US Congressman Response To Thapar Petition

[Guest guest]

June 3, 2003

US Congressman Response To Thapar Petition

 

Mr. M. Brannon Parker

2441 S Kihei Rd B105

Kihei, Hawai'i 96753

 

Dear Mr. Parker:

 

Thank you for informing me of your opposition to the appointment of

Professor Romila Thapar to a Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress.

Thank you also for directing my attention to the Internet petition

that

opposes her appointment.

 

Mr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, envisioned a

center

within the library as a place where the "world's leading thinkers

make

greater use of the world's greatest collection of human knowledge."

In

October 2000, Mr. John W. Kluge, the President of Metromedia,

donated

$60

million to support such an endeavor, and subsequent plans called for

the

establishment of five senior Kluge Chairs to correspond broadly to

groupings among the library's vast collections.

 

In an April 17, 2003 news release, the Library of Congress announced

Professor Thapar's appointment as the first holder of the Kluge

Chair

in

Countries and Cultures of the South, and noted that she would be

spending

ten months pursing "Historical Consciousness in Early India" as her

area

of research. The library also noted that in her published works,

Professor Thapar had pioneered "both the study of early Indian texts

as

history and the integration of the critical use of archaeology with

written sources."

 

In a February 1999 interview, Professor Thapar stated that "when one

talks

about history, one talks about it at two levels." She indicated

that

one

level is information, which has to be accurate, and the other is

interpretation of that information, "which is where different

schools

of

history come into play." Clearly, different schools of history are

at

play with regard to the professor's appointment.

 

However, given the Kluge Center's purpose and the professor's overall

credentials, I believe her appointment appears appropriate. That

said,

whatever work of history results from her current research, she,

like

all

professional historians, will be required to cite her sources and

defend h

er interpretation of those sources. By the same token, those who

assert

that Professor Thapar has "expounded [an] ignorant view of India's

unique

history and civilization" must cite her works and her sources and

explain

either why her works are mistaken or why her sources are inadequate,

or

both.

 

In the end, my view is that this appointment, while controversial,

will

contribute, in both Professor Thapar's work and in the scholarly

criticism

to which it will be subjected, to broader discussion of a vital area

in

world history. I am hopeful that, in that vein, her work will be

true

to

the overall purpose of the Library of Congress.

 

With aloha,

 

 

 

 

ED CASE

United States Congressman

Hawai'i, Second District