German and South Asian Interactions

The Department has an emerging focus, in teaching and in research, on the history of German-South Asian interactions. We aim to use our proximity to German archives and digital sources to train students on the art of working in archives with excursions. Dr Lüder has significantly extended this theme in his teaching and public outreach, organising a guest lecture series in the winter semester 2025/2026, “Between Berlin and Bombay: The Complex Entanglements of Fascist Ideologies in the 20th Century”. This series featured talks by Dr Baijayanti Roy (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt), PD Dr Maria Framke (Universität Erfurt), and Dr Torsten Tschacher (Universität Heidelberg), and seeded the idea of an exhibition in the CATS library, funded by the Alfred Töpfer Stiftung, which will be held in 2027. Further research projects are under development.