[INDOLOGY @ ] Is 'firangi/ferangi' a racist term?

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, "Rajiv Malhotra" <rajiv.malhotra@a...> wrote:

>

> COMMENT:

> If firangi were racist, then so would

> be desi, as the two terms are mutually defined. Might one equally

point out

> that to denounce an indigenous people's (desi) idiom has

traditionally been

> linked to racism?

 

The term 'desi' is typically in use by Indians for themselves in a

kind of good humored contempt. Use of 'firangi' then would be

similar. But use of a term denoting contempt, good humored or

otherwise, for your "Other" is liable to cause offense. Also, I

wonder if terms like 'firangi', 'desi' etc belong in a context which

is otherwise jawbreakingly erudite :-) e.g., the thread refers to

hermeneutics etc..

 

btw, some of the core issues bearing on the 'westology' thread have

been discussed by AK Ramanujan in one of his essays. (Ramanujan, A.

K. (1989): "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking? An Informal Essay",

Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 23, No. 1: 41-58.)

 

Hope this helps,

 

LS