Talk:South Asia Faculty Group

South Asian Faculty Group submitted a letter addressed to the State Board of Education, California Department of Education, dated May 17, 2016. The group officially stated by stance on the representation of Hinduism within the educational curriculum as:

1. "There is no established connection between Hinduism and the Indus Civilization. The Rg Veda contains numerous mentions of horses and chariots but there is no conclusive material or fossil evidence for either at any Indus valley archeological site. We urge you to reconsider our rejected edit on page 211, lines 805-809 and replace with either our initial edit, or with the following: “Some of the terracotta figurines and narrative images on seals show motifs that were used in later South Asian religious traditions, such as female figurines that may represent fertility deities of mother goddess images. However, it is not possible to definitively link specific Indus figures to specific deities in later religious traditions, though there may continuities in the use of symbols that have been appropriated by various historical and modern religious communities.” Some have noted that a male figure in a seal resembles the Hindu God Shiva in a meditative posture, an interesting speculation for which we have no convincing evidence of continuity. Sitting in a meditative posture is not an exclusive Hindu practice and is also something historically practiced by Jain, Buddhist, and other groups around the world."
2. "It is inappropriate to remove mention of the connection of caste to Hinduism. The Rg Veda, the text described in the curriculum framework, describes a varnic system of social organization which is likely the progenitor of the modern caste system. It is true that Christian and Muslim groups also share features of caste organization in South Asia, but Christian and Muslim groups in other parts of the world do not display such caste-like features. The presence of caste-like features among Indian Christian and Muslim groups arises from their proximity to the Hindu caste-system."
3. "The geographic location of the Indus Civilization lies in what is now contemporary India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The use of "South Asia" to describe this shared civilizational heritage is thus entirely appropriate in some places of the framework, even though South Asia is a modern term, and some source materials use the term ‘Ancient India.' In some places where we recommended the use of “South Asia” we also suggested that “East Asia” be used instead of “China” for the sake of consistency, but the CHSSP did not recommend this change. In other places where we recommended replacing India with South Asia, the CHSSP found an acceptable compromise by using both designations. Instead of choosing one over the other, South Asia was written in parentheses immediately after India. Students will see a mention of India, while noting that it is, in some cases, equivalent to what is now modern day South Asia, which is the term used today to refer to the entire subcontinent. Although we worry that students may think that “South Asia” is the same as modern India, we consider that the instances in which this compromise was reached can remain as “India (South Asia)” in edits 2436, 2441, and 2454. There is no conflict with telling students in class that large swaths of South Asia are historically part of the heritage of Hinduism. We have no objection to changing “Indus Civilization” (the more accurate descriptor of the spread of archeological sites across India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, to “Indus Valley Civilization” (at no. 2443), although most of the Indus River valley lies in contemporary Pakistan."

While SAFG claims to offer a balanced assessment of these issues, but several points call for a reevaluation of their stance, particularly in the light of preserving historical accuracy and cultural representation within educational content such as:

• SAFG asserts that their review aimed to provide a correct view of Hinduism and Indian history, in the report the SAFG mentions that thare is no conclusive findings on whether the Indus Civilization was a part of India or not but refuses to acknowledge the possibilities of the same.
• SAFG argues that the portrayal of Vyasa and Valmiki should be strictly as Brahmins and that Valmiki is mentioned as a robber in Puranas.
• The SAFG’s insistence mixing caste system with Varna system.

Further, members - Ramnarayan Rawat, Professor of History, University of Delaware; Kamala Visweswaran, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego; and Banu Subramaniam, Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, signed favoring the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference. Kamala Visweswaran and Ramnarayan Rawat signed for the conference without any expertise in signing the statement.

South Asian Faculty Members who signed

1. Chris Chekuri, Associate Professor, History Department, San Francisco State University
2. Shahzad Bashir, Lysbeth Warren Anderson Professor of Islamic Studies, Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University
3. Robert Goldman, Catherine and William L. Magistretti Distinguished Professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
4. Stephanie Jamison, Distinguished Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and of Indo-European Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
5. Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. (Field Director and Co-Director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project since 1986)
6. Gurinder Singh Mann, former Kundan Kaur Kapany Chair in Sikh Studies and Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara
7. Vijaya Nagarajan, Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco
8. Shailaja Paik, Assistant Professor of South Asian History, University of Cincinnati
9. V. Narayana Rao, Visweswara Rao and Sita Koppaka Professor in Telugu Culture, Literature and History, Emory University
10. Ramnarayan Rawat, Professor of History, University of Delaware
11. Sudipta Sen, Professor of History, University of California, Davis
12. Banu Subramaniam, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
13. Thomas R. Trautmann, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Michigan
14. Kamala Visweswaran, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego
15. Rita P. Wright, Professor of Anthropology, New York University, and member of the NYU Center for Human Origins

