Dear list members,Since the letter that many of you signed was presented and publicized on this list, I thought I would be remiss not to give its members an update on further developments. The IASS leadership has responded point-by-point, and their response has been passed onto the signatories. It has clarified some existing IASS policies, reaffirmed its commitment to scholarship and neutrality, and noted some changes in the organization. There have evidently been changes in the leadership (now reflected in their website), and the IASS is forming a committee to address the question of elections for office bearers, which was one of the main points of the letter. I can only speak for myself here, but I was reassured by the response, and I took it as an invitation to scholars of Sanskrit to get involved and shape the future of the organization.Andrew_______________________________________________On Thu, Oct 25, 2018 at 10:21 AM Andrew Ollett <andrew.ollett@gmail.com> wrote:Dear list-members and colleagues,This is just a note that the letter which so many of you have signed has now been finalized and delivered to the board of the IASS, its regional directors, and its consultative committee. The complete text and list of signatories is pasted below. A pdf version is also available here. I sincerely hope that I have not omitted or misspelled anyone's name. We all await their response.Andrew========================Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018
To the International Association of Sanskrit Studies:
The extremely well-organized World Sanskrit Conference that recently took place at the University of British Columbia has given scholars of Sanskrit all over the world an opportunity to reflect on the state of our field—an opportunity that was, unfortunately, missed after the controversial events of the preceding World Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok. According to its Statute, the purpose of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS) is to “to promote, diversify, intensify and coordinate Sanskrit Studies in all the countries of the world; to maintain contacts with the organising committee of the International Congresses of Asian and North African Studies; to organise international conferences of Sanskrit studies; to promote scholarly publication of Sanskrit-based studies; to establish and foster relations with national associations of Sanskrit studies.”
We, the undersigned, believe that the IASS could do much more to “promote, diversify, intensify and coordinate Sanskrit Studies in all the countries of the world.” Taking this mission statement seriously would involve expanding the range of activities of the IASS. More importantly, it would require the IASS to strenuously avoid any actions or remarks, on the part of its members and leadership, which can do serious harm to the goal of fostering Sanskrit Studies globally, and to distance itself, as a professional organization, from such actions or remarks as already have been made. The Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, a former institutional member of the IASS, has withdrawn its membership on precisely these grounds (see ZDMG 168.1 [2018], p. 253), and it is possible that other individual and institutional members will follow suit unless the IASS develops appropriate responses to the challenges currently facing its future.
Specifically, we would like to see the IASS do the following:
Make all offices of the Board subject to regular election. Currently the offices of General Secretary, Treasurer, and President are not subject to a regular election. It is crucial that the members of the association are able to elect the leadership of the association on a regular basis.
Call an election of the Board before the end of 2018. The members of the IASS must have the opportunity to decide who will represent them as office holders, and above all, as President of the Association.
Make it absolutely clear that the IASS is a scholarly organization, and that membership in the organization, and participation in the World Sanskrit Conference, requires a scholarly engagement with Sanskrit.
Sever any ties, official or unofficial, between the IASS and any national governments.
Create connections between Sanskrit studies and other disciplines. The study of Sanskrit has always had the potential for close connections to the disciplines of history, philosophy, linguistics, philology, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, religious studies, gender studies, and many more. The IASS should forge connections between its members and the professional organizations that represent those disciplines.
Form committees devoted to professional issues, publication, research, diversity, and programming, which will produce reports on a regular basis.
Originate guidelines for the conduct of future WSC meetings and other IASS-sponsored activities that emphasise professionalism, neutrality, and independence.
It may be the case that these changes cannot be implemented without rewriting the Statute of the IASS. In that case, we request that the IASS will involve a diverse selection of scholars, drawn from outside the current Board and Consultative Committee, to assist in making the required changes, and that this process be as transparent as possible. We also sincerely request the IASS Board to respond to these suggestions in a timely manner and apprise the undersigned scholars what steps it will take and when. We consider these issues to be of utmost importance. We are concerned that if the IASS does not take appropriate steps as a matter of urgency, even more scholars will abandon the Association and its conferences, to the detriment of international Sanskrit studies.
