Sadhana Naithani

Sadhana Naithani
साधना नैथानी
Born
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Northern India
Academic work
DisciplineFolklore, German studies, Postcolonialism
InstitutionsJawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
Doon University
Notable worksIn Quest of Indian Folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke (2006)
Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence (2019)
The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture (2024)

Sadhana Naithani (born 1964) is an Indian ethnographer, folklorist, Indo-European post-colonial theorist and educator. She was president of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) until 2024, coordinates the Folklore Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and established the School of Languages at Doon University. She originated the term "colonizer-folklorist."

Biography

Naithani was born in 1964 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Northern India, and was raised speaking Hindi and English.[1] She achieved her PhD in 1994 in German Folkloristics.[2]

Naithani works as an associate professor at the Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India, where she additionally coordinates the Folklore Unit.[2][3]

In 2010, Naithani was nominated as a member of the Folklore Advisory Committee of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, based in Helsinki, Finland. She was president of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research (ISFNR) until 2024[3][4] and is an honorary fellow of the American Folklore Society (AFS).[2] Naithani was invited to establish the School of Languages at Doon University in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India in 2010.[3]

In 1997, Naithani originated the term "colonizer-folklorist" to describe Richard Carnac Temple in an article.[5]

In her book In Quest of Indian Folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke (2006), Naithani presented previously unknown and unpublished scholarship from colonial-era India, which she found during research in the archives of London's Folklore Society.[6][7] She explored the long-term professional relationship between the British orientalist William Crooke and his "native" assistant Ram Gharib Chaube.[8][9] Her work also included an anthology of North Indian folktales that had been collected by Crooke and Chaube.[6]

In her book The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture (2024), Naithani theorised that the British Empire was built upon the destruction of Indian wildlife, for example with the body parts and skins of hunted tigers made into exotic commodities,[10] expanding backwards on the potential time of the anthropocene.[11] The book also compared ancient fables, such as Pañcatantra, with accounts from British hunters written between 1860 and 1960.[11]

Naithani has written a novella, Elephantine (2016), which is based on her research into colonial forestry led by German scientists in the British Raj.[2] She has also explored the magic charms with which people solve "karma problems."[12]

Naithani has contributed articles to journals and news publications, such as The Times of India.[13] She has also made two ethnographic films on contemporary German village life.[1]

Select publications

  • Folktales of Northern India (2002)[14]
  • In Quest of Indian Folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke (2006)[15][16]
  • The Story-Time of the British Empire: Colonial and Post-Colonial Folkloristics (2010)[17][18]
  • Folklore Theory in Postwar Germany (2014)[19]
  • Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence (2019)[20][21][22][23]
  • The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture (2024)[10][11]

References

  1. ^ a b Book cover of ELEPHANTINE A Novella by Sadhana Naithani. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d "Sadhana Naithani". The United States – India Educational Foundation (USIEF). Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "Sadhana Naithani". Jawaharlal Nehru University. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  4. ^ Mrvič, Rok; Fiadotava, Anastasiya; Babič, Saša; Džekčioriūtė, Vita (1 November 2024). "ISFNR's 19 Congress "Folk Narratives in the Changing World": Riga, Latvia, 17.–19. June 2024". Fabula. 65 (3–4): 424–437. doi:10.1515/fabula-2024-0023. ISSN 1613-0464. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  5. ^ Naithani, Sadhana (1997). "The Colonizer-Folklorist". Journal of Folklore Research (JFR). 34 (1). Indiana University Press. Retrieved 15 February 2026 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ a b Norford, Beth (1 May 2008). "In Quest of Indian Folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke. By Sadhana Naithani. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. xi, 328 pp. $65.00 (cloth)". The Journal of Asian Studies. 67 (02). doi:10.1017/S002191180800106X. ISSN 0021-9118. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  7. ^ Naithani, Sadhana (2002). "To Tell a Tale Untold: Two Folklorists in Colonial India". Journal of Folklore Research. 39 (2/3): 201–216. ISSN 0737-7037.
  8. ^ The Middle East & South Asia Folklore Bulletin. Vol. 21. Division of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, Ohio State University. 2005. p. 45.
  9. ^ McBratney, Michael Frank (2006). Tales of Colonel Temple: Critical Folkloristics and Colonial Modernity. University of California, Berkeley. p. 44.
  10. ^ a b Murfin, Audrey; Lantz, Victoria Pettersen; Bucheli, Sibyl (17 January 2026). Animal Fashions: Colonialism, Collecting, and Gender. Springer Nature. pp. 153–154. ISBN 978-3-032-06191-1.
  11. ^ a b c Yunker, John (25 November 2024). "Book Review: The Inhuman Empire: Wildlife, Colonialism, Culture". EcoLit Books. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  12. ^ Folklore. The Folklore Society. 2008. p. 150.
  13. ^ Himal. Vol. 7. Himal Associates. 1994. p. 33.
  14. ^ Bacchilega, Cristina (2004). "Review of Folktales of Northern India; Indian Ocean Folktales: Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles". Western Folklore. 63 (4): 334–337. ISSN 0043-373X. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  15. ^ Kaliambou, Maria (2010). "A Review of In Quest of Indian Folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke by Sadhana Naithani, Hydrabad: Orient Black Swan Pvt. Ltd., 2006. 330p" (PDF). Indian Folklore Research Journal. 10. Indiana University Press: 119-123. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  16. ^ Pauwels, Heidi (2009). "In Quest of Indian Folktales. Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke. By Sadhana Naithani. pp. 328. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2006". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 19 (2): 256–258. doi:10.1017/S1356186308009486. ISSN 1356-1863. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  17. ^ Korom, Frank J. (2011). "Sadhana Naithani, The story-time of the British Empire: colonial and postcolonial folkloristics". Asian Ethnology. 30 (1). Nagoya: Nanzan University Anthropological Institute: 131–134. Retrieved 15 February 2026 – via GALE.
  18. ^ Lange, Michael A. (7 December 2011). "Michael A. Lange - Review of Sadhana Naithani, The Story-Time of the British Empire: Colonial and Post-Colonial Folkloristics". Journal of Folklore Research Reviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISSN 2832-8132. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  19. ^ Repciuc, Ioana (2016). "Sadhana Naithani, Folklore Theory in Postwar Germany, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2014, 142 p." Diacronia (4): 1–4. ISSN 2393-1140. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  20. ^ James I., Deutsch (2021). "Reviews: Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence. By Sadhana Naithani. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2019. Pp. xi + 115, preface, acknowledgments, references and conversations, index. $30 paper.)". Western Folklore. 80 (2). Western States Folklore Society. Retrieved 15 February 2026 – via ProQuest.
  21. ^ Šmidchens, Guntis (14 November 2019). "Guntis Šmidchens - Review of Sadhana Naithani, Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence". Journal of Folklore Research Reviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISSN 2832-8132. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  22. ^ Nyce, James M (3 April 2021). "Folklore in Baltic history: resistance and resurgence: by Sadhana Naithani, Jackson, University Press of Mississippi, 2019, 128 pp., $90.00/$30.00 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-4968-2356-4; ISBN 978-1-4968-2357-1". Journal of Baltic Studies. 52 (2). Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS): 284–285. doi:10.1080/01629778.2021.1913330. ISSN 0162-9778. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  23. ^ Seljamaa, Elo-Hanna (2022). "Folklore in Baltic History: Resistance and Resurgence by Sadhana Naithani (review)". Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies. 36 (1). Wayne State University Press: 139–141. doi:10.1353/mat.2022.0051. ISSN 1521-4281. Retrieved 15 February 2026 – via Project MUSE.
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