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Asian Studies in Amsterdam (ASiA-UvA) and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) invite you to a roundtable discussion on India and Europe. This meeting is part of the activities of the University of Amsterdam as partner in the Amsterdam India Festival 2008.
India and Europe as Mirror Images?
A roundtable discussion
University of Amsterdam
Date:Â Â Â Â Wednesday 19 November 2008
Time:Â Â Â 15.00-17.00 hrs
Venue: Heeren XVII zaal, Oost-Indisch huis, Kloveniersburgwal 48, Amsterdam
India's recent economic rise has received much attention within Western societies. As a result, Europe's image of India is changing rapidly. In the past, India was mainly associated with poverty, environmental degradation and social injustice. Today, there is an increasing interest in Indian culture, in Bollywood films and in the expanding business sector, especially within the IT industry. But even this changing image of India is still very limited in scope and often based on stereotypes.
In the roundtable discussion organised by ASiA-UvA and IIAS, we will discuss European and Western perspectives on India and her position in the world, both in the past and in the current era of globalization. How did the West look at India in the past, how has that image changed over time, and what are the images of the West in India?
The roundtable discussion will start with three brief introductions by Prof. Peter Rietbergen (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen), Prof. Mario Rutten (University of Amsterdam) and Drs. Michiel Baas (University of Amsterdam and International Institute for Asian Studies).
Peter Rietbergen is Professor of ‘Cultural history after the Middle Ages' and also occupies the special chair in ‘History of the relations between Europe and the non-European world' at the Radboud University Nijmegen. His book publications include Short History of the Netherlands (6th revised edition 2007), Europe: A Cultural History (2nd edition 2006) and Europa's India: Fascinatie en Cultureel Imperialisme, circa 1750 - circa 2000 (2007).
Mario Rutten is Professor of Comparative Sociology of Asia at the University of Amsterdam. He has conducted anthropological research on rural capitalists and labour relations in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and on Indian migrants in Europe. His book publications include Small Business Entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe (co-edited, 1997), Rural Capitalists in Asia (2003), Asia in Europe, Europe in Asia (co-edited, 2004), and Leuke Vakantie Gehad? Verhalen over Antropologisch Veldwerk ( 2007).
Michiel Baas is Secretary of the Board of the Amsterdam School for Social Sciences of the University of Amsterdam and coordinator of the Amsterdam branch office of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS). He conducted anthropological research for his MA thesis on IT professionals in Bangalore and is about to complete his PhD thesis on Imagined Mobility: Indian Student-Migrants in Australia.
