The ECSAS has met regularly since 1968, and has provided an important opportunity to discuss current research and scholarship on topics relating to South Asia within the humanities and social sciences. The ECSAS conferences now operate under the auspices of the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS), a charitable, academic association engaged in the support of research and teaching concerning South Asia with regard to all periods and fields of study.

The 26th ECSAS, will be hosted as an online event with the possibility to take part in a few selected hybrid panels and join the conference in the beautiful historical surroundings of the University of Vienna Campus in the heart of Vienna, Austria from 29 July to 1 August 2020. The conference is organised and hosted by the University of Vienna - the Center of Interdisciplinary Research and Documentation of Inner and South Asian Cultural History (CIRDIS) and the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB) - in close cooperation with the Institute for Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (IKGA) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

There is a long tradition of South Asian Studies in Vienna, both at the University of Vienna and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, going back to the mid-19th century. While a strong focus has been on South Asia’s premodern period, recent decades have witnessed a process of historical as well as disciplinary expansion. South Asian Studies in Austria today covers a wide range of disciplines and interests, and extends across several institutions. Against this background the motto of the Vienna conference will be “Reflecting on Disciplinary Boundaries”.

Panels and schedule: PDF

Convenor Martin Gaenszle, University of Vienna
Co-Convenor Birgit Kellner, Austrian Academy of Sciences

Organising Committee

Borayin Larios (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Petra Latschenberger (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)
Alexandra Scheuba (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Jürgen Schörflinger (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)
Jan Seifert (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)
Judith Starecek (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Verena Widorn (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)

Academic Committee

Karl Baier (Religionswissenschaften, University of Vienna)
Johanna Buß (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)
Alaka Chudal (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Elisa Freschi (ISTB, University of Vienna; IKGA, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Eva Knoll (ISA, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Antje Linkenbach-Fuchs (Max-Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt)
Klaus-Dieter Mathes (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Karin Preisendanz (ISTB, University of Vienna)
Florian Schwarz (Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Danuta Stasik (EASAS President, University of Warsaw)
Mélanie Vandenhelsken (CIRDIS, University of Vienna)

Conference Organisation

University of Vienna