Changes in INDOLOGY

[jsiva at uclink3.berkeley.edu]

Hello INDOLOGY members,

I am a relatively recent member to this list (since Jan. '96) and I have
been at times fascinated, engaged, stirred up, amused, provoked, and yes,
sometimes even bored. Mostly I have been reading with interest but have not
had the desire to contribute until now. What brings me out of the shadows
is the subject of changes to INDOLOGY. As I was reading D Wujastyk's post
(and the responses from D Magier, F Conlon, E Geer, L M Fosse, etc.,) I
found myself getting disturbed even more then when reading some of the
nonsense that have found their way into my mailbox recently through this
list. I think addressing this problem of spaming and inappropriate posts is
commendable. But I am not at all sure of the way in which it is being done.


One of my concerns is the proposal to restrict "use of INDOLOGY bandwidth
by vocal persons not qualified in the academic disciplines of Indology," *
If we were to decide this on the basis of weather or not one has a degree
in "Indology" "oriental studies", etc., that may exclude a number of people
who have knowledge, insight and enthusiasm but no Indology degree. As we
have seen, there has been lots of interesting and illuminating (most
recently the posts by P Courtright and P Gaeffke) discussions going on and
it seems to  me, some of them have been initiated by challenges that seem
(and perhaps are) inappropriate. I think the credit for this goes to the
members of the list who chose to address the issue raised in spite of the
ways in which it was done. The fact that the discussion has brought up "one
of the central problems which plague recent Western scholarship on India"**
seems to me to be no small matter.

This brings me to an other issue, that of power and representation. Lars
Martin Fosse has made a suggestion that seems reasonable, on how to
restrict the "noise" He suggested  "Full privileges could then be granted
to persons with an Indological education (active scholars, students
etc.)"*** This brings up the question of who is (and is most likely to be)
1) scholars of Indology and 2) have access to the net. I think these two
factors (along with what language we choose to use and are restricted to
use by current levels of technology ( i.e., English mostly and roman
alphabet definitely )) act as strong filters for the kinds of discussions
that are even possible on a list such as this. And although I do not know
what the "solution" is I do believe that this is a problem and need to be
taken seriously.

Having said that, I will refrain from going into any more detail for the
moment. I do request however, that at the very least the "consultation with
colleagues"* be carried out in the open and with the contribution of the
rest of the members of the list. And this may be the hardest of all, but
that perhaps we state by name whose postings fall into the category of
inappropriate (or "idiotic" or "nonsense") posts so that we can be clear on
whether we are all in agreement on what constitutes inappropriate posting
and how extensive is the problem, really.

I am sending this off in this half formed manner because if I wait until I
can write it to my satisfaction, it may be too late. Due to the hurried
nature of this response I have not taken the time to put in all the caveats
that are necessary. Let me say here, that I have the highest respect for
the members of this list whose thoughts and opinions I have had the
privilege to read and there is no intention to accuse or attack anyone
personally but only to deal with the issue at hand and to contribute my
voice to the discussion.

My apologies for the length of this post.  Thank you all for your patience.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Date: Fri,  1 Mar 1996 14:26:15 GMT, From: Dominik Wujastyk
<ucgadkw at ucl.ac.uk>, Subject: Changes in INDOLOGY

**Date: Tue,  5 Mar 1996 18:10:35 GMT, From: Peter Gaeffke
<pgaeffke at ccat.sas.upenn.edu>, Subject: Re: Indology list ,Hinduja

*** Date: Sun,  3 Mar 1996 14:21:12 GMT, From:
l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no (Lars Martin Fosse), Subject: Re: Changes
in INDOLOGY

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Jeyanthy Siva
South and Southeast Asian Studies
University of California, Berkeley

jsiva at uclinik3.berkeley.edu

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Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it.
                                            -- Richard Whately