The Coffee Break Conference (CBC) is a project brought about by a group of young researchers who wish to create informal occasions for comparing research topics and methodologies between specialists in different fields bound by a common interest towards the study of Asia. A particular emphasis is put on the multidisciplinary nature of the debate and of the comparisons it promotes: every conference is subdivided into separate panels and round tables, all of them sharing a common focus on the culture, history, politics, language, traditions of Asia, often compared with those of other geographical and/or cultural areas.

To the present day already four editions of the CBC have been organized, gathering researchers from all around the world in various locations in Italy, granted by many institutions: Sapienza University of Rome, Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale (Rome), University of Cagliari, T.WAI (Turin), University of Turin, Associazione Italiana Studi Sanscriti.

The papers from every conference undergo an internal editing, as well as an anonymous external peer reviewing. The proceedings of the CBC 1 and 2 have been published on the Rivista degli Studi Orientali (2011 and 2012, to appear); those of the CBC 3 and 4 are under preparation and will be proposed to some international peer reviewed journals.

In May 2014, under a common subtitle "The influence of space on culture in South Asia", we will present the following panels:

– Reflecting on the role of Caste in contemporary India
– Theatrical and ritual boundaries in South Asia
– Untying the knot: Tracing local elements within cultural phenomena in South Asia
– The space we live: landscape in Asian historical, literary and religious sources
– Branch-crossing isoglosses in Indo-European: a problem setting
– Labour questions and the politics of informalization in India

Participants will come from Austria, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Swiss, UK, and USA.

Il presente convegno Coffee Break Conference 5 (CBC 5), sottotitolato "The influence of space on culture in South Asia", si colloca all'interno di una riuscita serie di convegni, con quattro edizioni precedenti, più un'edizione ridotta in formato seminariale. Il resoconto delle attività svolte in tali occasioni può essere consultato sul seguente sito:
http://asiatica.wikispaces.com/

L'iniziativa delle CBC ha ricevuto numerosi finanziamenti da enti di ricerca universitari e no, in varie città italiane:
– Sapienza Università di Roma
– Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale 'G. Tucci' (Roma)
– Università di Cagliari
– Università di Torino
– Torino World Affairs Institute
– Associazione Italiana di Studi Sanscriti

Finora sono intervenuti numerosi studiosi italiani e internazionali (provenienti da: Austria, Francia, Germania, India, Paesi Bassi, Polonia, Regno Unito, Russia, Svizzera e USA). La selezione avviene tramite la procedura del Call for papers aperto, pubblicato online.

L'edizione per la quale si chiede il contributo della Sapienza Università di Roma è co-finanziata dall'Associazione Italiana di Studi Sanscriti, nonché da un ente straniero: l'Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences.

L'iniziativa delle CBC si pone primariamente tre obiettivi:

1) Dare voce a giovani studiosi (studenti del dottorato o già addottorati), facendoli dialogare tra loro e con gli specialisti di maggiore esperienza in un clima informale e cooperativo.

2) Promuovere un approccio multidisciplinare allo studio dell'Asia e rendere possibile uno scambio trasversale di idee provenienti da campi disciplinari distanti ma uniti da un interesse comune.

3) Creare un'occasione informale per la divulgazione delle idee e del dibattito scientifico non ingessati da un eccessivo accademismo. A tale scopo i curatori si premurano di creare i presupposti per una discussione fruttuosa distribuendo in anticipo il materiale di base di ogni intervento in modo da permettere a ognuno di esaminarlo e discuterne poi durante lo svolgimento del convegno.

Dopo ogni convegno interviene la fase della pubblicazione degli atti, che vengono prima attentamente editi e vagliati scientificamente dagli organizzatori e poi proposti per la pubblicazione a riviste nazionali e internazionali con peer review.

Di seguito viene illustrata la struttura e i contenuti dei vari panels di cui è composto il convegno. La descrizione è in lingua inglese, perché tale è la lingua ufficiale del convegno.

PANELS

Theatrical and ritual boundaries in South Asia

The dichotomy between the categories of theatre and ritual has been questioned in recent scholarship as a construct of European modernity, which is not possibly applicable to every time and society. The existence of clear boundaries between theatre and ritual has been further challenged by the appearance of the new disciplinary field of performance studies, were such boundaries are manifestly and programmatically blurred. This panel aims to investigate the existence and relevance of these two different categories in India, the connections and ruptures between the theatrical and the ritual sphere, as well as the practical and theoretical implications of either maintaining, suppressing or displacing the boundaries between these two overlapping domains.

