relations, expressed in material and discursive landscapes of
domination and resistance”. On the other hand, Lefevre (1974)
points out that space is a social product, which results from
the determined production relations that produce at a certain
moment, as well as the result of the accumulation of a historical
process that materializes in a certain way territorial space. That
is to say that any refl ection on the space fi nds diff erent levels,
related in turn to imaginaries and social representations that
about the “Others” are made from the diff erent social spaces
(academic and non-academic) and are related to the geopolitics
of knowledge.
Everything stated assumes knowledge as transforming
praxis and the impact of the various dimensions on the
researcher refers to the possibilities and limits of her/his task.
Studies about India in Argentina
Research in the fi eld of Indian Studies, in fact, takes place
in Latin America in general and Argentina in particular for
several decades.
In this context, to the prestigious fi gures and pioneering
task of Vicente Fatone, Fernando Tola Mendoza and Carmen
Dragonetti (the latter two, the largest producers of direct
translations from Sanskrit and other languages original texts
directly to Spanish, in the Spanish-speaking world, besides
creators of the prestigious Journal of Buddhist Studies,
Spanish-speaking first magazine of its kind, which was
released between 1991 and 1997, working at the National
University of San Marcos, Peru and diff erent universities and
the CONICET in Argentina), it must be add the development of
diff erent institutional spaces, with various university centers,
programs, Chairs, academic events and scientifi c publications.
In the specifi c case of Argentina, adding to the initiatives
of the Center of Asia and Africa Studies (COLMEX, Mexico),
among others, we can mention the enormous task of the Latin
American Association of Asia and Africa Studies (ALADAA),
whose Argentine Section is very active, which brings together
academics and students of all the country’s institutions that
develop studies of Asia and Africa.
Moreover, the think tank, Argentine Council for
International Relations (CARI) has, within the framework of
its Asian Aff airs Committee (headed by Ambassador Eduardo
Sadous), a Working Group on India and South Asia, which
gather university colleagues and students, performs annual
seminars, publishes its work and a bimonthly newsletter
(counting with Argentine and Indian collaborators). As
part of the task of the Group, there have been made among
other activities, conferences with Dr. Sonya Gupta (Jamia
Millia Islamia University) in 2011, Drs. Ishita Banerjee
and Saurabh Dube (El Colegio de México) in 2012, Dr.
Aparajita Gangopadhyay (Goa University) in 2013, Master
Bobby Luthra Sinha (Bassel University) in 2015, Dr. Vibha
Maurya, Dr. Vijaya Venkataraman and Dr. Maneesha Taneja
(Delhi University) in 2015 and sessions with the Indian
30
ambassadors in Argentina, Argentine ambassadors in India
and other diplomats.
In addition, since 2015, a number of academic institutions
co-organized the so-called International Conference on India,
whose second edition was held in June 2017 and it has the
support of the Embassy of India in Argentina. In its fi rst
edition, it was attended by Master Bobby Luthra Sinha (Bassel
University) as a lecturer and Dr. Fernando Tola Mendoza was
honored in his 100 years, who delivered two lectures on the
occasion: “The Mahabharata” and “The monumental work of
Panini” (Rodriguez de la Vega, 2016).
Other collaborations are for example the visit of Professor
Carlos Moneta (Tres de Febrero National University) to India
under the Indian Council of Cultural Relation’s Academic
Visitors Program and the visit of Dr. Lía Rodriguez de la Vega
and Master Juan Miguel Massot to India on the occasion of the
l International Conference “Focus Latin America: The Need
for an Eff ective Program”, organized by the Indian Council
for World Aff airs and held at Sapru House, New Delhi, India
(October 24 and 25), within the framework of the agreement
between ICWA and CARI, which brought together various
Indian and Latin American scholars and diplomats. This
presence was replicated in 2018, in the second event organized
by ICWA, in Brasilia, Brazil.
In the case of India, various institutions have Centers
dedicated to the study of Latin America and/or their languages
(in the case of Argentina, Spanish) 1 Among others we can
mention:
• Center for Spanish and Latin American Studies, Jamia
Millia Islamia University, whose Offi ciating Director is Mrs
Shubada Kaul. This center has interacted and interacts with
diff erent Argentine institutions and in 2011, Professor Sonya
Surabhi Gupta (Director of the Center at that time) visited
Argentina and held conferences in various institutions, such
as diff erent universities and CARI.
• Center for Latin American Studies, Goa University,
directed by Dr. Aparajita Gangopadhyay. This center has also
interacted and interacts with diff erent Argentine institutions
and in the course of the last years, Dr. Gangopadhyay has
visited Argentina twice and held conferences in various
institutions (among them, CARI). Likewise, in October 2016,
Dr. Rodriguez de la Vega and Mag. Juan Miguel Massot
(Palermo University, CARI) 2 , visited Goa University and
off ered lectures in it. As a corollary of such exchanges, the
signing of an agreement between Goa University and Palermo
University (Argentine Republic) is currently being discussed.
• Africa, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, O.P. Jindal
Global University.
• Centre for Latin American Literature & Culture, Jadavpur
University.
• Centre for Canadian, US & Latin American Studies
(CCUS & LAS), Jawaharlal Nehru University.
• Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American