Global Intellectual History beyond Eurocentric Lenses: Connected Political Vocabularies across South and Southeast Asia, ca. 1800-2018

(Organized by Milinda Banerjee, in cooperation with David Malitz, as Part of the Event
Series ‘Global Intellectual History as Political and Ethical Critique’ Supported by the Bachelor of Arts Program in Language and Culture, Chulalongkorn University)

In recent years, global intellectual history has emerged as one of the most dynamic academic
fields, taking the study of political thought beyond bounded area studies concerns. Simultaneously,
the charge of Eurocentrism has occasionally been levelled against the field. This roundtable
intervenes within these debates by going beyond conventional frames of Europe-to-non-Europe
conceptual diffusion and translation, and by centring, instead, vocabularies of Asian origin which
migrated between South and Southeast Asia. By focusing on actors, conjunctures, and itineraries
traversing India, Nepal, Thailand, Bali, Java, and beyond, this roundtable foregrounds trans-Asian
intellectual fords and their role in the emergence of modern globalized political thought, around
issues of sovereignty, labour and political economy, legal theology, ‘humanity’, and more. The
image of the moving Sun Chariot provokes us to illuminate these intellectual crossings, and journeys
to other shores.

Time and Place

Saturday 4 August, 9 am to 1 pm
Professor-Huber Platz 2 Munich, Room V002

Program

9-10

Presentation by Milinda Banerjee:

From Rulership of Dharma to Decolonial 'Humanity': Late Colonial Bhadraloks, Southeast Asian Interlocutors, and (Not Entirely Erased) Muslim and Non- Brahmanical Agents – Discussion

10-10.15

break

10.15-11.15

Presentation by Simon Cubelic

Diglossia, Hyperglossia or Heteroglossia? Sanskrit and the Political Languages of 19th-century Nepal - Discussion

11.15-11.30

break

11.30-12.30

Presentation by David Malitz

The pursuit of sukha: The Theravada foundations of the Thai political discourse - Discussion

12.30-13.00

Concluding Discussion