perfect for all students of South Asian history.

Die Reichhaltigkeit der Bestände deutscher Archive zur Geschichte des modernen Indiens ist bislang ebenso ungenügend erkannt worden wie das in ihnen schlummernde wissenschaftliche Potenzial. Die Ressourcen ermöglichen die Rekonstruktion deutsch-indischer Verflechtungsgeschichte seit dem 18. Jahrhundert und damit die Formulierung innovativer komparativer und globalgeschichtlicher Fragestellungen.

Weiterlesen...

The title of this book refers to the imaginary "Line" drawn between North and South, a division established by the Peace Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. This is an early modern time and Eurocentric construction, according to which the southern oceanic world has long been taken as symbol of expansionist philosophies and practices.
An obvious motivation for changing this "Line" division is the growing influence of the “Global South” in the contemporary economic and political setting. However, another motivation for changing opinions in regard to the "Line" is equally important. We observe an emergent consciousness of the pivotal role of the oceanic world for human life. This requires the reformulation of former views and raises numerous questions. A diversity of connections comes to the mind, which demands the composition of a catalogue of case studies with an oceanic horizon.
Through this operation, different problems are being linked together. Which problems encounter historians with their research on fishes in the archives? How to trace records about pirates of non-European descent in the Indian Ocean? Which role play the Oceans as mediators for labor migrations, not only of the Black Atlantic but also of people moving from Asia to Africa and vice versa? What do we know about workers on the oceans and their routes? When considering oceans as “contact zones”, with which criteria can their influence in different literary texts be analyzed? Is it possible to study nationalisms taking into account these transoceanic relationships? And how do artists address these questions in their use of the media?
Against the background of this catalogue of oceanic questions, "old" stories are told anew. Sometimes, their cultural stereotypes are recycled to criticize political and social situations. Or, in other cases, they are adopted for elaborating alternative options. In this sense, the contributions concentrate on countries like India, Kenya, Angola, or Brazil and cover different academic fields. A variety of objects and situations are explored, which have been and still are determinant for the construction of cultural narratives in view of the modified relationship with the geographically southern oceanic regions.

Table of Contents & Introduction

are available for download on the website of the publisher Neofelis:

https://www.neofelis-verlag.de/english-books/beyond-the-line

2014(4) Mapping Bangladesh Studies

The volume (4:2014) includes a special issue on Mapping Bangladesh Studies. Bangladesh studies is emerging as a major field and is continually getting richer and more diverse, although it still has a long way to go. As seen through recent contributions elsewhere and in this volume of the South Asia Chronicle, more nuanced and newer lines of enquiry, especially in the field of cultural history and anthropology, are emerging.
 

In addition it holds four contributions in its FORUM rubric on recent discourses and developments in South Asia: an article comparing the construction of the Muslim as Minority in India and western Europe; one on the new urbanism, law and the city of Bengaluru; a third on the emergence of a transnational religious community; and finally a piece that engages with the question of women's rights in India in light of the recent debate on sexual violence in India.

The final rubric of the volume is dedicated to review essays, which present the state-of-the-art and historiographical overviews on a various topics.

• Link to the 4th edition of the South Asia Chronicle

Es war unser Ziel, herauszufinden, wie sich die Indologie und die anderen südasienbezogenen Wissenschaften in diesen Institutionen etabliert haben und inwieweit sie in der Lage waren, die Vielfalt der Berliner Wissenschaftslandschaft zur Herausbildung eines eigenen Netzwerkes zu nutzen. Diese Frage sollte aus einer streng geschichtlichen Perspektive gestellt und aus dieser Perspektive bis in die heutige Zeit verfolgt werden.

Die unterschiedlichen historischen Epochen und verfügbaren Quellen machten auch diverse methodische Ansätze erforderlich. Darüber hinaus war es unser Anliegen, möglichst Vertreter verschiedener Disziplinen und auch unterschiedlicher wissenschaftlicher und institutioneller Herkunft in diesem Projekt zu vereinen.

Das Sekretariat für Südasienstudien hat ab Montag, den 15.12. geänderte Öffnungszeiten. Die neuen Sprechstunden sind dienstags und donnerstags von 9.00-17.30 Uhr und mittwochs 9.00-13.00 Uhr. 

