The database of the Middle-India Archive sees itself as a platform for ethnological and indological research on this region. This platform shall grow in the course of time by integrating further persons, regions and topics. Central India in the broadest sense of the word means the entire territory of the Eastern Ghats. In the current development phase, research on the Odisha highlands within this large region will initially (but not exclusively) be covered, which has emerged from research projects at German universities. Two research personalities are particularly central in this context, because they have laid the foundations for much further research: Dr. Hermann Niggemeyer, who worked at the Frobenius Institute in Frankfurt am Main, and Prof. Dr. Georg Pfeffer, who worked at the University of Heidelberg and later at the Free University of Berlin. Both have done pioneering work in Odisha and their research and teaching has inspired many younger colleagues whose work is also represented in this Middle-India Archive. The platform is intended to provide information about the various research projects, offer literature references, provide databases for photography, film and material culture, and create a forum for discussion. The Middle-India Archive is affiliated to the Frobenius-Institute, which is continuously expanding and maintaining this database, has its own archives for written legacies and objects, and has a department for the processing and preservation of films and photographs. In the course of time, the Middle-India Archive is also to become a platform for ethnological and indological research in the lowlands of Odisha as well as in neighboring states (especially Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh).
Photo: Frobenius-Institut
