[INDOLOGY] Questioning South Asia Conference

[Andrea Acri]

The mere geographical (geopolitical?) expressions of « Central/South/Southeast/East Asia » are no less artificial, constructed and arbitrary than the boundaries of the modern nation states—especially when dealing with premodern phenomena (something that has been pointed out by Pollock indeed). Much has been written on this issue in the past two or three decades, yet it is somehow depressing to see how this body of research (mostly produced by global historians, but also by Area Studies scholars) seems to have had a rather limited impact on the tightly compartmentalized « Area Studies » paradigm  (except, perhaps, the creation of some « Indian Ocean » research initiatives), not to speak about the fields of Indology and/or South Asian studies. I cannot but agree with Prof. Slaje’s invitation to reflect on the institutional history of our subject(s), their (geo)political implications, etc.


Andrea Acri
Maître de conférences
Études tantriques/Tantric Studies
École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sciences Religieuses), Paris
andrea.acri at ephe.sorbonne.fr
Publications at: www.ephe.academia.edu/AndreaAcri


> Le 18 mai 2017 à 17:18, Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
> 
> Thank you, too, Howard! These questions are however best addressed to the organizers of the conference.
> 
> I am not involved.
> 
> 
> 
> > “Pursuit of global hegemony”?
> 
> 
> 
> „The word, the phrase "South Asia" was invented in Washington D.C. at the State Department.“
> 
> (Sheldon Pollock).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If "South Asia" – understood in its geopolitical connotation – was indeed instigated by the State Department as part of a conceptual, i.e. artificial segmentation of Asia into different post-war spheres of influence, in whose interest should one expect them to pursue such an agenda?
> 
> The temporal coincidence with the swift founding of Departments and courses of university studies, all of a sudden bearing “South Asia” in their names like flag-staffs of the new policy is something which might make some colleagues reflect a little more about the institutional histories of their subject.
> 
> 
> 
> Have a look at this:
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/lnn4uqw <http://tinyurl.com/lnn4uqw>
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Walter
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2017-05-18 15:45 GMT+02:00 Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu <mailto:hr at ivs.edu>>:
> Thank you Walter. I hope I’m not the only one that is somewhat incredulous at the idea that to accept the rubric of ’South Asia’ as a legitimate organizing tool of scholarship “signals acquiescence if not participation in an agenda informed by pursuit of global hegemony.”
> 
> “Pursuit of global hegemony”? 
> 
> I confess that I never imagined that I was unwittingly involved in a plot to rule the world. 
> 
> 
>> On May 18, 2017, at 4:23 PM, Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> 
>> I should like to draw your attention to a conference dealing with the notion of "South Asia" as a geopolitical construct with hegemonic agendas:
>> http://habib.edu.pk/questioningsouthasia/ <http://habib.edu.pk/questioningsouthasia/>
>> 
>> [Announcement excerpt]
>> "The geopolitical significance of South Asia has been a well-known fact in policy and security studies for the last several decades. In academic circles too, the logic of South Asia has become a naturalized reality: its appearance in the area studies departments of many US/western institutions signals acquiescence if not participation in an agenda informed by pursuit of global hegemony. The naturalisation of South Asia as a discourse recalls European precedents of producing knowledge about the ‘other’ in order to foster a morally and epistemologically superior European identity – as witnessed in the historical invention of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. [...] Questioning South Asia as a discourse that at present burdens the scholarly imagination, and overdetermines conference agendas and research funding, might reconfigure the strategies we employ to understand the region. Some of the questions we seek to investigate are: What are the obstacles to developing comparative research perspectives for scholars constrained by ‘South Asia’? How can we shift away from the dominant framework of South Asia as an already-determined category, and devise new research agendas? And what demands for change, transformation, or recalibration might this place on us as subjects undertaking research?"
>> 
>> Kindly regarding,
>> Walter Slaje
>> 
>> -----------------------------
>> Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje
>> Hermann-Löns-Str. 1
>> D-99425 Weimar
>> Deutschland
>> 
>> Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor
>> studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum
>> non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam,
>> sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus
>> humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat.
>> Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII.
>> 
>> 
>> 
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