Going back to the Vedic period, the theatrical character of some of the hymns of the Rg-Veda, as well as some of the interpretations in the Brāhmaṇas, has given birth to different theories about the use of dramatic dialogues in dependence to Vedic ritual. The theoretical treatises on theatre display on their parts strong links with the ritual universe, links which are reiterated in the existing literary plays. In medieval India, we witness the emergency of ritual figures connected to the performance of the various arts used as part of temple rituals. Even today, anthropologists have not failed to remark how rituals and theatrical performances often cohabit the same religious or cultural event. Links between ritual and theatre exist hence on multiple levels and throughout the history of South Asia, and the interactions and mutual influences between literary sources, religious practices and living art forms are often difficult to disentangle.

Through the use of different disciplinary approaches and through a discussion on the different methodologies implemented (textual criticism, ethnography, religious studies,…) in specific case studies, we aim to reshape our understanding of the categories of ritual and theatre in South Asia.

Untying the knot: Tracing local elements within cultural phenomena in South Asia

When one looks at something regarded as tradition, be it literature or performing arts, one is confronted with a bundle of social and historical components that affect the development of a cultural phenomenon, thus creating a picture in which it is hard to pinpoint the different strata and layers.

The aim of this panel is to see if the contrasting notions of local and global may help in untying this gordian knot. We will encourage to discuss the interaction and overlapping of regional and non-regional elements within a given "tradition", as e.g. the local features and facets that merged into the process of the so called sanskritization, and, on the other end, to analyse the local traditions that gained or kept their own status. Furthermore, this issue demands an interdisciplinary approach as long as the same dynamic might be at work in different context: if we consider, for instance, the cult of the goddess Ellama, we see that it is mixed with Brahmanical elements but it also retains aspects of its folk origin. In modern time, especially over the last few decades, some of the folk-religious practices of the goddess have been questioned and criticized as not fitting either the self-image of India as a modern nation or the rapidly spreading middle-class values. This phenomenon appears very interesting for the impact of “modernization” on “folk” or popular religious culture. At the same time, the stories staged in Yakṣagāna performances, though drawn from the common-shared Sanskrit epic, show the influence of the kanaḍa mythological background and, on the same time, some of the props used in this theatre form hint at an interesting connection with the tribal rites of bhūta. Therefore, we intend to create a platform for comparing data from different field of research, such as anthropology, history of religion and theatre, supported by the strong suspicion that it might also favour a discussion on what can be termed as “local”.

The space we live: landscape in Asian historical, literary and religious sources

The purpose of this panel is to investigate the way landscape is thought, imagined or concretely realized in archeological, literary, religious and philosophical sources of Asia. The main idea of the project is that landscape is rarely a neutral setting for human actions and events, but rather a space which is moulded by different dynamics (like political powers, religious beliefs, literary topoi, philosophical arguments) and it is very often conceived as functional to them.

The papers of the panel will evaluate — taking into account different contexts — the concrete modes of realization of landscape, trying to describe instances in which space plays a role as a part of a clearly recognizable ideological program.

Branch-crossing isoglosses in Indo-European: a problem setting

The participants of this panel will expose and debate the first results of a recently proposed research project (by A. Keidan as principal investigator). This project aims at providing a theoretical and methodological basis for the description, analysis and classification — in terms of areal linguistic approach — of the common features shared by Indo-European languages that are not bound by an immediate genetic relationship (i.e. do not descend from one and the same closest ancestor, such as Proto-Germanic for the historically attested Germanic languages). We suggest to term such common features as "branch-crossing". The languages under consideration can also be considered of the "second generation", opposed to the oldest "first generation" IE languages (e.g. Vedic, Hitite, Mycenaean). The basic assumption is that the number of the branch-crossing common features is too high to be ignored. They started to be collected and studied since the times of J. Schmidt's criticism of A. Schleicher's tree model, but have never received a complete and systematic description, which is what we are going to provide. Ultimate goal of the present research it to define geographically mapped linguistic areas (Sprachbund) within the second generation IE languages.

In the occasion of the present conference the main theoretical tools will be defined and evaluated and the primary linguistic data collected by the members of the research team will be publicly illustrated and discussed. The debate will be focused on the problem of the distinction between the possible sources of the branch-crossing isoglosses:

– Casual coincidence;
– Common drift;
– Substrate influence;
– Branch-crossing contacts.

Labour questions and the politics of informalization in India

The panel aims at contributing to the analysis of the phenomenon of labour informalization in globalizing India — i.e. the expansion of employment in the informal sector, the growing informalization of labour relations in the formal sector, as well as the rise in self-employment levels as the result of increasing difficulties in accessing wage labour.

The panel includes contributions able to shed light on current labour dynamics both in rural and urban scenarios, as well as on the dynamics of labour migration and of the pauperization of those sections of the populations that are at the bottom of the economy. Gendered analyses of these phenomena are particularly welcome.

Moreover, the panel includes contributions aimed at critically investigating the role of the state in relation to the recent expansion of informal labour relations, both at a national and at a state level. Explorations of such issues in other Asian countries are not precluded.

