In India, the modern university as a ‘teaching and examining body’ was set up as an instrument of colonial governmentality in the late nineteenth century. At that time, while many disciplines were still fluid, there was a distinct movement towards the institutionalisation of disciplinary identities in South Asia.

Disciplines and Movements studies this historical period till a little after the end of colonialism in India through an exploration of a set of conversations and transnational encounters between Indian and German-speaking intellectuals and academicians at this time. These academics include such important names as Albert Einstein, Girindrasekhar Bose, Sigmund Freud, Swami Vivekananda, and Rabindranath Tagore.

These discussions and conversations shaped the contours of disciplines such as psychology and sociology, and of course, in a different way, Indology. Moving away from the customary binary of Eastern and Western knowledge forms, the chapters show how these exchanges helped to shape and define the identity of the modern sciences and social sciences.

Coming from a wide range of disciplines, the chapter authors highlight little-known, yet key aspects of these encounters: the critical role of translation in facilitating – and, at times, distorting – flows of knowledge; exchanges between Indian and German/Austrian scientists between the two World Wars; German disciplinary engagements with India in the fields of sociology, psychology, and media theory; and the extent and nature of the closeness of Indian and German thought in relation to fascism and National Socialism.