Academics who supported the letter

1. Prof. S. Shankar, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
2. Prof. Jesse Knutson, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
3. Prof. Bruce Robbins, Columbia University
4. Prof. Vijay Seshadri, Sarah Lawrence College
5. Prof. Cristina Bacchilega, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
6. Prof. Arvind Rajagopal, New York University
7. Prof. Charu Gupta, Delhi University, India
8. Prof. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia University
9. Prof. Keya Ganguly, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
10. Prof. Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
11. Prof. Kanishka Chowdury, St. Thomas University
12. Prof. Akshaya Saxena, University of Minnesota
13. Prof. Anushiya Ramaswamy, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
14. Prof. Ketu Katrak, University of California, Irvine
15. Jael Silliman, Independent Scholar, Kolkata, India
16. Prof. Aparna Dharwadker, University of Wisconsin, Madison
17. Prof. Amna Akbar, Ohio State University
18. Prof. Cynthia Franklin, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
19. Prof. Purnima Bose, Indiana University, Bloomington
20. Prof. Laura Lyons, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
21. Prof. Barbara Foley, Rutgers University, Newark
22. Prof. Anjali Arondekar, University of California, Santa Cruz
23. Prof. Tithi Bhattacharya, Purdue University
24. Prof. Bill Mullen, Purdue University
25. Prof. Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University
26. Prof. Paula Chakravartty, New York University
27. Prof. Nidhi Srinivas, New School, New York City
28. Prof. M. V. Ramana, Princeton University
29. Prof. Mary Hancock, University of California, Santa Barbara
30. Prof. Saloni Mathur, UCLA
31. Prof. Pranav Jani, The Ohio State University
32. Prof. Yumna Siddiqi, Middlebury College
33. Prof. Ravi Arvind Palat, State University of New York at Binghamton
34. Prof. Richard Forster, University of Hawaii at Manoa
35. Prof. Carol Murry, DrPH, Retired U Hawai'i Manoa
36. Prof. Chandana Mathur, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
37. Prof. Salah D Hassan, Michigan State University
38. Prof. Richard Cullen Rath, University of Hawaiʿi at Mānoa
39. Prof. Adam Miyashiro, Stockton University
40. Prof. Satya P Mohanty, Cornell University
41. Prof. Valerie Wayne, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
42. Prof. Junaid Rana, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
43. Prof. Raza Mir, William Paterson University
44. Prof. Monika Mehta, Binghamton University
45. Prof. Yasmin Saikia, Arizona State University
46. Prof. Shefali Chandra, Washington University in St. Louis
47. Prof. Lamia Karim, University of Oregon
48. Dr. Gautam Premnath, Independent Scholar
49. Prof. Rachel Sturman, Bowdoin College
50. Prof. David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford
51. Prof. Rima Najjar, Al-Quds University (Retired)
52. Prof. Amit R. Baishya, University of Oklahoma
53. Prof. Belinda Edmondson, Rutgers University-Newark
54. Prof. Meena Alexander, City University of New York
55. Prof. Rohit Chopra, Santa Clara University
56. Prof. Bhaskar Sarkar, UC Santa Barbara
57. Prof. Ashwini Tambe, University of Maryland
58. Prof. Juan E. Campo, University of California, Santa Barbara
59. Prof. Sarada Balagopalan, Rutgers University
60. Prof. Ritu Birla, University Toronto
61. Prof. Inderpal Grewal, Yale University
62. Prof. Valerie Forman New York University
63. Prof. Lalitha Gopalan, The University of Texas at Austin
64. Prof. Madhurima Chakraborty, Columbia College, Chicago
65. Prof. Modhumita Roy, Tufts University
66. Prof. Harsh Mathur, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
67. Prof. Martha C. Nussbaum, the University of Chicago
68. Prof. Raja Swamy, University of Tennessee
69. Prof. Mari Yoshihara, University of Hawai'i
70. Prof. Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh
71. Prof. Waqas Khwaja, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
72. Prof. Mona Bhan, DePauw University
73. Prof. Cheryl Narumi Naruse, University of Dayton
74. Prof. Nyla Ali Khan, University of Oklahoma
75. Prof. Tharakeshwar V.B., the English and Foreign Languages University, India
