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Prof. S.
N. Balagangadhara is director of the
Research Centre Vergelijkende
Cultuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures) in Ghent
University, Belgium. He has authored many
pieces, including a book titled, "The Heathen in His Blindness" on the
nature of religion. His central area of inquiry is to develop a
description of the western culture against the background of the Indian
culture. He is currently working on a book about ethics: comparing Indian
ethics with the western one.
Articles
What
not to do?
Perhaps, it is best to begin in an autobiographical mode. I came to
(continental) Europe some 25 years ago, naively thinking that `cultural
difference' is something that `cosmopolitan' Indians would not experience:
after all, I had studied Natural Sciences in India; knew English rather
well; was more familiar with the British and European history than I was
with that of India (I once had plans to join the IAS by doing exams on
these subjects); felt right at home with the western philosophy … It took
me about 4 years of living in Europe, without relating to any Indian (or
even Asian) community
because I did not want to land up in an emotional and social ghetto, to
realise that I was wrong: `cultural differences' were no fictitious
invention of anthropologists; it involved more than being a vegetarian or
being barefoot at home when the weather was not too cold. This realisation
was instrumental in shaping my research project: what makes the Indian
culture different from that of the West? (I never felt anything other than
an Indian amongst the Europeans.)
In fact, it has been a typical characteristic of western writings on other
cultures (including India) to characterise the latter using terms that are
only appropriate to describe individual psychologies: X culture is stupid,
degenerate, and irrational; Y culture is childish, immature, intuitive,
feminine, etc. To simply repeat these mantras after them is to achieve
very little understanding.
More...
Nature
of Moral Learning - Yadaa Yadaa hi dharmasya sambhavaami Yuge Yuge
A
breath-taking claim about the nature of moral learning in India.. this is
what the verses now describe, that: when such a degeneration of the
learning process occurs, at some critical phase in the degeneration at the
level of society, other mechanisms in society are going to *kick in* and
regenerate this learning process (i.e. the process of learning to be
moral).
More...
India and Her Traditions: A Reply to Jeffrey Kripal
Therefore,
I will be interrogating Jeffrey Kripal with respect to one single
question: has he produced knowledge or not? I do not believe he has; I
believe his stance prevents him from recognizing it; I do not believe he
knows either of these two. I will try to provide arguments in defence of
these charges. This is my brief.
More...
India
and Her traditions II: An Open Letter to Jeffrey Kripal
In this
letter, I will not write everything I want to because there are
constraints of size and readability. Therefore, let me tell you beforehand
that this letter will merely express my perplexities: why you do not see
what you do, why you say one thing and do its oppo-site, why while seeking
knowledge you are so eager to embrace ignorance.
More...
On Colonial Experience and the Indian Renaissance: A Prolegomenon to a
Project
One of the
striking things about the British colonial rule is its success in
developing certain ways of talking about the Indian culture and society.
The British criticised the Indian 'religions', the Indian 'caste system',
the Indian education system, practices like 'sati' and 'untouchability',
and so on and so forth. They redrew the outlines of Indian intellectual
history as indigenous responses to some of the ills they saw in the Indian
society and culture.
More...
How to Speak for the Indian Traditions: An Agenda for the Future
The
article attempts a contrast between the process and the structure of the
Christian and the Indian spirituality. Drawing attention to their
dissimilarities, it attempts to reformulate the differences among the
Indian traditions in a novel way. It argues that cultures and traditions
are not just different; rather that they differ from each other in
different ways as well. The future of religious studies, it is suggested,
is dependent on developing the ability to develop new ways of describing
the differences between cultures and traditions. This is the agenda for
the future. As a correlate to this task, the article suggests that we
replace the question "who speaks ‘for’ and ‘about’ a religion?" with a
more pregnant and a more accurate reformulation: "how to speak for a
religion in the Academy?"
More...
“...We
Shall Not Cease From Exploration...”
An invitation disguised as a position paper composed at the behest of
arena for the theme 'Decolonizing Social Sciences".
More...
Colonial Consciousness - An article scheduled to appear soon
Some Theses on Colonial Consciousness - Notes by Balu
On Ignorance or Avidya - Half complete thoughts on Avidya - Balu
Paper in
dutch, which takes on Amartya Sen
File that
needs to be converted (Review2.510).
.510 seems to be Cthugha 51
file
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