Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Dr. Silk raises a valid point, which is that I am slightly vague in my account of what has happened. I would encourage everyone to be sensitive to the fact that other committee members have repeatedly told me, often angrily, to not share their emails and to not discuss any of this with the list at large. There are real risks for women who choose to come forward with these sorts of concerns.

That said, I do point to some specific things, such as an attempt to encourage me to resign when I pointed out bias (March 2019; in an e-mail), refusals to talk about possible bias (numerous e-mails; fall 2018), and persistent demands that I keep silent about what I experience as abuse and intimidation (repeated over the past year or so). To add another specific case, last week a committee member wrote to Dr. Paturi and chastised him for writing 'thank you' to the entire list regarding the post I sent around sharing Anand Venkatkrishnan's excellent blog post on female Sanskritists and sexism. Indology members say thank you to the list all the time without complaint, and so this was a targeted silencing of a discussion about discrimination against women in our profession (and it worked). I think this is a fair amount of precision and several discrete instances. I do not know whether the intent was sexist or biased in any specific case, but the effects were.

So far as how to move forward, I recommend a few concrete steps. All are aimed to redirecting the committee's energy toward making both the committee and the list a more equitable, welcoming place. (1) I want gender parity, or at least approaching gender parity, on the INDOLOGY governing committee by adding female members. I think everyone on this list should value and want gender parity. (2) I want the committee to take further steps to address bias issues, whether that is bias training, a system for adjudicating complaints, shaking up committee membership, or something else. Whatever we decide, I would like those steps announced to the list at large. (3) Personally, I think that the individual who suggested that I resign after pointing out bias should instead, himself, consider stepping down. But I will not press this particular point.

Another thing that I wish to achieve here is awareness and space for conversation. Indology as a discipline may be focused on classical India, but we exist in the modern world, and modern issues of bias are a legitimate topic for scholars to discuss on INDOLOGY (preferably without declarations by list members that a given discussion of bias and discrimination is inappropriate on INDOLOGY). I would like issues of bias and discrimination treated seriously on this list and on the governing committee going forward.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

All the Best,

Audrey Truschke
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Rutgers University-Newark
Audrey Truschke
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Rutgers University-Newark


On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 1:18 PM Jon Skarpeid via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

“Given equal qualifications”, I do not find it a discriminatory that institutions prefer gender, minority, or whatever. All branches of public life should (somehow) reflect the population. “Equal qualifications” is a soft tool.

 

But I agree with Jonathan, we should leave German or Austrian higher education. However, if sexism is a reality at Indology, we can’t simply dismiss the debate by referring to the “Sanskrit conference, and matters of that ilk”.

 

Best,

Jon    

 

 

Fra: Jonathan Silk <kauzeya@gmail.com>
Sendt: tirsdag 2. april 2019 13:03
Til: Aleix Ruiz Falqués <arfalques@cantab.net>
Kopi: Jon Skarpeid <jon.skarpeid@uis.no>; Indology List (indology@list.indology.info) <indology@list.indology.info>
Emne: Re: [INDOLOGY] Sexism and Bias on INDOLOGY governing committee

 

Dear All

First, I want to clarify that I think these discussions are important--in the context of Indology.

However, this list is not, in my opinion, the place to debate (etc) institutional forms of discrimination, fundamentally important as they no doubt are. There are so many things which so many of us are passionate about, but this list is about Indian Studies, and while that surely includes the conduct of the management of the list itself, the recently discussed Sanskrit conference, and matters of that ilk, it does not include, I would maintain,  German or Austrian higher education as a whole, for example. So my plea to all of us is to focus on the topics relevant to this list here, and find other fora for other conversations.

Thank you for listening,

Joanthan

 

On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 12:30 PM Aleix Ruiz Falqués via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Jon and Agnes,

 

The clause you cite automatically appears in any job advertisement in Austria and Germany in the public sector. It is a legal requirement and has nothing to do with the university or department in question. Such clauses were installed at some point because of (among other things) the appallingly low number of female professors (some 14% or so at the time the legislation was introduced).

 

Thank you for the comment. I apologise, I didn't know that universities to not follow the rules. I thought that this clause was actually taken into account. The statement is discriminatory against men, nonetheless, and as an applicant, I wondered if it was really worth trying. Again, that could be the whole purpose of the clause. I don´t know. I just felt it was unfair to men, not to men as a social class, but to particular individuals who may have nothing to do with structural sexism. If you think that´s not the case, then we disagree and that is fine.

 

what’s the problem with “Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female applicants”?

 

The problem is not in this line, but in the previous one, where it says non-discriminatory employment policy. Will you agree that when preference is given on the basis of gender, this is a discriminatory statement? Perhaps I got it wrong.

