Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures

From language, text, literature, through media, film, and culture: in our department, we deal with the Indian subcontinent on the basis of its modern languages. With 1,7 billion inhabitants, South Asia hosts more than one-fifth of humanity today. The largest state in the region is India, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. South Asia is characterized by great cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity.

What is most striking, perhaps, is the multitude of languages. Several modern South Asian languages have brought forth a remarkable treasure of literature, and some of them are nowadays official state languages.We teach four of the largest and most important of them—Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu—in intensive courses. They grant us access to literature from post-classical times to the present. 

Film and media discourses are also within our field, and we lay emphasis on practical language skills. Language and society, premodern and modern literature and religions, and popular and art cinema are a part of our teaching and research. We are also open to topics like religious nationalism, colonialism, political discourse, or everyday culture, and our conviction is that a knowledge of South Asian languages can greatly enhance the scope of such studies.