The Flow of Concepts and Institutions between Cultures

The keynote topic of the annual conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” is the exchange of concepts and institutions between cultures, such as the understanding of governance or religiosity. The conference entitled “The Flow of Concepts and Institutions” will be held from 6 to 8 October 2010 at Heidelberg University. Over 150 participants have registered, and scholars from the Cluster will be joined by researchers from all over the world. The main speakers include the British historian Professor Quentin Skinner of Queen Mary, University of London and Sobhanlal Datta Gupta, retired Surendra Nath Banerjee Professor of Political Science at the University of Calcutta.

Societally defined concepts, like the idea of freedom or the understanding of governance and religiosity, shape human perception and individual action and can also influence the structure of social institutions, according to political scientist Professor Subrata K. Mitra and historian Dr. Antje Flüchter, both from the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe”. The participants will be inquiring into the relevance of the transcultural context for the formation and transformation of these concepts and possible ways to distinguish “internal” from “external” perspectives in such a process. The conference programme encompasses lectures and panel discussions on topics relating to politics, the secret service, the health system, art and archaeology. It also includes the first-ever public showing of a documentary by Deepali Gaur Singh on the Afghan diaspora in Germany.

The annual conference is targeted towards scholars, students and all others concerned with cultural exchange processes between Asia and Europe or seeking information on the research activities of the Cluster of Excellence. Conference organisers are Professor Mitra, Dr. Flüchter and Dr. Jivanta Schöttli. For more information on the conference, go to www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/annual-conference-2010 . The registration deadline is 21 September 2010.

Contact
Dr. Alexander Häntzschel
Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”
phone: +49 6221 544008
haentzschel@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de

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