Reflecting on the role of Caste in contemporary India

Since the implementation of the neo-liberal reforms in 1991, Indian society has witnessed drastic social and economic transformations. Within this scenario, the caste system has been able to survive and accommodate itself in the contemporary neo-liberal framework. Therefore this panel aims at re-thinking and re-considering the caste system in order to foster an innovative debate relocating the caste in the contemporary society. The dominant trend to understand the caste system has always been related to the class. However this trend misses out the specificity of the caste in terms of their nature and their role in structuring Indian society. Although we acknowledge caste-class relations, we would like to leave them at the margins, in order to focus on the specificity of the caste system.

The current debate on caste includes two different approaches to the understanding and analysis of caste. On the one hand, the idea of the collapse of the caste as a system is contrasted to the reinforcement of the caste identity through the emergence of identity politics. On the other hand, the caste hierarchy is analysed as a driving force for social and economic inequality. In presence of these two different perspectives the panel would further extend this debate by arguing that the caste system does exist and the hierarchy still plays a major role in shaping and regulating the everyday life in India. Indeed, in spite of larger claims and interventions made by the democratic state as well as neo-liberal markets in order to create a “society without caste”, we still find that caste is the predominant social and economic organisation in India. On the basis of this observation, we argue that caste is not a fixed or simplistic system, but it continuously evolves displaying its complexity. As a matter of fact, the caste system has accommodated itself and still continues to influence and reproduce itself through these economic, social, and political institutions.

As we focus on caste, we are aware of the sensitiveness as well as the challenges and risks involved in this topic. Nevertheless our only purpose here is to explore the role of caste in the present drastically changing context. In the light of the above discussion, the questions that will drive the panel are:

– What does caste mean in post-1991 India?
– What are the main features of the caste system within the society of nowadays?
– Is the current social and economic caste mobility reinforcing or annihilating the caste system?

A list of possible topics that discuss over the above questions includes:

– Changing practices of untouchability
– Status of middle castes
– Gender analysis of caste system
– Caste networks and accessibility to resources
– Resilience, resistance and violence in caste system
– Analysis of social economic mobility within the caste system
– Caste and sexuality
– Inter-caste marriages
– Caste and environment
– Caste and development
– Caste and identity politics

COFFEE BREAK CONFERENCE 5. THE INFLUENCE OF SPACE ON CULTURE IN SOUTH ASIA

Giovedì, 22 Maggio 2014

Mattina

Theatrical and ritual boundaries in South Asia

– Pietro Chierichetti (University of Turin)
– Daniele Cuneo (Cambridge University)
– Elisa Ganser (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris)
– Virginie Johan (Université de Paris 3)
– Thomas Kintaert (University of Vienna)
– Laura Silvestri (CEIAS, Paris)
– Marianna Ferrara (Sapienza University of Rome)

Pomeriggio

Untying the knot: Tracing local elements within cultural phenomena in South Asia

– Cristina Bignami (Cagliari University)
– Katrin Binder (Würzburg University)
– Ewa Dębicka-Borek (Krakow University)
– Sarah Merkle (Würzburg University)
– Elena Mucciarelli (Tübingen University)
– B. A. Viveka Rai (Mangalore University)

Venerdì, 23 Maggio 2014

Mattina

Branch-crossing isoglosses in Indo-European: a problem setting

– Alexander Lubotsky (University of Leiden)
– Klaus Butzenberger (Tübingen University)
– Artemij Keidan (Sapienza University of Rome)
– Luca Alfieri (Sapienza University of Rome)
– Carlo Vessella (University of Glasgow)
– Leonid Kulikov (University of Ghent)
– Alexander Nikolaev (Harvard University, USA)
– Ilja Seržant (University of Konstanz)

Pomeriggio

The space we live: landscape in Asian historical, literary and religious sources

– Roberto Dan (Sapienza University of Rome)
– Chiara Neri (Sapienza University of Rome)
– Marco Ferrante (Sapienza University of Rome)

Labour questions and the politics of informalization in India

– Barbara Benedetti (Roma Tre University)
– Valentina Prosperi (Sapienza University of Rome)
– Matilde Adduci (University of Turin)

Sabato, 24 Maggio 2014

Mattina
Reflecting on the role of Caste in contemporary India

– Suhas Bhasme (University of Sussex)
– Paola Cagna (Sapienza University of Rome)
– B. Prabhakaran (Madras Institute of Development Studies)
– L. A. Samy (Association of Rural Education and Development Services, Tamil Nadu, India)
– M. Vijayabaskar (Madras Institute of Development Studies)

Pomeriggio
– Round table: Space, culture, language and politics in South Asia: common patterns and local distinctions, chairperson: Elisa Freschi (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna)

Il secondo co-organizzatore del convegno è l'Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences, in particolare nella persona della Dott.ssa Elisa Freschi