Romila Thapar appointed Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at Library of Congress

Mon Apr 28 16:28:30 UTC 2003

Dear Fellow Indologists,

As some of you may know, there is now a concerted effort by members
and sympathizers of the Sangh Parivar to get Professor Thapar's Kluge
Chair at the Library of Congress rescinded and to nominate Koenraad
Elst instead.  See the two excerpts from the WAVES list below.  The
attacks on Professor Thapar are, as usual, vicious and without any
scholarly foundation.  However, to judge by what happened last year,
when a screening of Anand Patwardhan's documentaries in New York was
(temporarily) canceled because of a right-wing signature campaign, we
should probably not take this attack lightly.  I would encourage all
of our members to let the Library of Congress know that we support
Professor Thapar's appointment and strongly deplore the right-wing
signature campaign against her.

I know, we are trying to keep politics off our list, and with good
reason.  This, however, is an attack on academic freedom and on
scholarship in general. So I hope I have your indulgence in bringing
this particular issue to your attention.

Best wishes,

Hans Henrich Hock

****************************
WAVES list, "Digest Number 145"

Message: 1
    Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 12:24:34 -0700 (PDT)
    From: Jai Bharat Mata <vandemataram1082003 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Save ancient Bharat

It is a great travesty that Romila
Thapar has been appointed the first holder of the Kluge Chair in
Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of
Congress.

In regards to India, she is an avowed antagonist of
India's Hindu civilization. As a well-known Marxist,
she represents a completely Euro-centric world view.
I fail to see how she can be the correct choice to
represent India's ancient history and civilization.
She completely disavows that India ever had a history.

Just as the Europeans discredited the American
Indian's land claims by ignoring that they represented
a unique civilization with a wholesome variety of
distinct linguistic and cultural traits, Thapar has
long expounded the same ignorant view of India's
unique history and civilization.

The ongoing campaign by Romila Thapar and others to
discredit Hindu civilization is a war of cultural
genocide. By your unfortunate selection of R.Thapar
for the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the
South at the Library of Congress, America is now aiding and
abbeting this effort.

The result of her "Historical Consciousness in Early
India" is already a foregone conclusion. She will of
course attempt to show that Early India had no
historical consciousness.

Why waste our American resources on a
Marxist idealogical assault on Hindu
civilization?Hinduism is the world's most ancient,
ongoing and largest cultural phenonmenon. Such a long
lived civilization surely has alot to teach the world.
So why support its denigration? As a Friend of India, I
protest this appointment.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/108india/petition.html

*************************************************

 From WAVES list, Digest Number 147 (note especially second excerpt)

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 03:30:10 -0000
From: "mkelkar2003"
Subject: Romila Thapar's appointment to Library of Congress opposed

Romila Thapar's appointment to
Library of Congress opposed

April 25, 2003 05:33 IST

A petition is circulating on the Internet against the appointment of
Professor Romila Thapar as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in
Countries and Cultures of the South at the Library of Congress.

The petitioners allege that she is a Marxist and anti-Hindu and it is
a waste of US money to support a Leftist.

The Librarian of Congress, James H Billington, appointed Thapar last
week and she has already started work, Robert Saladini, a spokesperson
for the library, said. He said he has no information on the petition.

The petition can be viewed at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/108india/petition.html

The holder of the chair, which is located in the John W Kluge Center
of the Library of Congress, pursues research on the regions of Africa,
Latin America, West Asia, South and Southeast Asia, or the islands of
the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand, using the immense
foreign language collections in the specialised reading rooms of the
Library of Congress.

Thapar will spend ten months at the John W Kluge Center pursuing
'Historical Consciousness in Early India' as her area of research.

Thapar, emeritus professor of Ancient Indian History at Jawaharlal
Nehru University in New Delhi, who has served as visiting professor at
Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, is an authority
on Indian history.

The author of many seminal works on the history of ancient India, her
volume of the 'Penguin History of India' has been continuously in
print since 1966. Her latest publication is 'Early India: From the
Origins to AD 1300'. Other recent works are 'History and Beyond' and
'Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History'.

