Dear Colleagues, Prof. Lyne Bansat-Boudon alerts me that the volume I mentioned --
d’Intino, Silvia, and Sheldon I. Pollock, eds. Enjeux De La Philologie Indienne: Traditions, Éditions, Traductions/Transferts. Paris: Institute de Civilisation Indienne, Collège de France, (2019) -- is not about the history of Indology in the sense I had surmised. Rather, it collects the proceedings of this conference -- https://www.ephe.psl.eu/node/7484 Issues in Indian Philology: Traditions, Editions, Translations/Transfers International Conference December 5-7, 2016 - Paris, Collège de France Conference Committee: Lyne Bansat-Boudon (EPHE), Silvia D’Intino (CNRS), Jean-Noël Robert (Collège de France) Thanks and best, AV. On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 4:42 PM Ananya Vajpeyi <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry, some of the embedded links dropped out of my earlier mail: > > A similar exercise was undertaken comparatively for India and China and > the study of classical Chinese > <http://www.sheldonpollock.org/archive/pollock_what_2018.pdf>. Some > aspects of the history of Indology in France is here, I think: > > d’Intino, Silvia, and Sheldon I. Pollock, eds. *Enjeux De La Philologie > Indienne: Traditions, Éditions, Traductions/Transferts*. Paris: Institute > de Civilisation Indienne, Collège de France, 2019. > > Thanks and best, > > AV. > > > > On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 12:20 PM Ananya Vajpeyi <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Dear Dominik, Antonia, Prof. Rocher, and Colleagues, >> >> On a different trajectory than Schwab, and apart from the history of area >> studies in the US which is by now pretty thoroughly known, Pollock has >> explored the antecedents and inter-connections of Philology, Classics, >> Sanskrit, Oriental Studies, Indology and the Humanities in the >> post-Enlightenment Western university quite consistently over the past >> decade and a half. >> >> You may find many articles of interest on this broad theme -- how the >> disciplines are organized and departmentalized; how chairs, syllabi and >> degrees emerge; what role the study of Sanskrit plays in the definition and >> evolution of the modern humanities -- in a repository of his writings, >> here <http://www.sheldonpollock.org>: >> >> http://www.sheldonpollock.org/texts/articles/ >> >> There are also reflections on the relationship -- or disjunction -- >> between intellectual cultures, philological methods, reading practices, >> pedagogy, translation, transmission etc. in India and in the West, before >> the colonial university (largely) supplanted more "traditional" forms of >> Sanskrit teaching and learning in colonial and post-colonial India. >> >> A similar exercise was undertaken comparatively for China and the study >> of classical Chinese. Some aspects of the history of Indology in France >> is here, I think, though I haven't seen this work yet, except for >> Shelly's chapter >> <http://www.sheldonpollock.org/archive/pollock_indian_2019.pdf>. >> Professors Isabelle Ratie, Matthew Kapstein or Jan Houben would know more >> (about the French case). >> >> Best wishes, >> >> Ananya. >> >> >> On Sun, Jun 27, 2021 at 10:43 PM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Dear Dominik, >>> >>> My personal impression concerning Sanskrit (and all the other subjects >>> Germans would call 'breadless') at university, at least in Anglophone >>> countries, is that, with the exorbitant fees students are paying, they and >>> their parents want something in return. Spending a life paying off student >>> debt is no fun, and so the understandable tendency would be to take/major >>> in a subject that offers a slightly clearer path towards gainful >>> employment. Taking an online Sanskrit course that costs around $300 is a >>> much smaller commitment, and almost all my Yogic Studies students are >>> adults. (If you take all three terms of my intro course for $800, you get >>> the same from me that my Cornell and Munich students in Intro Sanskrit >>> got/are currently getting, and with much better tech support, a TA and >>> thriving online communities. But Yogic Studies, unlike universities, are >>> the ones considered by some as being ‘for profit’:-)…) >>> >>> Another factor likely is that most students in Europe or North America >>> don't really know about subjects that they don't encounter in secondary >>> school (I at least first heard the name 'Sanskrit' mentioned when I was >>> already a Classics undergrad). Combine that with the attitude (which I >>> believe is stronger where I currently am than in e.g. the US) that the task >>> of a department of Indology, Indo-European etc is to educate the next >>> generation of Indologists, Indo-Europeanists etc., and you find an >>> environment that could be made more inviting for students who (wisely!) >>> want to first dip their toe into this new (to them) field before they >>> possibly commit to it. >>> >>> There are many other factors as well, of course. Some things we can do >>> that I believe would be productive: >>> - Networking as much as we can within our institutions, having our >>> courses recognized as elements in as many adjacent departments as possible. >>> We have *so much* to offer after all. >>> - Becoming better