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India has seen fundamental and rapid changes during the last quarter of a century, which were connected to a new policy of economic liberalization and the consolidation of Hindu nationalism in Indian politics, among other factors. We want to investigate cultural and religious transformations by focusing on marginal sections of Indian society and their relationship to the state and the so-called “mainstream”. Especially we will deal with seemingly peripheral groups such as Muslim, Dalit (previously “Untouchables”) or Adivasi (“tribal”) communities. Taken together these “minorities” number more than 400 million members.The summer school has a twofold aim. Firstly, it will introduce a variety of theoretical perspectives that have been employed in order to understand and analyse such complex processes. These general approaches and concepts can also be employed to contexts other than India. Secondly, we will deal with diverse societal fields that have been studied in this connection:citizenship, democracy and development;identity, indigeneity and the publicization of religion (new media);local and global discourses of health and madness;nationalism, conversion and violence;caste, inequality and hierarchy.We will offer a variation of teaching forms that also involve the research of the students. On the last day a student conference will be held that enables eight of the students to present their (planned) research in detail. The teaching staff represents the fields of anthropology, sociology, philosophy and history and comes from renowned universities and research institutes in India, Germany and the Netherlands. Download the flyer  Apply now 