Scary news from India

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

>Certainly there are
>consequences to be considered but indologists represent India to the rest
>of the world and, like it or not, are ambassadors or diplomats of a
>sort.  It would be prudent to take this responsibility with wisdom.

I take exception to this view. Indologists are not ambassadors or diplomats
of a sort. They are independent scholars only representing their own views
(unless they actually happen to represent an organization or a country's
diplomatic staff, in which case they do not specifically speak as
Indologists, but as diplomats). As scholars, Indologists should be
critical, analytical and independent (which is the general academic ideal).
Their job is not to be kind - nor cruel - to India or any other state in
their field of study, but to give their views of things as they see them,
with as strong arguments as possible. In short: An Indologist should not be
different from an old-fashioned Sovietologist, Sinologist or Arabist.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no