Book Review:"Negationism in India"-Part 1

[Bob King - ligi355@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu]

	I must say I'm not terribly upset by the occasional 'irruption' of
which Dominik spoke.  I mean, one does grow so tired of fonts and all
the fine points.  I find it useful to keep the middle finger of my left hand 
near the -d-.  
Robert D. King
 


> From magier at columbia.edu Mon Novermber 22 13:20:30 1993
Date: Mon, 22 Novermber 1993 13:20:30 -0500
From: David Magier <magier at columbia.edu>
Subject: article on Rajasthan history
Content-Type: TEXT/plain; charset=US-ASCII

For Rajasthanwallah's on the net: I've spotted a new and very interesting
article that you might not run into in the normal course of info browsing:

"Conversion to Islam and formation of castes in Medieval Rajasthan," by S.
Inayat A. Zaidi and Sunita A. Zaidi (Dept. of History, Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi), IN Ahsan J. Qaisar (ed.) ART AND CULTURE: FELICITATION VOLUME IN HONOR
OF PROFESSOR S. NURUL HASAN, Jaipur: Publication Scheme, 1993. Pp.27-42.

(I hope those not interested in Rajasthan do not mind my posting this
bibliographic notice to this group).

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
    ____________________________      304 International Affairs
  ///    -- David Magier --    \\\    Columbia University
 |||   Director, AREA STUDIES   |||   New York, N.Y. 10027-7296
 |||  S&SE Asia, Latin America, |||   212-854-8046 / FAX: 212-854-2495
  \\\ Mid-East, Slavic, Africa ///
    ---------------------------       magier at columbia.edu



 

Original-Received: from 
                   DialupEudora (cc-tip-1.uchicago.edu) by midway.uchicago.edu 
                   for indology at liverpool.ac.uk Mon, 22 Nov 93 19:39:24 CST
PP-warning: Illegal Received field on preceding line
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 93 19:39:21 CST
Message-Id: <9311230139.AA17893 at midway.uchicago.edu>
To: indology at liverpool.ac.uk
From: Sheldon Pollock <s-pollock at uchicago.edu>
X-Sender: tasi at midway.uchicago.edu
Subject: Re: NSEP

A recent communication copied to the Indology network five days ago, 
>  
>     FYI: The National Security Education Program (NSEP) is due to 
>     begin implementing pilot programs in 1994 . . . 

has just been called to my attention. I reluctantly take up space on the
network to respond, and I will be brief. 

It is imperative that U.S. faculty advisers and their graduate and
undergraduate students be informed of the controversy the NSEP has provoked
since it was first proposed two years ago. This program for study and
research abroad is under the jurisdiction of the Intelligence committees of
the U.S. Congress and is administered in the Department of Defense (via
various pass-through organizations); the Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency is a statutory member of the program's Board. A large
number of area study and professional organizations (including the American
Council of Learned Societies, the American Institute of Indian Studies, the
Middle East Studies Association, the Latin American Studies Association,
the African Studies Association) have publicly expressed serious concerns
about this link--a dangerous and historically unprecedented link--between
the military/intelligence establishment and area studies. They believe that
students trained under the auspices of NSEP will be seen abroad as agents
of this establishment, and may therefore be put in jeopardy. Many of these
professional groups have accordingly advised their members not to
participate in the NSEP so long as it is located where it is and structured
as it is. 

Efforts are in fact under way to relocate and restructure the program. Vice
President Gore's National Performance Review Committee recommended in
September that the NSEP be consolidated with the Center for International
Education in the Department of Education, where it properly belongs. No
action is expected on this recommendation for some months.

Given these considerations, for the NSEP to go forward, as now appears to
be the case, is  unconscionable in the eyes of many U.S. area studies
scholars.

An informational packet on the NSEP is being prepared by members of the
Joint Committee on South Asia of the Social Science Research Council. I
will be happy to provide this to interested parties. Study abroad advisers,
applicants, and their mentors deserve to know the potential risks that the
NSEP in its present form carries with it.


Sheldon Pollock, Chairman
Dept. of South Asian Languages and Civilizations
University of Chicago
1130 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637-1543
(fax: 312-702-9861)