publication on recent history of indology : Erich Frauwallner und der Nationalsozialismus

[Jan E.M. Houben]

Publication announcement:

Jakob Stuchlik:
Der arische Ansatz: Erich Frauwallner und der Nationalsozialismus.
2009


Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Austrian Academy of Sciences Press

A-1011 Wien, Postgasse 7/4


ISBN 978-3-7001-6724-2
Print Edition
ISBN 978-3-7001-6875-1
Online Edition

Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Klasse 797.Band
2009,  202 Seiten, 22,5x15cm, broschiert
€  42,–

(http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/6724-2, oben links: Online Edition).

My fast rendering of publisher's info:
The “Aryan approach” was repeatedly propagated by Erich Frauwallner
at the intersection between Indology and society, where it apparently
was a matter of presenting the results of detailed Indological
research in the form of a compact and “well-established” image
of India to a wider audience.
Especially in the Germanspeaking world and in Japan, Frauwallner has
gone down in the history of his discipline, above all in the area of
Buddhist Studies, as a scholarly authority.
This influential scholarly reputation has led to the identification
of the India-image presented by Frauwallner as identical with India
itself.
Since in its basic structure this picture is “Aryanizing” and racist,
it also contributes to the impression of an “unholy alliance” between
India and Nazi Germany.
As long as the Nazi context in Frauwallner’s activity as a scholar and
teacher is ignored, either by being passed over in silence or by being
made to appear harmless, as has been done for decades in the Germanspeaking
world, there can be no serious discussion concerning the degree to which
ideology encumbers his scholarly and scholarly-political oeuvre.
What exactly is being transmitted or inherited when Frauwallner is acclaimed

as an authority and his philology considered exemplary scholarly work?
In this book, the author examines the “Aryan approach” not “only” as a
repeatedly presented racist periodization of Indian philosophy, but also
as the conceptual key to the scholarly and scholarly-political
work, and indeed to the life of a staunch Nazi.
In the process, he exposes many facets of dubious dealings with the past,
both before and after 1945.

The importance of this book for the HISTORY of Indology is clear.

Here I would also like to emphasize the indologically most relevant points
raised by the author, Dr. Jakob Stuchlik:
- that Frauwallner's periodization was a step backward compared to an
earlier discussion by Goetz;
- and that his approach would have led to an "Ueberbewertung der diskursiven
Erkenntnis an der Objektebene seiner Wissenschaft".

In addition, a Vorwort by Ernst Steinkellner is available at:

steinkellner_vorwort_stuchlik_2009.pdf

-- 
Prof. Dr. Jan E.M. Houben,
Directeur d Etudes « Sources et Histoire de la Tradition Sanskrite »
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, SHP,
A la Sorbonne,45-47, rue des Ecoles,
75005 Paris -- France.