Freie Universität Berlin

The scrutiny of diversity – cultural, religious, ethnical, and political – is one of the main fields of contemporary research on European history. Theoretical concepts such as ethnogenesis, acculturation, assimilation, entangled history, as well as trans-cultural history and others have been applied in order to develop a better framework for interpretation. As a result of this debate, the perception of medieval Europe has changed. The continent is now considered as a region of heterogeneity, shaped by steady processes of integration and disintegration of peoples.

There has been a second shift in medieval Europe’s perception; from a traditional point of view, Europe’s supposed singularity has been taken for granted. In contrast, current works are criticizing this unique status as a global exception. Several comparative studies, which put Europe in its Eurasian context, have recently been published – mainly on specific topics such as perception of the other, political and administrative institutions, the tradition of wisdom, etc. However, these varying themes have never been combined into one research program that focuses on the multifaceted ways of handling diversity.

In the global context, the Indian subcontinent is an ideal region for comparison due to its interior variety in cultural, religious, ethnical, and political terms. Thus, like Europe, India was not a culturally, religiously, ethnically, or politically unified entity in the period from 13th to 17th centuries CE. During this epoch, Indian peoples were constantly exposed to foreign influence, permeating parts of the subcontinent, at times peacefully, at times by force. But there were geographical and cultural factors that still made India a distinct region. Both pre-modern India and Europe were characterized by the interaction of variety in unity.

The similarities between Europe and India are obvious, but did the historical development in both regions follow the same path towards similar results? There are several essential questions, which have to be posed in order to tackle the issue: Was the perception, the tackling, and the result of cultural contact realized in the same way? Was handling diversity in India similar to handling diversity in Europe? Moreover, what do we learn about the two world regions by comparing the specific forms of handling diversity? Are there European or Indian patterns of dealing with heterogeneity? These are the questions which will be addressed by the workshop’s participants in order to start a debate across boundaries of historiographical traditions.