76. Prof. Tara Doyle, Emory University
77. Prof. Lisa King, University of Tennessee
78. Prof. Erika Rappaport, University of California, Santa Barbara
79. Prof. Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University
80. Prof. Sankaran Krishna, University of Hawaii at Manoa
81. Prof. Caren Kaplan, UC Davis
82. Prof. Sunaina Maira, UC Davis
83. Prof. Hosam Aboul-Ela, University of Houston
84. Prof. Ned Bertz, University of Hawai'i
85. Prof. Philip Oldenburg
86. Prof. Amritjit Singh, Ohio University
87. Prof. Suvir Kaul, University of Pennsylvania
88. Prof. Neil Larsen,University of California, Davis
89. Prof. Junyoung Verónica Kim, University of Iowa
90. Prof. Shankari Patel, UC Santa Cruz
91. Prof. S. Charusheela, University of Washington, Bothell
92. Prof. Edali Pollard. Antioch College, LA
93. Prof. Claudia Arteaga, Scripps College
94. Prof. Anuradha Dingwaney Needham, Oberlin College
95. Prof. David Gordon White, University of California, Santa Barbara
96. Prof. Karam Dana. University of Washington, Bothell
97. Prof. Shelley Feldman, Cornell University
98. Katarina Figueroa
99. Prof. Alka Kurian, University of Washington, Bothell
100. Prof. Balmurli Natrajan, William Paterson University of New Jersey
101. Prof. Karen Graubart, History, University of Notre Dame
102. Prof. Suzanne Bergeron, University of Michigan Dearborn
103. Prof. Nancy A. Naples, University of Connecticut
104. Prof. Peter J. Carroll, Northwestern University
105. Prof. Sangeeta Kamat, UMASS Amherst
106. Prof. Biju Mathew, Rider University, NJ
107. Prof. Vidya Kalaramadam, William Paterson University of New Jersey
108. Yashna Panda, the Ohio State University
109. Richard Falk, Research Fellow, Orfalea Center, UCSB
110. Martha Escobar
111. Prof. Shubha Tewari, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
112. Prof. Satish Kolluri, Pace University
113. Prof. Zoe Sherinian, University of Oklahoma
114. Prof. Karen Leonard, Anthropology, UC Irvine
115. Prof. Ania Loomba University of Pennsylvania
116. Prof. Steven Salaita, American University of Beirut
117. Clarissa Rojas
118. Prof. Timothy J. Reiss, New York University
119. Prof. Monisha Bajaj, University of San Francisco
120. Prof. Paul R. Brass, University of Washington, Seattle
121. Prof. Weihsin Gui, University of California-Riverside
122. Prof. Mayfair Yang, UC Santa Barbara
123. Prof. Divya Nair, Community College of Philadelphia
124. Prof. Juliana Spahr, Mills College
125. Prof. Darshana Mini, University of Southern California
126. Prof. Ann Christensen, University of Houston
127. Prof. Anustup Basu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
128. Prof. Aradhana Sharma, Wesleyan University
129. Anirban Mukhopadhyay
130. Prof. Kamran Asdar Ali, UT, Austin
131. Abikal Borah, University of Texas at Austin
132. Prof. Megan Moodie, UC Santa Cruz
133. Prof. Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University
134. Prof. Farah Godrej, University of California, Riverside
135. Prof. Jih-Fei Cheng, Scripps College
136. Prof. Gyanendra Pandey, Emory University
137. Nisha Kunte, Sage Hill School
138. Huma Dar
139. Arunima Paul, PhD, English, Gender and Visual Studies, University of Southern California
140. Prof. Danielle Widmann Abraham, James Madison University
141. Prof. Kasturi Ray, San Francisco State University
142. Mitul Baruah, Syracuse University
143. Prof. Patricia Morton, UC Riverside
144. Prof. Piya Chatterjee, Scripps College
145. Pallavi Rao, PhD Student, Indiana University, Bloomington
146. Munawwar Kavungal
147. Mara Ahmed
148. Prof. Jigna Desai, Univ. of Minnesota
149. Prof. Tariq Thachil, Yale University
150. Prof. Nayan Shah, University of Southern California
151. Prof. Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, Arizona State University
152. Shanthanu Bhardwaj

Other signatories

1. Asad Q. Ahmad, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley
2. Kathleen D. Morrison, Neukom Family Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology and the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago
3. Luis González-Reimann, Ph. D. South Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

References

• 5-17 Kamala Visweswaran South Asian Faculty Group letter
• 5-17 Prof. S. Shankar et al support letter