Artikel aus "Indien Aktuell" vom 25.01.2015:

Die indische Regierung kündigte heute an, dass Dr. Annette Schmiedchen morgen mit dem Padma Shri, dem vierthöchsten indischen Zivilorden ausgezeichnet wird. Die Sanskrit-Wissenschaftlerin ist völlig überrascht, dass sie diesen Preis erhält, denn diese Auszeichnung wird jedes Jahr am Tag der Republik (26. Januar) verliehen und geht fast immer an indische Bürger, die sich um die Kunst, Wissenschaft, den Sport, die Wirtschaft oder ähnliche Bereiche in Indien verdient gemacht haben.

Dr. Annette Schmiedchen ist Indologin und Sanskrit-Gelehrte. Sie studierte alte indische Geschichte, Indologie und Sanskrit-Epigrafik an der Humboldt Universität Berlin. Mit der Padma-Shri-Auszeichnung sollen ihre Verdienste in diesen Fachgebieten gewürdigt werden. Frau Dr. Schmiedchen ist mit Rainer Schmiedchen, dem deutschen Generalkonsul in Kolkata verheiratet. Seit 1992 besuchte sie Indien wegen ihrer Studien regelmäßig. „Ich möchte die Gelegenheit nutzen, dem Indian Council for Cultural Relations dafür zu danken, dass sie meinen ersten Aufenthalt in Indien gesponsort haben und der Jawaharal Nehru University dafür, dass sie mich aufnahmen“, sagte Dr. Schmiedchen aus Anlass der Preisvergabe.

Der deutsche Botschafter in Indien, Michael Steiner, hat bereits seine herzlichen Glückwünsche an Frau Dr. Schmiedchen übersandt. Er sagte, diese Auszeichnung ist eine große Ehre für die ausgezeichnete Arbeit und ihren Beitrag zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung der Sanskrit-Sprache von Dr. Schmiedchen. Die Indologie und Sanskrit-Wissenschaften an deutschen Universitäten sind weltweit hoch angesehen. Außerdem, so Botschafter Steiner, sei er sicher, dass dieser Preis der indischen Regierung aus Anlass des Tags der Republik die langjährigen und erfolgreichen deutsch-indischen Kooperationen im Bereich alter und moderner Sprachen weiter vertiefen wird.

15^th Humboldt India Project Workshop

When?

Friday, 29^th May 2015                                                                          

2:00-8:00 pm                                           

Where?

Department of South Asia Studies

Institute of Asian and African Studies

Invalidenstr. 118, Room: 217

Call for Presentations

Whether a PhD, a post-doctoral project, or simply an idea for a future project related to South Asia, you are welcome to come and present at HIP. The goal of the Humboldt India Project workshops is to provide a platform for the South Asia competence of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and its partner institutes in Berlin. Beginning with the first workshop in 2012, it has functioned as an interdisciplinary forum for the presentation and discussion of individual projects from across Berliner institutions. For past events please see https://iaaw.hu-berlin.de/suedasien/archiv

Format: 1 hr per presentation (20 min. presentation + 40 min. discussion)

Language: English

Deadline: If you wish to present, please send in your topic, institutional affiliation, and a five-line abstract to

sadia.bajwa@asa.hu-berlin.de

by the 15th of May 2015.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

All those interested are welcome to attend. We encourage students to join.

The Ganges a Common Sewer? The Advance of Sewerage Technology and the Question of River Pollutionin British India, c. 1890-1930

Wann?

Freitag, 12. Juni 2015, 12.00 Uhr

Wo?

IAAW, Invalidenstraße 118, Raum 507

People, commodities, scientific objects, and ideas have been traveling back and forth between the port city of Hamburg and India with increasing frequency for many centuries. But little is known about the nature of these exchanges or the imaginations, aspirations and interests of the historical actors shaping them. On the occasion of the Historikertag 2016, the exhibition presents traces of the entanglement between the Hanseatic City and the Indian Subcontinent. Based on findings from the Hamburg archives and scientific collections, it provides a fascinating insight into these economic, intellectual, political and migrational connections, and indicates promising fields of research.

Hamburg – India: An Entangled History. Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. 5^th – 30^th September 2016

Organizer:

Das moderne Indien in deutschen Archiven 1706-1989 (MIDA)

DFG-Langfristvorhaben

Handelskammer Hamburg

Commerzbibliothek

Stiftung Hanseatisches Wirtschaftsarchiv

Herbarium Hamburgense

Universität Hamburg

The seminar for South Asian Studies cordially invites all interested, especially the students, to participate in the 24th HIP-Workshop. The respective presentations stand independently of each other so that participators can visit them individually.

1st December 2017

Seminar for South Asian Studies, Ro 217

Department of Asian and African Studies

Invalidenstraße 118

2-7pm