From: Sunthar Visuvalingam <suntharv@yahoo.com>
Date: 2011/8/7
Subject: [Abhinavagupta] "Academic Colonialism, False Consciousness, and the Western University Idea" (Ben Wildavsky)
To: Abhinavagupta <Abhinavagupta@yahoogroups.com>,
In a conference held in Penang, Malaysia from 27 to 29 June 2011 and titled "Decolonising Our Universities", scholars and academicians from the erstwhile "colonised world" gathered to discuss ways of "decolonising our universities" from influences of Eurocentrism that pervaded academics. The presentations were not merely academic but very activist, with the clarion call for some form of Renaissance or resisting Eurocentric hegemony or both dominating proceedings. At the end of it all, the message was well taken. At least in the social sciences, which predominated the discourse on academics, there was a strong case for decolonisation: for theorisations that were not limited to the European cultural milieu, for breaking away from European thought, its categories, concepts and from the myth that they were originators of modern civilisation, and for the re-establishment of the non-Europeans as "knowing subjects" and not "passive objects" perceived through the agency of Europeans. The basis for that discourse was laid out in a keynote by the Indian ambassador to Bhutan and popular writer, Pavan Varma who lamented the effects of colonisation on the Indian mind, which for him, still persisted today. The derision shown for Indian culture by the colonial masters had been "internalised by the ruled", the colonisers created an education system that suited their interests, and importantly Indian languages lost their salience during colonial rule […]
Mathematician C K Raju, in a presentation, titled "Decolonising Math and Science Education", argued that colonisation as a process extended to the natural sciences as well. Raju, basing his presentation in favour of the traditional Indian notion of pramāna – empirical proof in mathematics as opposed to the philosophy of "formalism", argued that there existed a religious–Christian – bias in "formal" mathematics, and it was necessary to unlearn this form of mathematics that dominated curricula across the world. The validity of the argument was beyond the ken of this writer, but perhaps Raju could have tempered his views which included ad hominem attacks on scientists such as Albert Einstein. Raju's presentation was also based on his copious works on the origins of calculus in India, the analysis of "infinite series in India" and others. His salient point was that mathematics and natural sciences had to be "de-theologised", and that, an alternate history and philosophy of mathematics had to be worked out and taught in universities. […]
A presentation on the "Swaraj University" by its founder Manish Jain exemplified one such model of alternate institution that Alvares had in mind. Innovative teaching methods, curricula and learning from experience marked the goals of this university, which is attempting to do away with the formalistic and "ritualistic" forms of established university teaching. In this reporter's opinion, the effort is laudable, but the system surely cannot be "scaled up" for all forms of learning and teaching. All in all, the conference on "decolonising our universities" offered insightful perspectives on the need and ways to foster epistemologies and pedagogies that are devoid of Eurocentric and colonial bias and prejudice. Having said that the dangers of this turning out to be a form of "nativism" and even perhaps intolerance of any form of western knowledge are inherent. There was in some of the papers and discussions an element of overcelebration of the native and recourse to the un-scientific. Mani Shankar Aiyar's invocation of Gandhi (Young India, 1 June 1921, p 170) is well worth mentioning here as the South endeavours to strip its universities of Eurocentrism –
"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."
Srinivasan Ramani "Decolonizing Knowledge Systems" (EPW, 23 July 2011)
Is the spread of the Western higher education model around the world evidence that repressive colonialism is alive and well in academe? Apparently so, according to a statement issued by participants in the International Conference on Decolonizing Our Universities, held recently at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang. The authors of the manifesto, which I read about last week in GlobalHigherEd, minced no words in describing the alleged harm done to universities outside the West by "the tutelage and tyranny of Western institutions." They complained that in non-Western nations "indigenous intellectual traditions" have been denigrated and marginalized.
The group, which included participants from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, and Uganda, duly issued a call to action: "We are firmly convinced that every trace of Eurocentrism in our universities – reflected in various insidious forms of western controls over publications, theories, and models of research must be subordinated to our scintillating cultural and intellectual traditions." And so forth. For good measure, participants showed that they weren't afraid to take things to the next level: they wrote a letter to UNESCO. […]
But if the rapid globalization of universities is certainly not without complications, it's worth remembering that the Western university model has become dominant for a reason. While Western universities are not monolithic, the best among them are justly renowned for their massive contributions to the world's store of knowledge (including knowledge of indigenous cultures in other countries). That's precisely why countries such as China and South Korea want to emulate those institutions. More broadly, it's hard to see how such admirable principles as freedom of inquiry, high standards of evidence, and merit-based hiring can be legitimately classified as colonialist practices. Recall, too, that the American liberal-arts model, with its emphasis on analytical thinking, is now widely admired in Asia – presumably because it has broad applicability across a range of cultures. And, of course, students from around the world flock to Western universities in massive numbers, seeking out precisely the kind of education that allegedly squelches their native traditions.
