[INDOLOGY] Article about the politics surrounding indology at the IHRC

[George Thompson]

It seems to me that Chakrabarti was expressing a very reasonable
frustration with Bharadwaj's attempt to revive that long dead horse: the
Aryan migration theory.  I agree with Geoffrey that Chakrabarti should take
care not to speak too bluntly about this.

Best wishes,

George Thompson



On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Geoffrey Samuel <SamuelG at cardiff.ac.uk>
wrote:

>  As I pointed out, Chakrabarti did not say that Bharadwaj's remarks were
> racist. The Telegraph's headline did perhaps, but Chakrabarti did not, and
> I imagine given the current situation in India that he was being quite
> careful what he said, and deserves not to be misquoted.
>
>
>  Geoffrey
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu>
> *Sent:* 08 June 2015 15:49
> *To:* Simon Brodbeck
>
> *Cc:* Indology List
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Article about the politics surrounding indology
> at the IHRC
>
>  Thank you for this clarification:
>
>  Still, neither A1 nor B1 below give explicitly racial definitions.
>
>  B1 may logically refer to a multi-racial group speaking the same
> language. In America, for example, people of many races speak English.
> Further, ‘racism’ requires a belief in the superiority or inferiority of a
> particular race, rather than the association of a certain race with a
> particular body of literature.
>
>  I understand the ugly history linked to the term ‘Aryan’, but Bharadwaj
> deserves a fair day in court.
>
>  I’m still not sure why Bharadwaj’s remarks, at least as given in the
> article, are ‘racist.’ Has he espoused explicitly racist views?
>
>  Best,
> Howard
>
>
>
>  On Jun 8, 2015, at 5:32 PM, Simon Brodbeck <BrodbeckSP at cardiff.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
>   Dear Howard,
>
>  I think that regardless of any etymological link, we need to apply a
> semantic distinction between the Sanskrit word arya and the English word
> Aryan. When the former is translated, it tends to come out as “noble” or
> something like that (e.g. in truths 1 to 4 of that ilk), rather than as
> “Aryan”. Under the latter, the OED reads as follows (“arya” has no entry):
>
>  *A.* adj.
>   *1.*
>  a.       Applied by some to the great division or family of languages,
> which includes Sanskrit, Zend, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, and
> Slavonic, with their modern representatives; also called *Indo-European*,
> *Indo-Germanic*, and sometimes *Japhetic*; by others restricted to the
> Asiatic portion of these. *absol.*, the original Aryan or Arian language.
>  b.      *spec.* Of or pertaining to the ancient Aryan people.
>  *2.* Under the Nazi régime (1933–45) applied to the inhabitants of
> Germany of non-Jewish extraction.
>
>  *B.* n.
>  1. A member of the Aryan family; one belonging to, or descended from, the
> ancient people who spoke the parent Aryan language.
>  *2.* *spec.* under the Nazi régime (cf. sense A. 2
> <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/11296?redirectedFrom=aryan#eid38293561>).
>
>  I think Chakrabarti is probably thinking in terms of meanings A1b and
> B1. But I can’t speak for him.
>
>  All the best,
>  Simon Brodbeck
>  Cardiff University
>
>
>
>   *From:* INDOLOGY [mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info
> <indology-bounces at list.indology.info>] *On Behalf Of *Howard Resnick
> *Sent:* 08 June 2015 15:10
> *To:* Geoffrey Samuel
> *Cc:* Dominik Wujastyk; Indology List
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Article about the politics surrounding indology
> at the IHRC
>
>  As we know, Arya is a Vedic term. In the Telegraph article, Bharadwaj
> states that he wants to research the notion of Aryan migration. Bharadwaj
> does not state that he takes ‘Aryan’ as a racial, rather than a cultural,
> term. So please help me here. Where is the racism?
>
>   Thanks,
>   Howard
>
>
>
>  On Jun 8, 2015, at 5:04 PM, Geoffrey Samuel <SamuelG at cardiff.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
>   If you read Dilip Chakrabarti's comment as quoted in the Telegraph
> article, what he was actually saying was that the concept of Aryans was
> 'racist and historically puerile' and that research on it was therefore a
> waste of resources in comparison with other possible uses - he specifically
> referred to training more palaeographers and epigraphists, 'who will soon
> be an extinct class of scholars in the country'.
>
>   That seems a reasonable and defensible position.
>
>   Geoffrey
>   ------------------------------
>   *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu>
> *Sent:* 08 June 2015 09:12
> *To:* Dominik Wujastyk
> *Cc:* Indology List
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Article about the politics surrounding indology
> at the IHRC
>
>   "Dilip K. Chakrabarti, emeritus professor of South Asian archaeology
> with Cambridge University and a member of the council and its research
> project committee, said the proposal was "racist and historically puerile”.
>
>   How racist?
>
>   h.r.
>
>
>
>  On Jun 8, 2015, at 11:00 AM, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150606/jsp/nation/story_24264.jsp
>   _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
> unsubscribe)
>
>
>   _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
> unsubscribe)
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
> unsubscribe)
>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20150608/7d39ef7f/attachment.htm>