[INDOLOGY] A regressive face of Indology at the World Sanskrit Conference

[Audrey Truschke]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This article
<https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-to-move-a-mountain/article24682600.ece>,
by Professor Vajpeyi, is a must-read. For many on this list, it will not be
news that Indology has entrenched problems with sexism and elitism; many in
our discipline are also soft on Hindutva. For others, some or all of these
things may be surprising.

I encourage everyone to read with an open mind, rather than with a posture
of umbrage and denial that has become all-too-common these days. As
Professor Vajpeyi describes, the reception of the public forum at the 17th
World Sanskrit Conference in Vancouver was an appalling display of
unprofessionalism, misogyny, and class privilege, a "regressive face of
Indology." My friends - We need to ask ourselves some tough questions about
what sorts of prejudices and behaviours we are tolerating and harboring in
our corner of the scholarly world. We tend to be quite good at exercising a
critical gaze when it comes to mimamsa, kavya, and so forth. I hope we can
do the same with ourselves.

All the Best,

Audrey

Audrey Truschke
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Rutgers University-Newark


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