[INDOLOGY] To post or not to post

Fri Oct 7 11:59:49 UTC 2016

"INDOLOGY is an international forum, and this is not the first time that we
have witnessed on the part of some North American colleagues the
presumption that local preoccupations are global ones."

You have to have buried your head pretty far in the sand in order to
propose that sexual harassment is a specifically American problem and so
somehow not also a European problem.

That said, I propose that we now end this discussion. If anyone wants to
criticize me further, feel free to contact me off list.

Audrey Truschke
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Rutgers University-Newark

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 6:49 AM, Philipp Maas <philipp.a.maas at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I think that Arlo very appropriately highlighted the fact that we are
> dealing in this thread with at least two interrelated culturally specific
> topics. The most obvious of these is “sexual harassment,” on which the
> introductory paragraph of the very informative Wikipedia Article
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment> says that “The legal
> and social understanding of sexual harassment, however, varies by culture.”
> For example, sexual harassment is a legal crime in Switzerland, but not in
> Germany, and, apparently, also not in the U.S.A. This, of course, does not
> mean that either in the U.S.A or in Germany more severe forms of harassment
> are usually tolerated.
>
>
>
> The second culture-specific issue involved here is the way in which cases
> of violations of legal laws and ethical norms may or should be communicated
> publicly. This concerns the question which personal rights possible
> victims, suspects and alleged culprits have. I believe that mentioning a
> personal name in full, like it was done in the articles of “The Guardian”
> that Audrey referred us to, would be totally unacceptable under German
> press legislation.
>
>
>
> Obviously, awareness for cultural differences is called for not only
> concerning the subject of our studies, but also in the dialogue among
> colleagues.
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
> Philipp
>
> __________________________
>
> Dr. Philipp A. Maas
> Research Associate
> Insitut für Indologie und Zentralasienwissenschaften
> Universität Leipzig
> ___________________________
>
> https://spp1448.academia.edu/PhilippMaas
>
> 2016-10-07 11:46 GMT+02:00 Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>:
>
>> Dear colleague,
>>
>>
>> For me personally, it has been Prof. Truschke's repeated mention of a
>> particular colleague's name that seemed unnecessary and, in this context,
>> unethical. I suppose the kinds of courses at law and medical schools that
>> you refer to normally dispense with mentioning the names of specific
>> colleagues who have been accused and/or found guilty of sexual harassment.
>> And, to latch on to a point that Prof. Slaje has tried to make, I suppose
>> most of the schools you have in mind are situated in North America, while
>> their pedagogical practices naturally reflect preoccupations of the land.
>>
>>
>> In the European academic scene (or what small part of it I can claim to
>> be familiar with), I am happy to have experienced myself, when I was
>> falsely accused by a band of students of having made racist and homophobic
>> statements in class, that Universities are neither quick to dismiss the
>> grievances of the accusers, nor the defense of the accused, and respect for
>> due process seems to be valued more than what I gather to be the case in
>> the North American segment of global academia — or at least among those who
>> speak for it on this forum.
>>
>>
>> INDOLOGY is an international forum, and this is not the first time that
>> we have witnessed on the part of some North American colleagues the
>> presumption that local preoccupations are global ones. The response that
>> this provokes now from European scholars, in other cases from colleagues in
>> India, seems to me a very salutary contribution to preserving diversity of
>> perspectives in our field.
>>
>>
>> Yours,
>>
>>
>> Arlo Griffiths
>>
>> École française d'Extrême-Orient
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> HdGoswami <hr at ivs.edu>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, October 6, 2016 9:53 AM
>> *To:* Indology List
>> *Subject:* [INDOLOGY] To post or not to post
>>
>> Many of the best law and medical schools offer, or require, courses and
>> seminars on the ethics and dangers of the trade, including false and valid
>> accusations of sexual harassment. Such courses and seminars are not
>> generally considered to be an alarming deviation from the proper subject
>> matter of the field.
>>
>> As I recall, Audrey did not act as judge and jury, nor did she regale us
>> with a sermon on political correctness. She merely posted a news item that
>> is relevant to those who teach, or aspire to teach, Indology.
>>
>> Thus the strenuous objections to her post, which dwarf in volume her own,
>> seem to be a bit preemptive.
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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 Info Page <http://listinfo.indology.info/>
>> listinfo.indology.info
>> INDOLOGY is an internet discussion group whose primary purpose is to
>> provide a forum for discussion among professional scholars of classical
>> Indian (South Asian ...
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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/20161007/bc82dca2/attachment.htm>