 

Jon, when I say that a thousand things can be changed I mean they should be, and I think the debate is positive, including the debate on discriminatory clauses. I did not mean anything against Audrey, whom I personally know I respect very much, as a friend and as a scholar. Apologies if anyone felt offended. I am looking forward to what Audrey has to say.

 

Best wishes,

Aleix

 

 

 

 

 

On Tue, 2 Apr 2019 at 15:58, Jon Skarpeid via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

«A thousand things that can be improved» is the argument of relativization. Any wishes for change can be met with relativization, but it’s a poor argument.

 

And dear Aleix, what’s the problem with “Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female applicants”? Perhaps one day we will need to change “female” with “male”. Who knows?

 

Best,

Jon

 

Fra: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> På vegne av Aleix Ruiz Falqués via INDOLOGY
Sendt: tirsdag 2. april 2019 11:11
Til: Audrey Truschke <audrey.truschke@gmail.com>
Kopi: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Emne: Re: [INDOLOGY] Sexism and Bias on INDOLOGY governing committee

 

Dear Audrey,

 

I am sure that there are a thousand things that can be improved. I think I know how you feel. Please see the following clause in one of the jobs I applied for, in Vienna, realted to Indology:

 

The University pursues a non-discriminatory employment policy and values equal opportunities, as well as diversity (http://diversity.univie.ac.at/). The University lays special emphasis on increasing the number of women in senior and in academic positions. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female applicants. 

 

So much for non-discrimination.

 

Best wishes,

Aleix

 

 

On Tue, 2 Apr 2019 at 14:25, Audrey Truschke via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am writing to call your attention to the entrenched, worsening sexism I have been experiencing on the INDOLOGY governing committee over the past year or so (I have served on the committee for six years). Other committee members have warned me not to publicly discuss the bullying and abuse that I have faced from them in private. I break my silence and go against their explicit instructions here.


I have repeatedly faced sexism within the INDOLOGY governing committee, ranging from patronizing comments to silencing of discussions about bias to overtly different standards applied to male and female members of the committee and list. I have tried many times to raise these issues internally among the committee and privately with specific individuals. I have been met with blanket denials, belittling of my concerns, declarations that discussing sexism is not a substantive issue, accusations of being a troublemaker, and flat out refusals to discuss gender issues. Indology as a discipline has deep-seated issues with male privilege, discrimination against female scholars, and even outright misogyny. The issues within INDOLOGY's male-dominated governing committee are arguably a reflection of this larger set of problems that systematically drives women out of the discipline. If Indology or INDOLOGY are going to survive in any worthwhile form, we must face our ongoing issues of sexism and bias. I have made numerous suggestions to the INDOLOGY governing committee in this regard, including striving for gender parity on the committee by adding more female members, conducting committee business more openly as a check on bullying, and undergoing bias training. I hope the committee follows up on these suggestions. But, to date, I have seen only a desire to circle the wagons and deny bias, rather than any serious attempt to make the committee or the list a more equitable place.

Last week, following another case where I documented and called out a committee member for acting with bias, that committee member wrote that if he were in my position, he would consider resigning from the committee. In other words, if I find members of the INDOLOGY committee discriminate against women, then I should bow out. I find that suggestion highly inappropriate, and I do not acquiesce to it here. But I will no longer serve as a punching bag for men who insist I keep quiet.

 

I expect to face significant pushback and recriminations for shedding light on the dark underbelly of the INDOLOGY governing committee. But, unlike many of my fellow committee members, I think that this is an issue for the list at large. Many of us, myself included, find scholarly value in this listserv. But knowledge exists within power structures, and I find that I can no longer stomach what I have to overlook in order to quietly run this forum. I think it is time for us to talk about the key issues of bias and sexism facing our discipline that make women unwelcome at every turn, including in running this listserv.

 

All the best,

Audrey

 

Audrey Truschke

Assistant Professor

Department of History
Rutgers University-Newark

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--

Aleix Ruiz-Falqués

Pali Lecturer

Head of the Department of Pali and Languages

Shan State Buddhist University
Phaya Phyu, Taunggyi, Myanmar 140101
(+95) 09428757648

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--

Aleix Ruiz-Falqués

Pali Lecturer

Head of the Department of Pali and Languages

Shan State Buddhist University
Phaya Phyu, Taunggyi, Myanmar 140101
(+95) 09428757648

_______________________________________________
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--

J. Silk
Leiden University

Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS

Matthias de Vrieshof 3, Room 0.05b

2311 BZ Leiden

The Netherlands

 

copies of my publications may be found at

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