SV: [INDOLOGY @ ] The importance of WESTOLOGY in inter-civilization dialog

[Guest guest]

Rajiv Malhotra [sMTP:rajiv.malhotra] skrev 25. april 2001 15:00:

> Somewhere in this cross-cultural process, WESTOLOGY, the study of the

west

> by the others, is inevitable and necessary.

 

I agree with this, and it has already begun. A few years ago a Shri Lankan

anthropologist studied a Danish village. I am afraid I don't have the

reference to his work, but I am sure this is not the only case.

 

Just as psychoanalysts inform a

> person about his/her unconscious or shadow side, and just as

anthropologists

> do this for an entire culture from a 'neutral' perspective (whatever that

> means in this Foucault-Derrida era), likewise, the west must be studied

> dispassionately by everyone as it is the center of power today and must

be

> better understood.

 

The West is constantly studying itself and has been doing so for a long

time. I believe this is called sociology. If you study somebody else's

society, it is social anthropology, and if you study your own, it is

sociology. Western academics also study their own religion and often in a

critical spirit, which is not always equally popular among the

"informants". Other approaches should be welcomed.

 

> Rather than the former informants hitting back in anger, they must have

> their own studies of the west's myths to understand what drives its

behavior

> in addition to individual agency. This deconstruction of western behavior

in

> changing circumstances is the place to situate the pathology of western

> Indology. Every encounter with a western Indologist turns into a data

> gathering opportunity for the Westologist.

 

Is there such a thing as "Western" behaviour? Scandinavians see the

Italians as fundamentally different from themselves in a number of ways.

This of course is the same in "Eastology". There is no "Eastern" behaviour.

 

> Western hermeneutics will have to share space with other cultures' lens.

The

> License Raj of scholarship will get challenged as more channels open up,

> partly enabled by new technologies. The present narrow Khyber Pass of

idea

> flow will fall apart.

 

The ability of other cultures' lenses to impose themselves on the West will

to a large degree depend on the quality of the work done, as well as the

economic and military power that lies behind the lenses. I am not sure that

all lenses are compatible, or that there always is a fruitful compromise at

the end of the road. But I would like to see a hermeneutic debate on this

list in connection with such things as textual criticism, historical and

cultural contextualisation of texts, and interpretational approaches. This

can be done without recourse to the term "Hindutva" and without

name-calling. Within Sanskrit studies, the historical value of the epics

and the Puranas has been debated for a long time. There are more than

enough subjects to choose from. The trick is to drop other concerns than

the scholarly ones. This list is for the study of classical India, which

means that texts, languages and archaeological material are relevant.

Please go ahead.

 

Lars Martin Fosse

 

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse

Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,

0674 Oslo

Norway

Phone: +47 22 32 12 19

Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45

Fax 1: +47 22 32 12 19

Fax 2: +47 85 02 12 50 (InFax)

Email: lmfosse

[Guest guest]

I didn't comment on your previous note on self-description.

Any person's own description for himself/herself is only

a self-perception. It's the collective view of others

that defines us in any society. The collective view

is a function of the population sample and the person

needs to defend against misperception when alleged.

Any self-describing label has a very small radius.

In search for truth, we must try to shed all labels.

(I also occasionally get disturbed by terms like

Cambridge History.., Columbia History.. as though they

would add bias as they go along. I have not analyzed.)

 

BM

 

 

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Lars Martin Fosse wrote:

 

> Rajiv Malhotra [sMTP:rajiv.malhotra] skrev 25. april 2001 15:00:

> > Somewhere in this cross-cultural process, WESTOLOGY, the study of the

> west

> > by the others, is inevitable and necessary.

>

> I agree with this, and it has already begun. A few years ago a Shri Lankan

> anthropologist studied a Danish village. I am afraid I don't have the

> reference to his work, but I am sure this is not the only case.

>

> Just as psychoanalysts inform a

> > person about his/her unconscious or shadow side, and just as

> anthropologists

> > do this for an entire culture from a 'neutral' perspective (whatever that

> > means in this Foucault-Derrida era), likewise, the west must be studied

> > dispassionately by everyone as it is the center of power today and must

> be

> > better understood.

>

> The West is constantly studying itself and has been doing so for a long

> time. I believe this is called sociology. If you study somebody else's

> society, it is social anthropology, and if you study your own, it is

> sociology. Western academics also study their own religion and often in a

> critical spirit, which is not always equally popular among the

> "informants". Other approaches should be welcomed.

