On 6-7 February 2026, the second working group workshop and project core group meeting of the COST project CA23144 “Europe’s Representations of India: Texts, Images, and Encounters” (ESIND) took place in Palermo (Italy), with the participation of professor and leading researcher Anita Stašulāne of Daugavpils University. In order to map and analyze the European perspective on India, the workshop was dedicated to the topic “My First Time in India”. The workshop was attended by 13 researchers from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. The workshop was open to all interested parties, and it took place at the Antonio Pasqualino International Puppet Museum in Palermo.

The workshop explored “first impressions” documented by travellers, missionaries, intellectuals, ambassadors, medics and artists. The workshop provided insights into how India was viewed (emotionally, visually, sensory and intellectually) by people who came from European countries with different cultural, linguistic and religious traditions. The researchers identified the elements that were most significant to visitors to India: landscapes, cities, people, rituals, material culture, food, bodies, languages and social customs. The workshop encouraged reflection on which features had remained constant over the centuries and which had changed, revealing patterns of continuity and transformation in European perceptions. By examining descriptions from different centuries, countries, genders and religious perspectives, the workshop allowed to understand whether and how the representation of India changes depending on the experience of the observer.

In her presentation “Hinduism in the 19th century Latvian Imagination”, prof. Anita Stašulāne analysed 19th century press publications, which reflect how Latvians living by the Baltic Sea imagined distant India. Although the press publications of that time provided fragmentary information about India, its peoples and religions, the publications allow us to identify the main themes that stirred the Latvian imagination and created their prejudices about India. The analysis of press materials led to the conclusion that Latvian readers obtained information about India indirectly from translated messages of travelers, journalists, orientalists and missionaries from other countries, mainly Germany.

The ESIND project core group meeting discussed the implementation issues of the second period of the project. The working group leaders reported on the nearest tasks, plans and the progress of their work. Prof. Anita Stašulāne, together with Dr. Giuseppe Resta (Portugal), leads the 4th working group, which is responsible for scientific dissemination. During the meeting, decisions were made on the preparation of special issues of two academic journals. In this way, ESIND will contribute to the creation of new knowledge in the field of humanities and social sciences, policy-making, intercultural understanding and education.

More information is available on the ESIND website: https://esind.eu/

Additional information: ESIND member prof. Anita Stašulāne
Email: anita.stasulane@du.lv