South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

In 1962 the South Asia Institute was founded as an interdisciplinary centre for research and academic teaching on South Asia. Within South Asia it focuses on the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Due to the close philological and historical bond with South Asia the institute also takes neighbouring countries, for example Afghanistan and regions such as Tibet into account. As a central academic institution within Heidelberg University, the South Asia Institute today has seven professorships namely Anthropology, Development Economics, Geography, History, Cultural and Religious History of South Asia (formerly Classical Indology), Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures (formerly Modern Indology) as well as Political Science. The institute cooperates closely with all those chairs in Heidelberg that have a focus on South Asia, too. In particular, this holds true for the chairs of Global Art History, Visual and Media Anthropology and Buddhist Studies that have been installed within the context of the Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context. The South Asia Institutes therefore is the only institution of its kind in Germany that manages to combine Social, Economic and Geographical Studies together with Cultural Studies grounded in history of the region as well as philological expertise. This unique academic profile comprises the cultural traditions of South Asia and offers a broad range of opportunities for conducting research on contemporary, modern South Asia studies.