Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.
In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors
This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.
By Swami Harshananda
Every dvija[1] is expected to undergo the sacrament of upanayana and wear the yajñopavīta[2] on his body always. The normal and permanent way of wearing it is to put it on the left shoulder and allow it to hang below the right armpit. This mode of wearing is called upavīta.
