Monographs & edited volumes (whole or excerpts) by Hans Harder
Language Ideologies and the Vernacular in Colonial and Postcolonial South Asia, 2024
This introduction sets some keynotes for the edited volume of which it is a part. It briefly surv... more This introduction sets some keynotes for the edited volume of which it is a part. It briefly surveys the modern South Asian language situation and calibrates our take on language ideologies.
The Vernacular. Three Essays on an Ambivalent Concept and its Uses in South Asia (co-authored by Hans Harder, Nishat Zaidi, and Torsten Tschacher), 2024
What do we mean by 'vernacular'? When used to refer to languages in South Asia, the word smacks o... more What do we mean by 'vernacular'? When used to refer to languages in South Asia, the word smacks of colonial times and has a ring of outclassing a whole set of languages. At the same time, we realize that it is hard to substitute. It neatly evokes a thoroughly multilingual language situation with English on one side and the 'vernaculars' on the other. We stumble upon it whenever this constellation is at stake, and it often is. So apparently, the word is with us to stay.
In this chapter, I trace the trajectory of the 'vernacular' as a concept from its Latin roots to present-day South Asia. I look at the cultural politics involved, highlight the ambivalences inherent in the term, and argue for a calibrated and careful use of it wherever it is unavoidable.
Disciplines and Movements: Conversations between India and the German-speaking World, 2022
In this introduction to our edited volume "Disciplines and Movements: Conversations between India... more In this introduction to our edited volume "Disciplines and Movements: Conversations between India and the German-speaking World", Dhruv Raina and I set the tone for contributions that track disciplinary exchanges from the 19th to mid-20th centuries in an array of fields ranging from sociology to aeronautics and Indology to psychology. We present chapters by Martin Fuchs, Roddam Narasimha, Dhruv Raina, Axel Michaels, Benjamin Zachariah, Angelika Malinar, Rajendra Dengle, and Hans Harder.
Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context, 2013
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies
This collection brings together nine essays, accompanied by nine short translations, that redraw ... more This collection brings together nine essays, accompanied by nine short translations, that redraw the boundaries of literary histories both temporally and spatially. The essays, rooted in the humanities and informed by interdisciplinary area studies, explore multiple linkages between forms of print culture, linguistic identities and diverse vernacular literary spaces in colonial and post-colonial South Asia. The essays and translations foreground complex and politicised expressions of gender and genre in fictional and nonfictional print materials and thus draw meaningful connections between the vernacular and literature, the everyday and the marginals, and gender and sentiment. Collectively, they expand vernacular literary archives, canons and genealogies, and push us to theorise the nature of writing in South Asia.
Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay's Śrīmadbhagabadgītā: translation and analysis
Bankimchandras Shrimadbhagabadgita, his fragmentary commentary on the Bhagvad Gita occupies an im... more Bankimchandras Shrimadbhagabadgita, his fragmentary commentary on the Bhagvad Gita occupies an important place among his religious writings. This is a documented English translation of it.
Sufism and Saint Veneration in Contemporary Bangladesh
1. Introduction 2. Structure and Religious Practice 3. Theological and Hagiological Writings 4. H... more 1. Introduction 2. Structure and Religious Practice 3. Theological and Hagiological Writings 4. Hagiographies 5. Maijbhandari Songs 6. Songs in Contemporary Maijbhandari Interpretations 7. Contextualising Maijbhandar 8. Conclusion: A Note on Bengali Islam
Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian Languages, 2010
Beyond preparing a doctoral thesis focused on the Bengali Literary historiography in the nineteen... more Beyond preparing a doctoral thesis focused on the Bengali Literary historiography in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, his academic interests include Theories of Nationalism, Gender Studies, Post Modern thcory, Comparative Literature in India Context and Literary Historiography in general. Among his publications are: 'Lost in Translation:
Looking at the Coloniser: Cross-Cultural Perceptions in Central Asia and the Caucasus, Bengal, and Related Areas
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit literarischen Traumen in Bengali- und Hindi-Prosa aus... more Die vorliegende Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit literarischen Traumen in Bengali- und Hindi-Prosa aus dem 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Zu Beginn wird versucht, einen methodischen Zugang zu fiktionalen Traumen zu erarbeiten. Wirkliche wie auch literarische Traume implizieren eine Grenzuberschreitung zwischen verschiedenen Bewustseinszustanden bzw. semantischen Ebenen. Wie fungieren Traumpassagen in Erzahlliteratur, wie werden sie in die sie umgebenden narrativen Strukturen eingebettet, inwiefern entfalten sie im Kontext ihre Bedeutung? Diese Fragen werden mit einem hauptsachlich literaturwissenschaftlichen begrifflichen Instrumentarium an eine Textauswahl von jeweils funf Hindi- und Bengali-Autoren herangetragen. Den Einzeldarstellungen und Analysen der manchmal wenig bekannten Texte wird im Hauptteil der Arbeit ausfuhrlich Raum gegeben. Zum Schlus wird auf Grundlage des besprochenen Materials folgende literaturgeschichtliche These formuliert: Wahrend in der ersten, "sakralen" Phas...
