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In this paper I parse Hegel s evaluation of Islam as a "fanatic" religion in his triadic dialectical structure as he applies it to God and religion: Hegel seeks three aspects for his assessment of Islam, namely (1) how the abstract divine concept--God--is conceived, (2) how finite human particularity functions, and (3) if and how the latter reconciles with the former. Hegel argues that in Islam God is a universal divine absolute, but man has no other function than to be a believer and a fearful servant. There is no sublation between God and man--that is, finite humanity is not truly raised to reconcile with the divine infinity. This is Hegel's philosophical way to awkwardly address the untimeliness of Islam: in his teleological history, which moves toward progress from ancient East to modern West, Islam is problematic. As it arrives later than Christianity it can potentially qualify for being more evolved than it, thus challenging the very core of Hegel's philosophy of religion. Finally, I bring two instances of applied Hegelianism: Zizek's idea of Judaism--Christianity--Islam as a progressive dialectic triad in its own right, and John Oliver's hilarious explanation on The Daily Show of Islam's "age" and its current "awkward teenage phase." Hegel would never agree to such interpretations, which is precisely why these expansions of Hegelian thought expose the weakness of his all-encompassing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid‐1990s, Bollywood films have aimed to appeal to the Indian diaspora and its emotional investment in the idea of India by depicting an upper-class, affluent, Hindu milieu; family-centered narratives with little reference to social and political issues in India; and, most importantly, a transnational Indian protagonist who resides outside of India but upholds an unmistakably Indian heart and cultural identity. I argue that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Delhi 6 (2009) shatters Bollywood's complacency toward projecting such a transnational ideology, demanding a fundamental rethinking of this standard model. It challenges what I term Bollywood's ‘global orientation’ by calling upon members of the Indian diaspora in the West to situate themselves firmly and physically back in their homeland, in their city, in their locality. Through its characters, the film asserts that complex compromises between the global and the local inevitably force one to make a choice, and that the right decision is not simply an emotional investment in India from afar, but an actual relocation to the cities and regions of India with an involvement in their conflicts and needs, and a commitment to their solutions. The film's judgments offer tremendous potential to provoke discussions among Indians, whether living in or outside of India, as they constantly deal with unresolved negotiations between their local, national, and transnational identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the 2019 Asian German Studies Seminar held in the year 2019. Topics discussed in the seminar include transgressing borders, encounters between Asians and Germans, Holocaust and genocides in Asia and consequences of racism. The seminar featured several research scholars and professors including Mita Banerjee, Heike Berner, Jan Cao, Daniel Purdy and Adam Toth.