The aim of this interdisciplinary event is to delve into the reception of India in the West and the reception of the West in India, bearing in mind not only a selection of relevant authors, but also a transversal approach to the subject. Such an approach is process-based and considers both directions in the effectual history of the problematic: from India to the West and from the West to India. Both directions should be considered simultaneously (that is, without relying on purely chronological reconstructions) and dialogically (that is, as two conceptions determining each other). The term “reception” should be taken as a (temporally and spatially) bi-directional indicator, demanding a critical attitude to overcome positivistic reconstructions of origins, with the aim of attaining a deeper understanding of acculturation. Bi-directionality plays an important role in distilling the specific elements from the contributions of each selected (Indian or Western) author and in inaugurating a dialogic process that makes space accessible to new ideas concerning both traditions and enriches the transcultural horizon belonging to them.