Signed [in alphabetical order],
Andrea Acri
Michael Allen
Talia Ariav
Christèle Barois
Stefan Baums
Ana Bajzelj
Gil Ben-Herut
Jason Birch
Peter Bisschop
Adam Bowles
Jo Brill
Yigal Bronner
Whitney Cox
Daniele Cuneo
Victor D’Avella
Paul Dundas
Vincent Eltschinger
Christoph Emmrich
Iris Iran Farkhondeh
Marco Ferrante
Marco Franceschini
Emmanuel Francis
Elisa Freschi
Jonardon Ganeri
Rupert Gethin
Robert P. Goldman
Arlo Griffiths
Jürgen Hanneder
James Hartzell
Zoë Woodbury High
Alfred Hiltebeitel
Jan Houben
Jamal A. Jones
Mrinal Kaul
Agathe Keller
Birgit Kellner
Dermot Killingley
Rafal Kleczek
Jesse Knutson
Frank Köhler
Steven E. Lindquist
Jeffery D. Long
Timothy Lubin
Philipp Maas
Nabanjan Maitra
Jim Mallinson
Mark McClish
Lawrence J. McCrea
Christopher Minkowski
Jason Neelis
John Nemec
Andrew J. Nicholson
Monika Nowakowska
Heike Oberlin
Patrick Olivelle
Andrew Ollett
Lubomír Ondračka
Karin Preisendanz
Asko Parpola
Parimal Patil
Pranav Prakash
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad
Srilata Raman
Ajay Rao
Srilata Raman
Isabelle Ratie
Madhusudan Rimal
Antonia Ruppel
Alexis Sanderson
Bihani Sarkar
Patricia Sauthoff
Martha Ann Selby
Sven Sellmer
David Shulman
Shalini Sinha
Michael Slouber
Caley Charles Smith
Frederick M. Smith
Barbora Sojkova
Hamsa Stainton
Sally Sutherland Goldman
McComas Taylor
Raffaele Torella
Davey K. Tomlinson
Audrey Truschke
Gary Tubb
Roy Tzohar
Alexander Uskokov
Christian Wedemeyer
Lidia Wojtczak
Dominik Wujastyk
Ananya Vajpeyi
Christophe Vielle
Robert Zydenbos
On Sun, Oct 21, 2018 at 8:36 AM Andrew Ollett <andrew.ollett@gmail.com> wrote:Dear colleagues,Just a note that we will be accepting signatures until Wednesday, Oct. 24. Please also feel free to share the letter with colleagues.sānunayam,AndrewOn Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 4:57 AM Andrew Ollett <andrew.ollett@gmail.com> wrote:Dear Colleagues,A number of Sanskrit scholars plan to present the following letter to the International Association of Sanskrit Studies. We think it's important that everyone in the field of Sanskrit studies who is concerned about its future should have the opportunity to read it and add his or her voice. If you would like to add your name, send a message to iassletter@gmail.com (not to me, please). After a week or two, the list will be finalized and presented to the IASS.Andrew------------------------------------Current as of: October 11, 2018
(to sign, send a message to iassletter@gmail.com)
To the International Association of Sanskrit Studies:
The extremely well-organized World Sanskrit Conference that recently took place at the University of British Columbia has given scholars of Sanskrit all over the world an opportunity to reflect on the state of our field—an opportunity that was, unfortunately, missed after the controversial events of the preceding World Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok. According to its Statute, the purpose of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies (IASS) is to “to promote, diversify, intensify and coordinate Sanskrit Studies in all the countries of the world; to maintain contacts with the organising committee of the International Congresses of Asian and North African Studies; to organise international conferences of Sanskrit studies; to promote scholarly publication of Sanskrit-based studies; to establish and foster relations with national associations of Sanskrit studies.”
We, the undersigned, believe that the IASS could do much more to “promote, diversify, intensify and coordinate Sanskrit Studies in all the countries of the world.” Taking this mission statement seriously would involve expanding the range of activities of the IASS. More importantly, it would require the IASS to strenuously avoid any actions or remarks, on the part of its members and leadership, which can do serious harm to the goal of fostering Sanskrit Studies globally, and to distance itself, as a professional organization, from such actions or remarks as already have been made. The Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, a former institutional member of the IASS, has withdrawn its membership on precisely these grounds (see ZDMG 168.1 [2018], p. 253), and it is possible that other individual and institutional members will follow suit unless the IASS develops appropriate responses to the challenges currently facing its future.
Specifically, we would like to see the IASS do the following:
Make all offices of the Board subject to regular election. Currently the offices of General Secretary, Treasurer, and President are not subject to a regular election. It is crucial that the members of the association are able to elect the leadership of the association on a regular basis.
Call an election of the Board before the end of 2018. The members of the IASS must have the opportunity to decide who will represent them as office holders, and above all, as President of the Association.
Make it absolutely clear that the IASS is a scholarly organization, and that membership in the organization, and participation in the World Sanskrit Conference, requires a scholarly engagement with Sanskrit.
Sever any ties, official or unofficial, between the IASS and any national governments.
Create connections between Sanskrit studies and other disciplines. The study of Sanskrit has always had the potential for close connections to the disciplines of history, philosophy, linguistics, philology, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, religious studies, gender studies, and many more. The IASS should forge connections between its members and the professional organizations that represent those disciplines.
Form committees devoted to professional issues, publication, research, diversity, and programming, which will produce reports on a regular basis.
Originate guidelines for the conduct of future WSC meetings and other IASS-sponsored activities that emphasise professionalism, neutrality, and independence.
It may be the case that these changes cannot be implemented without rewriting the Statute of the IASS. In that case, we request that the IASS will involve a diverse selection of scholars, drawn from outside the current Board and Consultative Committee, to assist in making the required changes, and that this process be as transparent as possible. We also sincerely request the IASS Board to respond to these suggestions in a timely manner and apprise the undersigned scholars what steps it will take and when. We consider these issues to be of utmost importance. We are concerned that if the IASS does not take appropriate steps as a matter of urgency, even more scholars will abandon the Association and its conferences, to the detriment of international Sanskrit studies.
Signed [in alphabetical order],
Yigal Bronner
Jonardon Ganeri
Mrinal Kaul
Jim Mallinson
Andrew Ollett
Karin Preisendanz
Ajay Rao
Isabelle Ratie
Martha Ann Selby
David Shulman
Gary Tubb
Dominik Wujastyk
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)