Research
Gauging Cultural Asymmetries: Asian Satire and the Search for Identity in the Era of Colonialism and Imperialism
Subproject B1 Satire - Cluster "Asia an Europe in a Global Context"Abstract:
This project examines the production of satire in South, East and West Asian traditions during the high tide of European colonialism and imperialism, i.e. the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. We look at satire as a communicative tool of gauging cultural asymmetries. It is, we assert, the satirical mode of expression that is most apt to portray, measure and adjust the various upside-downs that occurred to traditional cultures in Asia in the course of their asymmetrical cultural contact with Europe. As an essentially moralist endeavour, satire is impossible without a (however hidden) statement about how things should be. In investigating Asian satire, we hope to be able to unearth and highlight textual and visual sources that tend to be ignored or at least downscaled in their respective canons, and to find gravitational points of identity around which topsy-turvy realities are made to revolve.
Team Member: Hans Harder
Duration: Jul 2008 - Nov 2011
Financing: Cluster of Excellence: "Asia and Europe"
Keywords: Satire; Bengali; Hindi; Marathi; Colonial Era
Further Information: Project Website
Engaging with Transcultural Public Spheres: The Case of Tamil-Speaking Muslims in Colonial Singapore
Subproject B13 Tamil-Speaking Muslims - Cluster "Asia an Europe in a Global Context"Abstract:
Home to diverse people from Southeast, East, and South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and a node of the circulation of goods, people, ideas and information between 'East' and 'West', the city of Singapore played an important role in the cultural flows which connected Asia and Europe. Between 1819 and 1942, Singapore grew from a small port to one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the British Empire. The presence of such a diverse population soon forced various communities to talk not only amongst themselves, but with each other as well as with the colonial state. The result was the rise of a number of interrelated public spheres, whose relationship with each other was characterized by strong asymmetries. This project endeavours to trace the engagement of one particularly mobile (spatially and socially) segment of the Singaporean population, Tamil-speaking Muslims from South India, in Singapore's diverse public spheres, and to gauge the role played by them in the local translation of international transcultural flows.
Project Team: Hans Harder, Torsten Tschacher
Duration: Aug 2009 - Jul 2012
Financing: Cluster of Excellence: "Asia and Europe"
Keywords: Tamil-Speaking Muslims; Singapur; Colonial Era
Further Information: Project Website
Court Rituals in the Princely State of Jaipur and their Current Revival
Subproject B5 - Collaborative Research Center 619 „Ritual Dynamics“Abstract:
Subproject B5 researches the court ritual in the princely state of Jaipur (Rajasthan/India), from the 18th century until the dissolution of the state and its accession unto the Dominion of India in 1949, as well as the current performance of the mutated ritual. Its focal point is the function of the ritual as well as the reasons for its change, the characteristics of the change processes and its actors. Our work is based on the assumption that the court ritual is a structure-providing part of the ruling system, conveying the legitimateness of ruling and assuring loyalty towards the sovereign.
We will extend our investigation of the legitimation of sovereignty in the princely state of Jaipur to include the aspect of external legitimation by researching the design of ceremonies involving foreigners, such as European envoys, Jesuit priests and the British residents in 18th and early 19th century. Furthermore, we will take a look at the yearly celebrations in Jaipur which affirm the royal power (daśaharā, vijayadaśamī) to then analyze the possible transfer of royal rituals from Vijayanagara to Rajasthan. To reflect the immediate present, we will select celebrations activating the court ceremonial and religious rituals and investigate their ritual dynamics. We will also document the voices of the actors who are involved in these dynamics with different interests and views. In this context, we will explore the intended function of the ritual after the dissolution of its initial objective, i.e. the princely state.
Project Team: Monika Boehm-Tettelbach, Jörg Gengnagel, Kerstin Sobkowiak
Further Information Project Website
Praktisches Lehrbuch des Hindi
Abstract:
Hindi bolo. Hindi für Deutschsprachige. Teil 1.
This language manual for German-speaking learners will probably be published in autumn 2010.
Project Team: Gautam Liu
A source book on Hindi literary theory in the 20th century
Abstract:
This project aims to translate important essays on the theory of Hindi narrative prose by various authors and critics, and to publish them as an annotated anthology.
Project Team: Gautam Liu, Felix Otter
Duration: Summer 2010 - Summer 2011
Keywords: Hindi, Prose, 20th century
Cooperation with the Urban History Documentation Archive of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC)
Further Information
Project WebsiteBorders, Rituals and Reflexivity
Subproject: A8, Collaborative Research Center 619 „Ritual Dynamics“Abstract:
In view of globalization, many scientists postulated the rise of a “borderless world of flows”, where
the notion of identity has outgrown the outdated concepts of national-state models.
However, this seems to be a Eurocentric
point of view. In Asia, Africa, and other countries, the meaning of borders und the number of associated rituals have grown.
This is especially true for South Asia. However, at the same time, borders rooting in the times before the independence as
well as the “princely states” have been abolished, leading the associated rituals to fade or disappear entirely. Our core
question is: “How does establishing or abolishing borders and their associated rituals affect the reflective process of
identity construction among the borderers?” To explore this question, we will compare three ritual systems: (1) the
pilgrimages in relation to Hinglaj Devi, whose temple is located in Balochistan/Pakistan, (2) the temple of Sitakunda in
Bangladesh, and (3) a ritual system in the central Himalaya that currently experiences the abolishing of hitherto existing
ritual borders.
The first of our three case studies centers on the temple of the Hindu goddess Hinglaj, situated in what is today Balochistan. The separation in 1947 made it almost impossible for Hindu believers to pilgrimage to the temple. This was particularly hard for those groups for whom the pilgrimage is a “holy duty”. We will investigate how these groups reacted to the closing of the border. Our second case study explores Sitakunda, a temple complex in Chittagong consecrated to Hindu god Shiva. This temple complex is regarded as one of the most important contemporary Hindu shrines in the predominantly Muslim country of Bangladesh. The third case study concentrates on a region of the central Himalaya that is divided into a number of small territories, each ruled by a god by means of an oracle. The borders of these “divine kingdoms” were determined through rituals (such as processions and oblations) and forcibly defended. In the years following the independence, these borders became less and less important. Today, former archenemies meet to perform “heritage rituals” together, to arrange strategic marriages or to develop political strategies for elections. This has changed the content and meaning of processions, sacrifices and other rituals dramatically.
Project Team: Hans Harder
Financing: Collaborative Research Center 619 „Ritual Dynamics“, Subproject A8
Further Information: Project Website
Creation of a Hindi Database containing internet newspapers and literature from all epochs
Project Team: Monika Boehm-Tettelbach
Duration: 2004 - 2007
Financing: DFG - German Research Foundation
Further Information: Project Website
