SV: [Y-Indology] India loving Indologists

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rao.3 [sMTP:rao.3] skrev 7. mai 2001 18:49:

> This difference may extend to those who study other cultures.

> Some work hard at getting into the shoes of the subjects,

> others may simply see them as data sources without any further

> value.

 

That I doubt very much. If such people exist, they are very rare in

Academia.

 

Many who study India do love it. Others may see it simply as

> grist to the mill of their general theories about

> culture/religion/language etc.

 

It is true that India is a wonderful place both for linguists and for

people who study culture and other aspects of human activities. But the

same goes for Europe and Latin-America. There is nothing wrong in that. All

successful academic work presupposes a certain amount of detachment. A

doctor who studies cancer must to some extent stay detached from his

patients and their sufferings, but that does not mean that he doesn't care.

The vast majority of doctors care about their patients. And all Indologists

that I have met care for India, even if they don't care for all aspects of

Indians society or all Indians equally.

 

 

Yet others may simply be after

> publications to add to their CV. [The last charge has been

> also by informants, who, I would assume, should know.]

 

Why do you think that Indologists spend so much time studying India? They

are not exactly in for a great career in economic terms. You can bet that

there is a great deal of idealism involved.

 

> That brings me to a question I had asked in the original Indology

> list, but to which I never got an answer: If an author exhibited/s

> towards blacks or women the same attitude that Whitney had towards

> "Hindus", would his books be used in a `first course'? Yet we find

> Whitney's Sanskrit grammar used as the textbook for first courses

> in Sanskrit (including here at The Ohio State University, as the

> official name has it). How can this be justified?

 

Because Whitney's Sanskrit grammar is extremely good. It was produced more

than a 100 years ago, and may express attitudes that are not acceptable

today, but from a linguistic point of view it is one of the best grammars

there is. You simply skip the unacceptable bits.

 

LM

 

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