House of World Cultures, Berlin
August, 11th to 14th, 2005

Looking back onto the history of relations between India and Europe, we find a strong and complex pattern of Indo-German influences and migration. Beginning with the anti-British coalitions of Indian independence fighters with the German fascist regime up to today’s virtual search for identity of second generation Indian migrants, the Berlin symposium will focus on the representation of the Indian diaspora in Germany. Secondly we’ll try to look onto these relations from the perspective of globalization, how they are re-shaping today both in the NGO sector and within the rapidly changing structures of the world markets.

PROGRAMME SYMPOSIUM:

FRIDAY, 12.08.2005

10.00 am – 2.00 pm lectures:
- “Limits of Authenticity: Hindutva’s European entanglements” [more/mehr]
Speaker: Sumit Sarkar, Professor of History, Delhi
Respondent: Erhard Haubold, journalist, Berlin

- “Multimedia lecture: An outsider’s inside view or an insider’s outside view – changing media perceptions of India 1957-2005” [more/mehr]
Speaker: Navina Sundaram, TV correspondent, journalist and filmmaker, Delhi/Hamburg
Respondent: Harun Farocki, filmmaker, Berlin

3.00 pm – 6.00 pm Panel Discussion “The virtual second generation” [more/mehr]
excerpts from a research project, talk with founders of “theinder.net”; Participants: Urmila Goel, Mareile Paske, Navina Khatib and Thomas Steller from Viadrina; Bijon Chatterji, founder and chief editor of theinder.net, Amit Dasgupta, Indian Embassy, Berlin

SATURDAY, 13.08.2005

11.00 am – 6.00 pm lectures:
- “Message in a Dabba: How India wards off the threat of globalization” [more/mehr]
Speaker: Vinay Choudary, cultural observer, conspiracy theorist and screenwriter
Respondent: Britta Ohm, political scientist, Berlin

- “Star Biz – Multimedia Presentation of a documentary journey through globalized times” [more/mehr]
Speakers: Merle Kröger and Dorothee Wenner, Berlin
Respondent: Vinzenz Hediger, film scientist, Ruhr-University, Bochum

- “Civil Society and Development Aid: The Politics of Responsible Engagement” [more/mehr]
Speaker: Shobha Raghuram, director of the India Regional Office of the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, Bangalore
Respondent: Susanne Schultz, political scientist, Berlin

SUNDAY, 14.08.2005

4.00 pm Panel Discussion
“Cross Cultural Networking: Import Export”;
Participants: Madhusree Dutta, currently guest scholar at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin, Angelika Fitz, cultural scientist, curator, Vienna; Florian Zeyfang, artist, Berlin; Kien Nghi Ha, political scientist, author; Berlin
Moderation: Dorothee Wenner, curator, filmmaker, author, Berlin