public communicators and advocates of our work. The >>> idea of a public intellectual is accepted in some countries, praised in >>> few, often looked down on in others. Such communication is difficult and >>> needs to be learned, but it *can* be learned. This applies especially to >>> all our specialised research that does at first sight not pass an >>> interested bystander's 'so what?' test. >>> - Give available positions not just to those who excel most at research, >>> but also to those who actually care about and are good at teaching. (I know >>> this is difficult because there is a limited number of posts available, and >>> universities are the only places where research like ours can be carried >>> out.) Don't give intro language teaching to inexperienced TAs. Intro >>> teaching is *much* more challenging than, say, an intermediate reading >>> class. >>> >>> What would also be helpful, but isn’t in our control: make education >>> affordable (again, this doesn’t apply to all countries, but definitely most >>> Anglophone ones). Have universities that are fully about education rather >>> than accreditation, that are not the playthings of politicians, that are >>> not about having a degree from the Most Excellent University of X. (My BA >>> certificate from Cambridge states the day on which I received it, written >>> out in words (!), but does not mention subject or grade. It took me a while >>> to understand the rationale behind this.) >>> >>> Ultimately, I hope that what is going to happen in future years is that >>> the various alt-acc institutions, which arise because there are important >>> vacuums to be filled, can be tied in more with universities. That means >>> more job opportunities for academics, and for universities the possibility >>> to focus on their individual strengths, given who is there, rather than >>> having to offer the full breadth of the field. For smaller colleges to be >>> able to offer full degree courses specific to South Asia, or maybe even >>> ‘classical’ Indology. Imagine being able to have specific offerings that >>> you are renowned for, but if you don't have, say, someone focussing on >>> yoga, not a problem, because you can offer world-class online courses with >>> none other than Jim Mallinson or Phillip Maas (and many others) through a >>> place like Yogic Studies. (And now I will stop blowing the YS horn - I >>> promise they're not paying me to write this:-).) >>> >>> We all know that courses in situ, with face-to-face contact, remain an >>> absolutely necessary framework; but maybe we can have online offerings >>> within that framework, at least when they are well-organised from the start >>> and not put on as an afterthought (as they sometimes have been by >>> universities in the past). >>> >>> Public interest in India (past and present) is enormous, far beyond the >>> ‘Yoga practitioner who wants to know what the names of āsanas mean’ >>> stereotype. If we can get many interested in taking a few courses, and then >>> a few in pursuing further studies as part of official degree courses, I >>> think that would be great for our field. It would also secure us much >>> broader support whenever someone decides we are an easy subject to cut. >>> >>> My two (well, maybe five) Euro cents. >>> >>> All my best, >>> Antonia >>> >>> >>> On Sun, 27 Jun 2021 at 17:09, Dominik Wujastyk <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> The rationale was just curiosity. I was chatting with a colleague >>>> about student numbers and wondering why universities can't fill their >>>> classes while online courses like yours can. The question arose out of >>>> that. Perhaps the online options are popular partly becausestudents can't >>>> actually do a degree in Sanskrit at a university these days. Instead of a >>>> focus on language - for which there is a student appetite - they see a ton >>>> of stuff that might seem irrelevant to them (at least at first >>>> impression). >>>> >>>> There's more to discuss about all this and about how Sanskrit degrees >>>> worked in the past and how they might in the future, but email maybe is too >>>> pedestrian and monologue-prone a medium. When I did the Oxford BA, there >>>> was the idea in the air that we were catching up with students doing Greats >>>> who came to university with eight years of Latin and Greek already, from >>>> their school years. I think the idea was that it was premature to dive into >>>> culture and history if we didn't have the language. That was perhaps >>>> flawed. The system was so different anyway, that it's hard to compare. It >>>> was a tutorial system, and there were no lectures. Not one, in the whole >>>> three year degree. I vividly remember the first lecture on Hinduism I >>>> attended, by Richard, and it was wonderful. But it was in the first or >>>> second year of my PhD. >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> Dominik >>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> INDOLOGY mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology >>> >> >> >> -- >> *Ananya Vajpeyi* >> https://www.csds.in/ananya_vajpeyi >> >> >> >> > > -- > *Ananya Vajpeyi* > https://www.csds.in/ananya_vajpeyi > > > > -- *Ananya Vajpeyi* https://www.csds.in/ananya_vajpeyi
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