Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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In this book, we examine the impact on Indian American children from school textbook narratives about Hinduism and ancient India, highlighting their alignment with colonial-racist discourse. This discourse causes psychological effects similar to those caused by racism: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a detachment from their cultural heritage. The book represents four years of rigorous research and academic peer review, underscoring Hindupedia's dedication to challenging the portrayal of Hindu Dharma in academia.

Talk:Banu Subramaniam

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Anirudha Patel

Banu Subramaniam is a Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as of November 2022[1]. According to her university profile, her research explores the philosophy, history, and culture of the natural sciences and medicine as they relate to gender, race, ethnicity, and caste.

In 2021, she along with Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, co-signed a letter supporting "Dismantling Global Hindutva" Conference, as an academic and scholar and made the allegation

"the current government of India [in 2021] has instituted discriminatory policies including beef bans, restrictions on religious conversion and interfaith weddings, and the introduction of religious discrimination into India’s citizenship laws. The result has been a horrifying rise in religious and caste-based violence, including hate crimes, lynchings, and rapes directed against Muslims, non-conforming Dalits, Sikhs, Christians, adivasis and other dissident Hindus. Women of these communities are especially targeted. Meanwhile, the government has used every tool of harassment and intimidation to muzzle dissent. Dozens of student activists and human rights defenders are currently languishing in jail indefinitely without due process under repressive anti-terrorism laws."[2]

In 2016, she signed a letter[3] addressed to the State Board of Education, California Department of Education, dated May 17, 2016. The letter stated the following:

  1. "There is no established connection between Hinduism and the Indus Civilization."
  2. "It is inappropriate to remove mention of the connection of caste to Hinduism."


In 2006, she signed a letter addressed to the California Department of Education, expressing her concern about the representation of Hinduism and Ancient India in Grade 6 Social Studies textbooks despite having no publications relating to the topics being covered. She stated:

"The idea that Sanatana Dharma is a basic belief of Hinduism ignores both changes in the historical usage of the term to connote an array of notions and ritual practices, and its tendency since the late nineteenth century, to be associated with Hindu Nationalist groups in whose usage it has become a monolith and acquired a narrow and exclusively Sanskritic connotation. Such groups have since the time of the founding of the first Hindutva organization in 1925 been associated with violence and destruction. "[4]

In this letter, she misrepresents the academic "state of the art." making most of her stances suspect. Specifically, she positions the "Aryan migration theory" as the most accurate at this point in time misrepresenting academic research ignoring 13+ papers that challenge that position[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17].

In the letter, she

  • Delinks Hinduism and Ancient India as because they claim that Hinduism emerged in the 19th century [18]. Finally, they decide to refine well known ancient Hindu texts such as the Aṣṭādhyāyī and Tolkāppiyam as "non-Hindu" to justify their position[19].
  • Delinks Sanskrit, the language of many ancient Hindu texts with Hindu Dharma[20] and argue falsely that Hindu women are treated as impure and unfit ignoring the richness of the traditions and respect always provided to women and described in detail across a wide body of texts[21].
  • Attributes well understood Hindu concepts like ahiṃsā to Buddhism and Jainism[22]

Publications related to India and Hindu Dharma[edit]

Books[edit]

  1. Subramaniam, Banu. Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism. University of Washington Press, 2019.

Journal Articles[edit]

