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MDW book of abstracts ISA 2018
Role of Music Activism (IPTA) in Indian Freedom Movement – Colonialism to a Post-Colonial Context2018 •
Book of Abstracts page no. 44. Conference presentation at MDW Vienna. 1930-1950s: India saw the cultural expression of a wide spectrum of political sentiments and positions around imperialism, fascism, nationalism, and social transformation. A critical transitional phase: from colonialism to a postcolonial context. Any history of this period is incomplete without an account of the cultural innovations made by the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) in the fields of drama, music, and dance. Unfortunately, music, a very important section of the IPTA’s creations has not been studied/analyzed as part of Indian history. The IPTA made an experiment of the movement by using songs against fascism known as “Songs of People’s War”. The melody and the language were more appealing to common people and were easy to understand. In fact, the chief characteristics of these songs introduced by the IPTA were: 1) opposition to imperialism or fascism and simultaneously, any sort of resistance to feudal and capitalist exploitation, 2) politically conscious, committed, motivated, and organized mass movement, 3) a protest art-form of national consciousness. The IPTA movement of our country was inspired by traditions created by revolutionary movements in other parts of the world. The major international source of inspiration was the Chinese Liberation War against the semi-colonial Kuomintang regime, as well as gruesome Japanese imperialism. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army had their cultural squads which played a vital role in educating, mobilizing, and organizing the masses. In my research I have studied and analyzed the inter-relation between music and politics in Indian democracy during that period, as well as a vast repertoire of songs which originated as a result of various oppressive and fascist policies. I would like to showcase: - The transformation from hierarchy-based music to a socialistic form of music. - The importance of democracy in the music compositions, i.e. equal value of all notes. - The influence of European Classical Music on the style of the Indian Mass Movement Songs. - The influence of traditional folk music in creating simple melodies to get mass involvement. References: Indian People’s Theatre Association: A Retrospect Susnata Das The Radical Impulse - Sumangala Damodaran On Indian People’s Theatre Association - Samik Bandopadopdhyay
Speech at the Special Lessons & Legacies Conference in Munich: The Holocaust in Europe Research Trends, Pedagogical Approaches, and Political Challenges
»Not the Scum of Humanity.« A Comparison of David P. Boder’s Early Research on Trauma in Postwar Europe to Later Holocaust TestimonyWhen Latvian-American psychologist David P. Boder published the first article on his 1946 interview project with displaced persons in Europe, he had to convince his American audience that his interviewees were “not the scum of humanity […] but people composed of all classes of society […] who [had] been dislocated by a world catastrophe” (Boder 1947). The psychologist tried to understand the traumatic impacts caused by the experiences in national socialist camps and ghettos and his study of the stories about “unprecedented suffering” resulted in a new terminology: Boder explored a “deculturation of personality” (Boder 1954). For the psychologist, the 1946 interviews were human documents and sources of knowledge production. Half a century later the purpose of interviewing victims of the Holocaust has changed significantly. In the “era of the witness” (Wieviroka 2006) the former victims are honored and recognized as survivors. With the “celebratory discourse on testimony” (Greenspan 2010) comes the expectation that witnesses should convey ‘moral lessons’ from the Holocaust. But what can be learned from their stories and do we expect survivors to ‘heal’ society through testimony? I will reconsider this shift from Boder’s early research on trauma to the pedagogical framework of survivors’ legacies and lessons. The aim is to show how Boder’s approach differs from concepts concerning the genre of Holocaust testimony today. Therefore, I will compare the audio interview Boder conducted with Janina Binder in 1946 with the video-interviews the USC Shoah Foundation and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum recorded with her some 50 to 60 years later. Not only the interpretation of the various experiences altered during the process of retelling but also the very concept of testimony changed significantly.
Chair and Discussant, Panel "The Kriminalpolizei and the Holocaust: Centralized Goals, Regional Structures" with Winson Chu and Jan Grabowski, Lessons & Legacies Munich, November 6, 2019
2020 •
With the growing interest in Russian culture among contemporary Anglophone children’s and YA authors whose works are based on Russian folktales or just exploit some of Russia’s most stereotypical themes (ballet, tsars, wolves, and lately even the Gulag), I would like to explore the representation of the Russian ‘myth’ and the portrayal of Russia and Russians in such books. As children’s literature owes much of its imaginative power to legends and folklore, I will start my research with the overall influence of Russian folktales/fairytales on European children’s literature and culture, from there I will move on to Ruritanian romances and their fascination with the Eastern European tradition, which could also contribute to the popularisation of foreign-based storylines and exotic settings. Finally, I will investigate how and why modern children’s authors continue to mine this rich seam of Russian heritage, reshaping it to fit new contexts for a contemporary young readership. How do these reworked narratives embrace and reflect the contemporary concerns and ideologies? What matters of identity (national, ethnic, or cultural) are emerging from this writing? These are just some of the questions that this research will explore.
Several ancient Mesopotamian sanctuaries of the Second Millennium BC are characterized by a distinctive division of space into different levels by means of superimposed platforms and terraces. These vertical barriers not only delimit the entire sanctuary from the ground level outside in the city but also separate specific areas within the limits of a temple building. The entrance from the courtyard into the cella, for example, is often structurally emphasized by stairs, platforms or podia. This paper presents a short survey of these architectural features and addresses their nature and perception within the spatial concept of a temple building.
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Paper presented at the 17th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) Tartu, June 25 to June 29, 2019, “Religion – Continuations and Disruptions”
Marguerite’s Folly. Erasmian Influences in the “Comédie de Mont-de-Marsan”2019 •
7th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), Basel (Switzerland)
Ethnographic approach in Niamey to repatriate’s collective from Libya. The new urban identification of migrants2017 •
International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) conference
The Roles of Japanese fashion in Taiwan: A Case Study of Uniqlo2019 •
When Liberation Means Defecation: Western Feminism’s Fascination with (Nude) Bodies in Egypt
When Liberation Means Defecation: Western Feminism’s Fascination with (Nude) Bodies in Egypt2019 •
2019 •
Annual Meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, Harvard University, USA; 17-20 Mar. 2016
Multilingualism in Translation: The Complexity of Translating Miloš Crnjanski’s 'Roman o Londonu' (A Novel about London) into the English Language2016 •
Annual Conference British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies, Cambridge (England)
A Programmatic City: Intentions and consequences of Peter’s planned capital2016 •
2019 •
2015 •