This workshop will bring together the scholars involved in a new publication project dedicated to the history of South Asian literature in the eighteenth century. The volume is part of a wider publication project with Bloomsbury titled A Cultural History of South Asian Literature. During this workshop, we will come back on the literary historiography of eighteenth-century South Asia, discuss the methodological challenges specific to this period, and the aims of the project in terms of research and pedagogical aims. During days 2 and 3 the contributors to the volume will present case studies around which we will establish a conceptual framework for each chapter and for the volume.
Monday, December 12th
3 to 5pm, Rubenstein Forum, room 701
Roundtable: “South Asia in a world historical approach to cultural studies”
Led by Shankar Nair (Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia)* and Muhammad Faruque (Religion and Philosophy, University of Cincinnati)* – editors of volume 3: “The Early modern Age (1400–1700 CE)”, and Thibaut d’Hubert (SALC, The University of Chicago)
Tuesday, December 13th
Foster Hall, room 103
“A Cultural History of South Asian Literature in an Age of Transition (1700-1800)”
Morning 9:30am to noon
Opening comments
- “The Linguistic Tapestry” W. Hakala (Department of English, University at Buffalo)
- “The Main Streams of Literature” Purnima Dhavan and Heidi Pauwels (University of Washington, Seattle)
Afternoon 2pm to 4pm
- “Aesthetics” Th. d’Hubert (SALC, The University of Chicago)
- “Gender and Sexuality” E. Kalb (Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, The University of Bonn)
Wednesday, December 14th
Foster Hall, room 103
Morning 9am to noon
- “Other Arts” R. Williams (Music and South Asian Studies, SOAS)
- “The Literature of Ideas” S. Wright (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO)/Division of Humanities and Languages, Ahmedabad University)
- “Popular Literature” P. Md Khan (Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University)*
An asterisk * indicates that the speaker will attend remotely.
The event is sponsored by The Committee on Southern Asian Studies and The Franke Institute for the Humanities.