She has held many visiting posts in Europe, the United States and
Japan. She is an Honorary Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at
the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She
has honorary doctorates from the University of Chicago, the Institute
National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the
University of Oxford and the University of Calcutta.

Through a generous endowment from John W Kluge, the Library of
Congress established the center in 2000 to bring together the world's
best thinkers to stimulate, energise, and distil wisdom from the
library's rich resources and to interact with policy makers in
Washington, DC.

The center houses five senior Kluge Chairs.

The petitioners say: "It is a great travesty that Romila Thapar has
been appointed the first holder of the Kluge Chair.

"In regards to India, she is an avowed antagonist of India's Hindu
civilization as a well-known Marxist. She represents a completely
Euro-centric worldview. I fail to see how she can be the correct
choice to represent India's ancient history and civilization.

"She completely disavows that India ever had a history. The ongoing
campaign by Romila Thapar and others to discredit Hindu civilization
is a war of cultural genocide. By your unfortunate selection of
Thapar, America is now aiding and abetting this effort."

The petition has 133 signatures already. One of the signatories, Hari
Singh, said: "The comments from Ms Thapar are disgusting and are
reflection of her ignorance of Indian History."

Venkatesh, another signatory, commented, "It's a shame to the USA &
Indian govt. that a Communist like Romila Thapar is having a free run."

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 04:05:38 -0000
From: "mkelkar2003"
Subject: Online petition to Support Dr. Koenraad Elst for the Kluge Chair

An online petition to Support Dr. Koenraad Elst for the Kluge Chair

http://www.petitiononline.com/elst1959/petition.html

*************************************************************

>April 17, 2003
>
>Romila Thapar Named as First Holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and
>Cultures of the South at Library of Congress
>
>Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Romila Thapar as
>the first holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the
>South at the Library of Congress. The holder of this chair, which is
>located in the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, pursues
>research on the regions of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South
>and Southeast Asia, or the islands of the Pacific including Australia
>and New Zealand, using the immense foreign language collections in the
>specialized reading rooms of the Library of Congress.
>
>As occupant of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South,
>Thapar will spend ten months at the John W. Kluge Center pursuing
>"Historical Consciousness in Early India" as her area of research.
>
>Romila Thapar, emeritus professor of Ancient Indian History at
>Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, who has served as visiting
>professor at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, is a
>recognized authority on Indian history. The author of many seminal works
>on the history of ancient India, her volume of the Penguin History of
>India has been continuously in print since 1966. Her latest publication
>is "Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300." Other recent works are
>"History and Beyond," "Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History,"
>and "History and Beyond." In her published works, Thapar has pioneered
>both the study of early Indian texts as history and the integration of
>the critical use of archaeology with written sources.
>
>During her illustrious career, Thapar has held many visiting posts in
>Europe, the United States and Japan. She is an Honorary Fellow at Lady
>Margaret Hall, Oxford, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies
>(SOAS), University of London. She has honorary doctorates from the
>University of Chicago, the Institut National des Langues et
>Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Oxford and the
>University of Calcutta.
>
>Through a generous endowment from its namesake, the Library of Congress
>established the John W. Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the
>world's best thinkers to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from
>the Library's rich resources and to interact with policymakers in
>Washington, D.C. The Kluge Center houses five senior Kluge Chairs
>(American Law and Governance, Countries and Cultures of the North,
>Countries and Cultures of the South, Technology and Society, and Modern
>Culture); other senior-level chairs (Henry A. Kissinger Chair, Cary and
>Ann Maguire Chair in American History and Ethics, and the Harissios
>Papamarkou Chair in Education); and nearly 25 post-doctoral fellows.
>
>For more information about the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of
>the South or any of the other fellowships and grants offered by the John
>W. Kluge Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of
>Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E, Washington, DC 20540-4860;
>telephone (202) 707-3302, fax 202-707-3595.
>
>John W. Kluge Center website:  www.loc.gov/kluge
>
>Contact:
>Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
>Robert Saladini (202) 707-2692