Hinduism Studies under lens at Harvard

[suchandra]

 

 

"Unless the country is protected, Dharma cannot be protected, and unless Dharma is protected, the country cannot be protected. ....also, protect the Dharmi to protect Dharma, and remember: 'Hindu Vote is Sacred: Never Barter it Away' -- This should be our refrain/campaign all over India, at this critical juncture. We should demand follow-up action on the Historic

‘Tirupati Declaration’ (July 15, 2006), the three cardinal Articles of which are: 1) 'We Hindus assembled here, in Tirupati, declare that we do not support, directly or indirectly, any group, institution, religion, media, or political force, which preaches, practices or works against Hindu Dharma in this country'; 2) 'We appeal to all the Hindus in this country and elsewhere to to and support this declaration, the Tirupati Declaration'; 3) 'We want all the Hindu religious endowments to be managed by Hindu bodies, and not by the government. We want the secular government to release all religious endowments from its hold.' " -- Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

(Government Control of Hindu Temples in India -- A Blatant Violation of Secularism & Religious Freedom)

 

<!-- Blog Posts --> Aug 20, 2008

 

Hinduism Studies under lens at Harvard

http://news.hinduworld.com/click_frameset.php?ref_url=/index.php&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvivekajyoti.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F08%2Fhinduism-studies-under-lens-at-harvard.html

-- how it impacts Education of Hinduism

and Text Books read by children

in school about Hindui

 

 

 

enkatakrishna Sastry

Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 11:53 PM

Hinduism studies under lens at Harvard -- how it impacts Education of Hinduism and Text Books read by children in school about Hinduism

Placed below is the research data on which organization deals with what aspect of religious studies. In summary, the point desired to be made is this: There is a need, a desire on the part of several well meaning people to strengthen 'Hinduism /Vedic Studies /Religion et al. But the body is 'tender and weak '. (Weak body with a strong will!)

This is a project of Harvard reading: ‘In the past forty years, immigration has dramatically changed the religious landscape of the United States. Today, the encounter between people of different religious traditions takes place in our own cities and neighborhoods. In 1991, the Pluralism Project at Harvard University began a pioneering study of America's changing religious landscape. Through an expanding network of affiliates, we document the contours of our multi-religious society, explore new forms of interfaith engagement, and study the impact of religious diversity in civic life. In 2000, we expanded our study of pluralism to other multi-religious societies.’

http://www.pluralism.org/research/profiles.php?sort=tradition#Hinduism

The interesting thing in this survey and project is total absence of any referencing to 'Hindu University' which is operational in one way or the other since 1993; and certainly post 2002 in a clearly visible way! And no where is even a reference to IVHU / Yoga centers / et al. Even Maharshi Vedic University seems to be off from this list under 'Hinduism'?!

The highlight goes to the details of several even small temples, but does it turn a blind eye on an 'Institution' dedicated for subject studies?! It also puts the challenge of creating proper educational materials and responding to the inaccuracies / short representations. And in my assessment, the seeds of this disease go deep in to 1700 CE period (getting crystallized in 1800 with colonial writings on India /Vedic studies /Sanskrit). There is a three hundred year legacy to catch up.

The mission of the project makes an interesting reading:

Mission

 

Our mission is to help Americans engage with the realities of religious diversity through research, outreach, and the active dissemination of resources.

In the past thirty years the religious landscape of the United States has changed radically. There are Islamic centers and mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples and meditation centers in virtually every major American city. The encounter between people of very different religious traditions takes place in the proximity of our own cities and neighborhoods. The results of the 2000 census underscore the tremendous scope of ethnic change in our society, but tell us little about its religious dimensions or its religious significance.

Pluralism has long been a generative strand of American ideology. Mere diversity or plurality alone, however, does not constitute pluralism. There is lively debate over the implications of our multicultural and multireligious society in civic, religious, and educational institutions. How we appropriate plurality to shape a positive pluralism is one of the most important questions American society faces in the years ahead. It will require all of us to know much more about the new religious landscape of America than we presently know.

The Pluralism Project: World Religions in America is a decade-long research project, with current funding from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, to engage students in studying the new religious diversity in the United States. We will explore particularly the communities and religious traditions of Asia and the Middle East that have become woven into the religious fabric of the United States in the past twenty-five years. The overall aims of the Pluralism Project are:

1. To document and better understand the changing contours of American religious demography, focusing especially on those cities and towns where the new plurality has been most evident and discerning the ways in which this plurality is both visible and invisible in American public life.

2. To study the religious communities themselves, their temples, mosques, gurudwaras and retreat centers, their informal networks and emerging institutions, their forms of adaptation and religious education in the American context, their encounter with the other religious traditions of our common society, and their encounter with civic institutions.

3. To explore the ramifications and implications of America's new plurality through case studies of particular cities and towns, looking at the response of Christian and Jewish communities to their new neighbors; the development of interfaith councils and networks; the new theological and pastoral questions that emerge from the pluralistic context; and the recasting of traditional church-state issues in a wider context.

4. To discern, in light of this work, the emerging meanings of religious "pluralism," both for religious communities and for public institutions, and to consider the real challenges and opportunities of a public commitment to pluralism in the light of the new religious contours of America.

One part of the Project's research is the creation of in-depth profiles of individual religious centers. The profiles below, from both Project Affiliate researchers and others, include general information and statistics about the centers, their history, reports of visits, and photographic images.

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