South Asia Institute
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Knowledge transfer
The region in question encompasses Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The basic structure
of the SAI, established in 1962, centres around the formation of
different departments specialising in the common denominators shared by
these countries: classical Indology (ancient languages and history of religion), modern Indology (modern languages and literatures of South Asia), social anthropology, geography, developmental economics, Political Science (German), History (German) and international economic and development policy (German).
The SAI library has some 240,000 volumes and subscribes to about 500
journals, making it one of the largest specialist libraries of its
kind. With four outstations
in India (New Delhi), Nepal (Kathmandu), Pakistan (Islamabad) and Sri Lanka (Colombo), the SAI
takes an active part in cooperation with, and the transfer of knowledge
to, South Asia.
![]() Detail of a map of Varanasi, for many the prime
example of a Hindu pilgrimage site on the Ganges. In the framework of
the project "Visualised Space: Constructions of Locality and
Cartographic Representation in Varanasi" scholars at the South Asia
Institute are studying the changing urban life-worlds in India.
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Intercultural competence
The central aim of the SAI is to provide its students with intercultural competence. Its approach in this respect is innovative and indeed unique in Germany, combining social sciences and economics with a form of cultural studies emphasising historical and philological aspects. This approach is of major relevance for the future, when it will be essential both to ensure that regional cultures are given a voice in the process of globalisation and to find solutions for the immense economic and ecological problems facing a region that is undoubtedly one of the most populous and economically dynamic areas in the world.
The South Asia Institute in the Internet: |
![]() Budding scholars also profit from the unique opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration at the South Asia Institute.
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The South Asia Institute maintains a variety of contacts with research centres in Europe, Asia and America and runs a large number of projects in the South Asian region itself, mostly in collaboration with scholars working there. It has partnership agreements for the exchange of scholars and students with the University of Delhi, theĀ Tribhuvan University of Katmandu and with various non-university research institutions. Many younger scholars come to the SAI as guests and on grants to profit from the unique opportunities it offers for intensive interdisciplinary cooperation.
![]() A comic in Sanskrit. The annual International
Summer School of Spoken Sanskrit held every August breathes new life
into this language, a precursor of present-day Hindi.
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The SAI provides its own students and graduates with a wide range of support in planning their careers, notably by organising internships in South Asia and arranging for the presentation of their research work at the many academic conferences it organises. In addition, the SAI is also active in an advisory capacity, thus maintaining and enhancing communication with politicians, economists and development aid experts and also contributing to their efforts with custom-designed problem solutions.
![]() With its 220,000 volumes and 500 periodicals the
SAI has one of the largest specialist libraries in Europe. Here a view
of the newly designed reading room and the information centre.
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In the coming years the SAI will be enhancing its status in South Asian studies by focussing on new facets of environmental research, health systems and the study of rituals, while at the same time consolidating communication networks between Europe and South Asia and adapting to the challenges posed by globalisation and cultural and economic interpenetration.