Alain Daniélou constantly sought to understand the world around him, and to explore it in order to comprehend its diversity, taking advantage of all the media at his disposal: the visual arts, music, dance, writing, philosophy, science and history. Academic Dialogue strives to disseminate the multiple facets of this work through research adopting a scientific approach, and to propose works based on Daniélou’s vision of the world to clarify the phenomena that drive our society.
The singularity of Alain Daniélou’s work can be seen in the multiple forms it takes. In an interview with Radio Suisse Romande on November 6, 1987, journalist Catherine Michel emphasized Daniélou’s multi-faceted background: “You are (…) a great specialist in India (…) You write Hindi, as you do French, and you are an initiate in the Shaivite tradition (…) If you have something else to add, add it. Daniélou replies: “You know, I have a lot of flaws. I also paint, and we (…) just had a very nice exhibition of my watercolours”. Daniélou’s multi-disciplinarity is also characterized by his ability to combine scientific methodological tools with an artistic approach that makes him an unclassifiable figure, unaffiliated with any school of thought.
It is this singularity, among others, that the work of the academic dialogue aims to highlight. Daniélou’s “integrated” stance also sets him apart from other European and Western Indianists. Daniélou made the effort to learn Indian languages, to live as an Indian, but also as a Hindu, being one of the few Europeans to have been initiated into Hinduism. In scientific terms, his approach to subjects and objects of study is therefore quite different from the academic approach common in our institutions. Likewise, his tools and sources are different.
This singular position has often earned him the mistrust of academics.
It’s ironic, you may feel, that the Alain Daniélou Foundation should propose an Academic Dialogue.
Having written my thesis on Alain Daniélou, and although my approach is resolutely literary and therefore does not approach Daniélou’s work from the point of view of philosophical, societal or theological ideas, I was able to experience just how much resistance there can be to welcoming work on Daniélou into the academic world.
Yet there is a real originality in this work, which moreover often appears visionary, or at least an excellent resource for problematizing the issues driving our 21st-century society. Thus, the research carried out as part of the Academic Dialogue focuses on analyzing the dynamics of identity, migratory movements, plurilingualism and interculturality, echoing Daniélou’s own approach as a witness to and player in these realities through his immersion in a variety of cultural universes.
Academic Dialogue seeks to offer research activities (workshops, conferences, scientific articles, as well as round tables, seminars, exhibitions and shows) that enable us to work on Daniélou’s work, or to use a part of his thinking to shed light on phenomena that are currently traversing the field of human sciences.