In his research Alexandre Sotov focuses on the issues of symbolic reality, textually transmitted within the Vedic tradition. Based on the hymns of Rgveda, the core of the ancient Indian literary tradition and one of the main sources on the early history of India, the project is aimed at introducing discourse analysis related techniques to the field. This stance is motivated with a desire to individualize the explorative models typical for early structuralist rationalisations, through concentrating on the shifting nature of social representations in the archaic text.
To leave out its apparent negative meaning, ideology is not merely a way of looking at things but may also be a powerful regulator of human interactions. Yet, archaic societies are often constructed as to be literally programmed by the certain homogeneous tradition, analyzed in terms of a vehicle of rigid ideology, where not much possibilities are left for change and relativity. Within a broad framework of socio-historical / linguistic ideas, this research will try to question this claim through looking for any features of what can be called competing modes of discourse in Rgveda.
The Newsletter articles
Ancient corpus under digital scrutiny
Translation studies go Asian in a quantitative way
List of publications: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22alexandre+sotov%22&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5