The decline of German Indology as an academic discipline has not diminished its profound influence on the structures of racial capitalism in postmigrant Germany. Historically, German scholarship – propelled by Indomania, Romantic philology, and nationalism– forged intellectual links between ancient India and German racial theories, particularly the Aryan myth. These frameworks reified the Indian caste system and legitimised high-caste dominance transnationally. Largely built on British colonial sources, and later institutionalised and endorsed under National Socialism, German Indology constructed an expedient idea of “Indian culture” and used it as an extractable resource for the restoration of German identity. This paper argues that sound and music as racialised forms of ‘Indian history’ and ‘Indian culture’ have served as means through which Germany negotiated its place in Europe and managed its crisis of self-identification. At the same time, it supplied the material and ideological conditions for Hindu nationalism to emerge as a dominant force of anti-colonial resistance in India – a legacy that continues to shape its contemporary political destiny. This analysis positions music archives and the “wellness” industry as key sites where the intersecting projects of History, science, nationalism and racial capitalism converge – thereby providing a critical lens through which to interrogate the enduring contradictions within contemporary German society.
BIO: Rasika Ajotikar is Junior Professor of Ethnomusicology at the Institute for Music and Musicology and the Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim in Germany. Rasika’s research addresses music and sound as they relate to political economy. She is presently working on a monograph which looks at the musical landscape of anti-caste thought in western India against the backdrop of the systematisation of music in colonial India and bourgeoning political movements over the 20th century. Her current research on Indian music’s historicisation in German sound archives as well as cultural and academic institutions looks at the roots and afterlives of German Orientalism and Indology to examine the present-day contradictions of German cultural identity and memory politics. Rasika is a trained Hindustani vocalist and maintains an active performance practice through experimental collaborations with musicians and activists across Europe and India.