Could these mobile students suffer from what Marxist theory calls false consciousness, not understanding the nature of their own oppression? Hardly. After assessing the options available to them at home and further afield, they're pursuing the opportunities that seem most desirable. Any country that wants to keep larger numbers of those students at home will have to create more, not fewer, Western-style educational options. Talk of colonialist academic oppression may make for stirring conference manifestos, but it fundamentally misreads the appeal of the Western academic model – and its unmistakable merits.
Ben Wildavsky, "Academic Colonialism, False Consciousness, and the Western University Idea" (Chronicle of Higher Education, 04 August 2011)
Dear Raju,
Vinay Bahl has just reminded me that you might especially want to address the not entirely invalid rebuttals published by the Chronicle of Higher Education (above) when you respond to Ramani.
It is rather curious that Third World scholars who want resist and even overturn Western hegemony still insist on inventing African 'psychology', Indian 'sociology', Islamic 'economics', etc., instead of taking a page or two from Michel Foucault's Order of Things to critique such disciplines themselves as the product of a specifically Western 'anthropology', which is the very 'modernity' that they (enviously?) want to imitate. It seems to me that much more progress would be made if traditional practices were rediscovered, studied, and quietly adapted to local conditions, letting the theorizations catch up later. For example, Prof. Shad Saleem Faruqi's critique of the Western model of adversarial and interrogative justice and appeal for returning to reconciliatory (pancāyat) and alleviative justice.
My view is that the 'rebellious' academics who populate Third World universities are far too invested, materially (as Faruqi so well pointed out), in perpetuating the existing local setups. No meaningful and lasting change, if any, will come from this Western implanted institution, despite the laudable efforts of dedicated individual like Manish Jain (we first heard about him from his father Mohan during a diaspora conference on alleviating poverty and suffering in India last October). The 'revolution' will rather come from the outside world, which has now far better access to knowledge repositories and (self-) education via the 'interactive' (to quip Mani Shankar Aiyer) Internet, and it would not be surprising for the parochial nature of the 'University' to become apparent first in the 'Third' World.
It is good hear that students and journalists took the trouble to read up on your writings instead of basing their reports only on your presentations. While your attacks on Einstein, Newton, even the Church, might be perfectly valid, they are distracting in the context of a short presentation (or even an email rejoinder) to those unfamiliar with your work and want some key arguments and substantive punch lines to take home and chew on. That would be doing injustice to your achievements and dedication to the truth.
Best wishes,
Sunthar
PS. You might want to check out the svAbhinava profile of Vinay Bahl, who has apparently been following, thanks to you, these developments around the conference:
http://www.svabhinava.org/friends/VinayBahl/
[Rest of this thread at Sunthar's post at (20 July 2011)
-----Original Message-----
From: [C.K. Raju]
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 3:23 AM
Subject: Re: "Decolonizing Knowledge Systems" (Srinivasan Ramani, EPW) - summary of conference in Malaysia
Thanks for the info Sunthar,
I am in the process of writing a response to Ramani. Should have completed it a some time back, but anyway it should go by tomorrow. Of course, my point is that he has a colonised mindset, and has tried to trivialise and reject what I am saying without evidence, and without understanding. I am trying to avoid being too hard on him, since my target is the colonised mindset, not Ramani.
I agree that a lot was crammed into that 30 minute talk. But the agenda was an alternative curriculum in math, physics, and history of science. This has to be documented for future reference, even if the audience only partly grasped it. Also, the point about 2+2=4 involving religious beliefs (through an implicit notion of infinity/eternity) was grasped by a several student rapporteurs (since there was also the element of informal discussion outside the talk), and mentioned in their summary.
Other news reports did manage to get two of the points quite clearly, though separately. These reports (17-24 July in NST, and 1-21 July in the Sun) are now posted on my blog: http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=62 and http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=61.
Also the live footage of the Euclid video (no editing, no subtitles) is now online at http://ckraju.net/videos/videos.html. I have not understood why it was not webcast live, but I was given the footage promptly. (It took over a week to upload it because of glitches on my server.) I will edit and condense it sometime, as and when I have the time or the assistance.
Regards,
CKR
PS.>
[Response to Sunthar's post at (06 August 2011)
"Decolonizing Knowledge Systems" (Srinivasan Ramani, EPW) - summary of conference in Malaysia]
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