[INDOLOGY] Rgveda complete study material and reverse word index

Tyler Williams tylerwwilliams at gmail.com
Tue Apr 27 14:03:31 UTC 2021


Dear colleagues,

I think that Dominik and Andrew have effectively made the case that this
insider/outsider distinction does no useful analytical work in our
disciplines; I furthermore realize that few if any will be persuaded by
polemics on this thread.

Nevertheless, this insider/outsider rhetoric not only vitiates the
productive atmosphere of collegial exchange that should characterize our
profession (and that has thankfully characterized the Indology list in the
past); it prevents us from doing rigorous historical as well as
philological work, including into histories of racism in our fields. As
such, the sooner we put it to rest the better.

One colleague has opined:  "Human products of culture having a
culture-insider's perspective and culture outsider's perspective is an
established professional understanding in the contemporary studies of
culture world over. " This is patently false. Current understandings among
anthropologists and cultural theorists, not to mention historians,
consistently challenge this crude binary, arguing that in fact the notions
of 'insider' and 'outsider' are constantly being made and remade through
processes that are distinctly contingent, historical, and political. These
scholars also point out that appeals to notions of 'insider' and 'outsider'
necessarily mask internal heterogeneity, most often in the interest of
consolidating the hegemony of those that seek to represent a supposedly
'authentic' 'insider' perspective.

Consequently, such vulgar interpretations of the serious work of
anti-colonial scholars like Said and Fanon only serve to carve out a domain
of dubious authority for an imagined insider—and those pushing this idea
these days invariably cast themselves as such an insider: a convenient
assignment of authority to oneself. As Andrew pointed out, we are only too
familiar with how this has been pursued over the past several years:
individuals and organizations conferring on themselves the authority to
decide which Indologist or scholar is an insider and which is an outsider.

Apologies for the prolixity but having seen the intellectual damage that
this crude binary does in our fields, I truly hope we can put it to rest
and move on. As always, I am happy to point interested colleagues to
relevant sources in anthropology, history, critical race theory, etcetera.

Regards,
Tyler Williams


On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 12:14 AM Nagaraj Paturi via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> I already made it clear that the basis of division is not the location or
> place of origin of the scholar. All vasudhaa during that categorization is
> a single kutumba .
>
> Human products of culture having a culture-insider's perspective and
> culture outsider's perspective is an established professional understanding
> in the contemporary studies of culture world over.
>
> Labels like Euro-centric , Orientalist etc. to refer to biases in
> observing , analysing , interpreting and representing cultures were all
> part of professional contemporary international academics only. All these
> categories of biases have inherent basis of culture-outsider's perspective
> only. They were not specifically created for the context of Indology.
>
> Studies of culture in disciplines like Cultural Anthropology had to move
> towards Cultural Relativism etc., methodologies had to move towards
> pParticipant-Observation etc., to avoid these realized biases only. That is
> what helped researchers and scholars in these fields to move from calling
> the cultural practices of their focus 'superstitions' to a stage of making
> sense of the culture-insider's sense.
>
> In all these endeavours of identifying and overcoming biases , nija of the
> studied culture and para of the studied culture , nija-perspective of the
> studied culture and para-perspective of the studied culture were required
> to be recognized and analysed for a more and more tatastha , nirmama
> understanding of the adhyeyya.
>
> In Vaada nijapaksha and parapaksha do not get effected by udaaracharita
> and vice versa.
>
> We can work for our national universities, national bodies and national
> interests in a way very much compatible with our udaaracharita and viewing
> vasudhaa as ekakutumba only.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 7:31 AM McComas Taylor via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> ayaṃ nijaḥ paro veti gaṇanā laghucetasām |
>> udāracaritānāṃ tu vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam ||
>>
>> 'Who is an insider and who an outside?' ask small-minded men.
>> The whole world is one family for the noble-minded ones.
>>
>> No offence.
>>
>> McC
>>
>>
>>
>> *McComas Taylor*
>> Associate Professor
>> Reader in Sanskrit
>> College of Asia and the Pacific
>> The Australian National University
>> WSC Website <http://www.wsc2021.com.au>| McC Website
>> <https://sites.google.com/site/mccomasanu/>
>> Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/p01tig8k
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 27, 2021 11:24 AM
>> *To:* Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Rgveda complete study material and reverse
>> word index
>>
>> and 3. from inside and unsympathetic and 4. from outside and sympathetic.
>>
>> This is what I mean.  Getting these categories to do useful intellectual
>> work is nearly impossible.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>>
>
>
> --
> Nagaraj Paturi
>
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
>
> Director, Indic Academy
> BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
> BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala
> BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
> Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru
> BoS Rashtram School of Public Leadership
> Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Studies in Public Leadership
> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies,
> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
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