  1. Subramaniam, Banu. "Viral Fundamentalisms: Riding the Corona Waves in India." *Religion Compass*, vol. 15, no. 2, Feb. 2021.
    The author focuses on the topic of Hindu nationalism, arguing that it has been on the rise since the BJP government came into power in 2014. According to the author, the BJP's success in establishing the government is attributed to two large non-profit/non-governmental organizations. The author wants reader to believe that having the support of independent non-profit organizations equates to undermining the democratic process in India[23]. He ignores the fact that political parties around the world seek the support of and endorsement of non-profit groups, institutes, etc to support their electoral efforts.
    The author criticizes the idea that the BJP was able to mobilize the country based on imagining India as a "Hindu nation."[24].
  2. Subramaniam, Banu. "The Ethical Imperative: The Vegetal Frontiers of Technologized Meat." In Meat: A Transnational Analysis, edited by Sushmita Chatterjee and Banu Subramaniam.
  3. Subramaniam, Banu, and Debjani Bhattacharyya. "A Viral Education: Scientific Lessons from India’s WhatsApp University." Somatosphere, 31 May 2020.
  4. Subramaniam, Banu, and Debjani Bhattacharyya. "Technofascism in India." n+1 Magazine, 13 May 2020.
  5. Subramaniam, Banu. "Counter-narratives of the Enlightenment: Tales from the Edges of Science and Religion in India." In Contradiction Studies: Mapping the Field, edited by Katrin Amelang, Gisela Febel, Michi Knecht, and Anne Rohrbach. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2019.
  6. Subramaniam, Banu. "Overpopulation Is Not the Problem." Public Books, 27 Nov. 2018.
  7. Subramaniam, Banu, Jennifer Hamilton, and Angela Willey. "What Indians and Indians Can Teach Us about Colonization: Feminist Science and Technology Studies, Epistemological Imperialism, and the Politics of Difference." Feminist Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, 2017.
  8. Subramaniam, Banu. "Recolonizing India: Troubling the Anti-Colonial, Decolonial, Postcolonial." Catalyst: Journal of Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Banu Subramaniam page on University of Massachusetts, Amherst accessed November 9, 2022
  2. ↑ "Letter of Support", Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference website, accessed August 7, 2022
  3. ↑ 5-17 Kamala Visweswaran South Asian Faculty Group
  4. ↑ 11-18 Kamala Visweswaran CBE Final Report
  5. ↑ Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the Origins of the Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan, Migration Debate. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
  6. ↑ Elst, Koenraad. Indigenous Indians: Agastya to Ambedkar. New Delhi: Voice of India, 1993.
  7. ↑ Feuerstein, Georg, Subhash Kak, and David Frawley. In Search for the Cradle of Civilization. Wheaton: Quest Books, 2001.
  8. ↑ Frawley, David. Gods, Sages, and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization. New Delhi: Motilal Banarasi Dass, 1993.
  9. ↑ Frawley, David. The Rig Veda and the History of India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2001.
  10. ↑ Lal, B. B. How Deep are the Roots of Indian Civilization? Archaeology Answers. New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2009.
  11. ↑ Lal, B. B. “Aryan Invasion of India: Perpetuation of a Myth.” In The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, edited by Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 50–74. New York: Routledge, 2005.
  12. ↑ Shaffer, J. G., and Diane A. Litchenstein. “South-Asian Archeology and the Myth of Indo-Aryan Invasions.” In The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History, edited by Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, 75–104. New York: Routledge, 2005.
  13. ↑ Talageri, Shrikant. The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis. Rev. ed. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2004.
  14. ↑ Talageri, Shrikant. The AryanInvasion Theory: A Re-appraisal. Rev. ed. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2006.
  15. ↑ Possehl, Gregory L. The Indus Civilization. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press, 2002
  16. ↑ Robb, Peter, ed. The Concept of Race in South Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  17. ↑ Trautmann, Thomas R. The Aryan Debate. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  18. ↑ "Problems in Identifying Hinduism with Ancient India: Hinduism is a plural tradition" ... "whereas most of the traditions that went into the making of what we know as Hinduism today emerged in the centuries immediately before and after the onset of the Common Era (C.E.). “Hinduism” does not even emerge as a term of reference until the colonial period in the 19th century... "
  19. ↑ of “Ancient India” with Hinduism means that other texts, which are not strictly about “Hinduism”, but important to South Asia’s intellectual heritage, such as the Sanskrit grammar by Panini or the Tolkappiyam of classical Tamil, are completely sidelined.
  20. ↑ "Problems identifying Ancient India with Sanskrit: Dual classical traditions"
  21. ↑ Sanskritic Hindu laws describe women as impure and unfit for scholarship, as lacking judgment and capability, of being the carriers of caste purity, as being entitled to lesser property and inheritance than men, etc. we recommend that they be given more information both of the strictures against women’s participation in public and religious life
  22. ↑ While the Upanishads make mention of the notion of ahimsa, it does not become important to Hinduism until after Buddhism and Jainism make it central to their conception of life. In other words, there was no prior ‘Hindu’ support for ahimsa; it is only when Hinduism became more like the Hinduism we know today that it took over ahimsa from Jainism and Buddhism
  23. ↑ "After coming to power in 1998 in a coalition government, we have seen the steady rise of Hindu nationalists in government. Today, they are the majority party in power in India. The political success of the BJP draws on two other Hindu nationalist groups—The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an organization of religious leaders, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a grassroots nationalist organization (These two are not political parties and do not contest elections.)"
  24. ↑ "The power of Hindu nationalism lies in the effective way by which it has mobilized the country. At the heart of Hindu nationalism is the idea of Hindutva or 'Hinduness,' and the imagination of India as a Hindu nation."
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