>

> > Rather than the former informants hitting back in anger, they must have

> > their own studies of the west's myths to understand what drives its

> behavior

> > in addition to individual agency. This deconstruction of western behavior

> in

> > changing circumstances is the place to situate the pathology of western

> > Indology. Every encounter with a western Indologist turns into a data

> > gathering opportunity for the Westologist.

>

> Is there such a thing as "Western" behaviour? Scandinavians see the

> Italians as fundamentally different from themselves in a number of ways.

> This of course is the same in "Eastology". There is no "Eastern" behaviour.

>

> > Western hermeneutics will have to share space with other cultures' lens.

> The

> > License Raj of scholarship will get challenged as more channels open up,

> > partly enabled by new technologies. The present narrow Khyber Pass of

> idea

> > flow will fall apart.

>

> The ability of other cultures' lenses to impose themselves on the West will

> to a large degree depend on the quality of the work done, as well as the

> economic and military power that lies behind the lenses. I am not sure that

> all lenses are compatible, or that there always is a fruitful compromise at

> the end of the road. But I would like to see a hermeneutic debate on this

> list in connection with such things as textual criticism, historical and

> cultural contextualisation of texts, and interpretational approaches. This

> can be done without recourse to the term "Hindutva" and without

> name-calling. Within Sanskrit studies, the historical value of the epics

> and the Puranas has been debated for a long time. There are more than

> enough subjects to choose from. The trick is to drop other concerns than

> the scholarly ones. This list is for the study of classical India, which

> means that texts, languages and archaeological material are relevant.

> Please go ahead.

>

> Lars Martin Fosse

>

> Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse

> Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,

> 0674 Oslo

> Norway

> Phone: +47 22 32 12 19

> Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45

> Fax 1: +47 22 32 12 19

> Fax 2: +47 85 02 12 50 (InFax)

> Email: lmfosse

>

>

>

>

>

> indology

>

>

>

> Your use of is subject to

>

>

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, Lars Martin Fosse <lmfosse@o...> wrote:

> The West is constantly studying itself and has been doing so for a

long

> time. I believe this is called sociology.

 

Yes, but this is not the same thing as a view from the other. I am

referring to a project of 'Otherizing' the west. In sociology, the

western scholars cannot help superimpose their own myths

unconsciously, for instance, as the categories, hermeneutics, and

even in the choice of topics that are deemed interesting or

appropriate. In fact, the west's pursuit of Orientalism is

inseparable from its construction of self-image, and many scholars

have explained how the other was required to construct this self

image. Having done that, the Other became the object of appropriation.

 

The analysis of western scholars through their lives, especially the

U-Turn from the East, is an interesting study of the inter-

relationship between the scholar's psychology and the scholarship at

various phases in their lives.

 

R. Malhotra

[Guest guest]

>Lars Martin Fosse <lmfosse@o...> wrote:

>But I would like to see a hermeneutic debate on this list in

>connection with such things as textual criticism, historical and

>cultural contextualisation of texts, and interpretational

>approaches.

 

I like to quote from Prof. Peter.F Drucker, re: Japanese management.

Drucker says Americans and Japanese never understood each other.

Americans expect to sign a deal after every meeting, but Japanese ask

a huge number of apparently stupid questions unrelated to the busines

proposal and never return for months. What goes on behind the scenes

is that any changes done in the business policy of one Japanese

company will be responsible for displacement of workers in all

related industries, suppliers, customers, and so on; whereas the

Americans can sign a deal in no time because they care less

terminating obsoleted employees and hire new ones at any hourly rate,

or cancel old business contracts and pay off some penalties.

 

All western cultures are not same (US, England, etc) and all eastern

countries are not same (China, Japan, India etc). But on the whole

the tendencies need to be understood to avoid the follies.

 

Regards

Bhadraiah

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, vaidix@h... wrote:

>

>

> Drucker says Americans and Japanese never understood each other.

>

 

All the more there needs to be study of each other symmetrically and

in both directions rather than only culture A studying B.

 

RM

[Guest guest]

> The East became the other for West inasmuch it was the object of an

>active subject- the Western colonial mighty in possession of hegemony over

>the prevailing representational means: history, economic and judiciary

>system,etc, exercised if not manu mercantile then manu militari. But as

>soon as this hegemony becomes replaced, or rather inversed, the possibility

>of the West becoming fully the other will take place easily for the various

>levels of Eastern mind. But of course there is a lot of self-confidence and

>even some degree of pride to be regain before that occurs.And perhaps also

>a few large scale geopolitical confrontations.

 

Past the globalisation era the East will drink more and more from its own

old sources. The pernicious erosion of one's heritage through the

superficial dimensions of "modern" culture" will no doubt pass and then a

way a lone a last a loved a long the...riverrun.

 

 

Jesualdo Correia

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