Articles & chapters by Hans Harder
Komparatistik: Jahrbuch der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft 2024, 2024
This article (in German language) contemplates on the position of modern Indian literature in non... more This article (in German language) contemplates on the position of modern Indian literature in non-English languages vis-à-vis the international and global literary sphere,
'তুমি নব নব রূপে এসো প্রাণে': সার্ধ জন্মশতবর্ষে রবীন্দ্রনাথ , 2011
Chapter in Bengali language on two satirical stories on Hindu gods and heavens by Rabindranath Ta... more Chapter in Bengali language on two satirical stories on Hindu gods and heavens by Rabindranath Tagore, his অরসিকের স্বর্গপ্রাপ্তি and স্বর্গীয় প্রহসন (both written in 1894).
HerStory: Historical Scholarship Between South Asia and Europe, 2018
Nostalgia as a form of consciousness or a feeling is in more than one way connected with literatu... more Nostalgia as a form of consciousness or a feeling is in more than one way connected with literature and the arts. In narratives, it does not seem far-fetched to surmise that this link is particularly strong in genres that are explicitly designed to commemorate the past, such as biographies and autobiographies. This article first explores the notion of nostalgia and the mechanisms of autobiographical writing, linking the two to each other. Then I gauge the role of nostalgia in Rabindranath Tagore’s (1861–1941) autobiographical writings, a story that gains complexity by Tagore’s cult status in Bengali culture and his concurrent proneness to be appropriated as an object of collective nostalgia.
Disciplines and Movements, 2022
How did bilinguality in colonial India work out? When, for what purposes and for what sort of rea... more How did bilinguality in colonial India work out? When, for what purposes and for what sort of readership did famous Indian psychoanalyst Girindra Sekhar Bose use English, when Bengali? What were the politics underlying those choices?
In addition to tackling questions such as these, this chapter also looks again at the correspondence between Bose and Freud. Like others before me, but in a somewhat different way, I argue that this correspondence was a tragically missed chance to engage in productive dialogue, and prevented very promising crossfertilization in psychology to take proper shape.
Indian Satire in the Period of First Modernity (eds Monika Boehm-Tettelbach and Heidi Rika Maria Pauwels, 2012
What do we call "colonial satire"? In this article, I give a brief survey of satirical texts of c... more What do we call "colonial satire"? In this article, I give a brief survey of satirical texts of colonial times in some regional languages of South Asia. I argue that satire can be "colonial" in various degrees, depending on how explicitly it is connected with colonial structures, and I propose four distinct levels: zero level (satire written in colonial times), ground level (satire written by "colonized" authors), intermediate level (satire with a discernibly colonial setting), and top level (satire targetting the colonial order).
Contribution to Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism on Hindus in Bangladesh:
Hans Harder (2009): 'R... more Contribution to Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism on Hindus in Bangladesh:
Hans Harder (2009): 'Regions and Regional Traditions: Bangladesh'. In: Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. I. Ed. Knut A. Jacobsen. Leiden/Boston: Brill; 301-6.
In diesem Artikel versuche ich, die Geschichte der südasiatischen Neusprachen knapp allgemein dar... more In diesem Artikel versuche ich, die Geschichte der südasiatischen Neusprachen knapp allgemein darzustellen. Das Augenmerk liegt dabei weniger auf linguistischen als auf soziolinguistischen Aspekten. Besonderes Gewicht kommt der polyglotten Sprachsituation Südasiens und der kolonialen und postkolonialen Nachbarschaft mit dem Englischen zu.
This article explores some facets of literary urbanity in modern South Asian literatures such as ... more This article explores some facets of literary urbanity in modern South Asian literatures such as Urdu, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi. Taking the proliferation of megacity research in present-day urban studies as my starting point, I intend to show that literatures in the regional languages of South Asia provide a rich archive of city representations and discourses about urbanity – an archive that is highly neglected particularly if compared to the corpus of English writings along these lines. Sections on genres such as the Urdu šahr āšob, Bengali nakˈśā, Marathi humourism, Bengali theatre and the Hindi and Bengali novel, among others, will provide ample glimpses and some analysis of this archive stretching from the eighteenth century to the present. One of the guiding lines of investigation will be the quest for an alternative urbanism in these non-English sources.
This paper looks at efforts in colonial and postcolonial history to invest the Hindi language wit... more This paper looks at efforts in colonial and postcolonial history to invest the Hindi language with status. Of course Hindi cannot be regarded as a sacred language, but nevertheless traces of a sacred aura can be detected especially when its association with Sanskrit is stressed. As one of the contributions in the volume "Defining the Indefinable" (ed. Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fras, 2014), this chapter gives some glimpses of languages ideologies regarding Hindi along with a critical analysis.
This book chapter from "Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian L... more This book chapter from "Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian Languages" (ed. Hans Harder, New Delhi: Social Science Press, 2010) first gives a survey of literary histories of Indian literature in English. In the second part, it looks into how literary historians use biologistic metaphors in order to accomodate English literature as a legitimate part of the national canon by the side of the literatures in modern regional languages.
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Monographs & edited volumes (whole or excerpts) by Hans Harder
In this chapter, I trace the trajectory of the 'vernacular' as a concept from its Latin roots to present-day South Asia. I look at the cultural politics involved, highlight the ambivalences inherent in the term, and argue for a calibrated and careful use of it wherever it is unavoidable.
Articles & chapters by Hans Harder
In addition to tackling questions such as these, this chapter also looks again at the correspondence between Bose and Freud. Like others before me, but in a somewhat different way, I argue that this correspondence was a tragically missed chance to engage in productive dialogue, and prevented very promising crossfertilization in psychology to take proper shape.
Hans Harder (2009): 'Regions and Regional Traditions: Bangladesh'. In: Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. I. Ed. Knut A. Jacobsen. Leiden/Boston: Brill; 301-6.