Dear members of the list,

we have the pleasure to announce that the workshop “Indology nowadays: A Winter School on the Legacy of Paul Thieme” will take place on the 21st-22nd of February 2017 in the venue of the University Library of Tübingen.

The purpose of the Winter School is to familiarize young scholars and researchers with the intellectual legacy of such disciplines as philology and cultural studies.

This period of significant change in university education and academic principles has profoundly affected the way we label our departments, and how specialisations are defined: the “disciplines” have been often substituted with “areal/thematic studies”. “Science” and “Technology” bear their influence on the parameters that shape research criteria: we shifted from “knowledge-production” to “problem-solving”. 

Is this an effective parameter for Humanities?  Is Philology an effective tool for investigating facts using, in Paul Thieme’s words, “The texts as our informants”?

 

One important aspect of applying philological methods is their use for analysing, e. g., narratives that form part of political discourse as can be seen in contemporary India, a country of increasing importance. There (and increasingly in other parts of the world with a considerable Indian diaspora), main actors on the political and cultural stage use important texts from the Hindu traditions to support claims of cultural superiority, and here philology can contribute not only to analyse this discourse but also to delineate texts and contexts of these traditions. 

By patiently reading and rereading the respective texts it is possible to unveil the complex interaction of those factors which together constitute the traditions which have been used in these discourse and to show the misrepresentations that have been politically motivated.

Both students and scholars are welcome. Participation is free of charge.

Please see the provisional programme below. Further details on the organization will follow soon.

Best regards,

Dr. Renate Söhnen-Thieme, Dr.Frank Köhler, Dr. Elena Mucciarelli