Title: Tra­cing India in a Ber­lin Archi­ve ( Focus- Archi­ve of the Leib­niz-Zen­trum Moder­ner Ori­ent) (WiSe 2017–18).

Ins­truc­tors: Dr. Anan­di­ta Baj­pai and Dr. Hei­ke Liebau.

Orga­ni­zer: Insti­tut für Asi­en- und Afri­ka­wis­sen­schaf­ten, Hum­boldt-Uni­ver­si­tät zu Berlin.

Descrip­ti­on:  For many stu­dents, the term ‘Archi­ve’ often evo­kes inti­mi­da­ti­on and inse­cu­ri­ty if not indif­fe­rence. How does one approach an archi­ve? How does one look for a topic in an archi­ve? This semi­nar is a beginner’s cour­se into his­to­ri­cal methods and con­duc­ting rese­arch in archi­ves- trai­ning that can be fun­da­men­tal for doing rese­arch in area stu­dies. The case stu­dy in focus is India.  We will search traces of India in the archi­ve of Leib­niz-Zen­trum Moder­ner Ori­ent in Berlin.

The semi­nar has the fol­lo­wing axes:

  • Lear­ning how to do sys­te­ma­tic sear­ches in archi­ves  (Data­ba­ses, cata­lo­gues etc.)
  • How to work with archi­val sources?
  • Sys­te­ma­tic search and coll­ec­tion of sources on India in a sel­ec­ted archi­ve in Berlin.

Through our rese­arch in this archi­ve we will unco­ver ele­ments of the histo­ry of India-Ger­ma­ny ent­an­gle­ments, which is a high­ly rich field offe­ring stu­dents new lear­ning possibilities.

The aim is to work inten­se­ly with pri­ma­ry sources on India and par­ti­ci­pa­te in con­tri­bu­ting to a data­ba­se of such sources. It will thus help in acqui­ring con­cre­te metho­do­lo­gi­cal tools.

The Leib­niz-Zen­trum Moder­ner Ori­ent (ZMO) was estab­lished in 1996. Its pre­de­ces­sor insti­tu­ti­on was the For­schungs­schwer­punkt Moder­ner Ori­ent which emer­ged in 1992 from the Insti­tu­te for Uni­ver­sal Histo­ry (Insti­tut für All­ge­mei­ne Geschich­te) of the Aca­de­my of Sci­en­ces of the GDR. The ZMO libra­ry con­ta­ins bes­i­des lite­ra­tu­re on his­to­ri­cal, eth­no­lo­gi­cal and poli­ti­cal the­mes regar­ding the Midd­le East, Asia and Afri­ca, also a signi­fi­cant coll­ec­tion of per­so­nal papers. Among them are per­so­nal coll­ec­tions by emi­nent East Ger­man scho­lars who had work­ed on South Asia: Horst Krü­ger (1920–1989), Joa­chim Heid­rich (1930–2004) and Petra Heid­rich (1940–2006). They had star­ted their coll­ec­tions part­ly in the 1960s. Thus, the semi­nar also attempts to dis­cuss know­ledge pro­duc­tion during the Cold war.

In the 4 inten­si­ve ses­si­ons (blocks), we will meet in the scenic area of Niko­las­see whe­re the archi­ve is loca­ted and make lear­ning his­to­ri­cal methods a coll­ec­ti­ve, enjoya­ble exercise.

LOCATION of the cour­se:
Leib­niz-Zen­trum Moder­ner Ori­ent, Kirch­weg 33, Ber­lin 14129
The semi­nar will take place whe­re the archi­ve is loca­ted.
*PLEASE NOTE: FIRST SESSION TAKES PLACE ON 06.11.
Fol­lo­wing dates: 10.11., 17.11., 20.11. 

More infor­ma­ti­on can be found here.