| The City of Benares in 19th-Century Texts |
| DozentIn:Prof. Dr. phil. Thomas Kullmann |
| Veranstaltungstyp:Seminar (Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen) |
| Ort:22/104 |
| Semester:WiSe 2024/25 |
Zeiten:Mi. 18:00 - 20:00 (wöchentlich)
Erster Termin:Mittwoch, 30.10.2024 18:00 - 20:00, Ort: 22/104 |
Beschreibung:The city of Benares has fascinated travellers, both European and Indian, for a long time. To many European travellers, it embodied those aspects of India which were quintessentially ‘other’, and which provoked feelings of admiration or repulsion, or both. It will be the aim of this seminar to examine and compare the feelings recorded by European and Indian travellers, as they are indicative of the various responses to a foreign culture and discourses regarding British colonial rule prevalent in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Texts studied will include extracts from:
Reginald Heber, Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India (1828).
Emma Roberts, Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan, with Sketches of Anglo-Indian Society (1835),
William Buyers, Recollections of Northern India (1848),
Fanny Parks, Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque (1850),
Matthew Sherring, The Sacred City of the Hindus: Benares in Ancient and Modern Times (1865),
Bholanaut Chunder, The Travels of a Hindoo to Various Parts of Bengal and Upper India (1869),
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897),
E. B. Havell, Benares, the Sacred City: Sketches of Hindu Life and Religion (1905),
Rajani Ranjan Sen, The Holy City (Benares) (1912).
All of these texts are accessible on the internet (archive.org etc.), but extracts will also be made available on StudIP. Please make sure you have read the Benares parts of these books before the start of the semester (There will be a short test)
Please register for the course in person (preferably after making an appointment by e-mail), and as soon as you can, StudIP registration is not sufficient. To participate in this course you need to be in possession of a notebook or tablet with remote internet access.
Would you be interested in an excursion to Benares, to be undertaken in February, 2025? We would be there for one week; and it would cost ca. € 1.200,--. Please let me know if you might be interested as soon as possible, as we need to start planning early, in order to avail of (comparatively) cheap air fares. This study trip would be open to participants as well as non-participants in the seminar. |
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