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MALHOTRA’S CHALLENGE
A blind spot in Amy M. Braverman’s “The
Interpretation of Gods” (December/04) and in Wendy Doniger’s
camp is that they give no consideration to education’s ethical consequences.
The propagation of caste, cows, and curry stereotypes of India is a disservice
to Chicago’s students, many of whom will hold globalized careers.
The times demand a radical departure from the prejudiced constructions and
dubious scholarship peddled by segments of the old guard of the American
intellectual establishment and transmitted through a Eurocentric core curriculum.
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COUNTERPOINT
At the end of Rajiv Malhotra’s lengthy criticism of Wendy Doniger’s
studies of Hindu
texts, he writes: “Rights of individual scholars must be balanced
against rights of cultures and communities they portray, especially minorities
that often face intimidation. Scholars should criticize but not define another’s
religion.” If this means that slander is wrong and colonialism is
pernicious, who could disagree? Yet, if this means, as I read him, that
scholars should contort their readings of sacred texts to honor the opinions
of traditionalists, I must dissent.
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ALIEN INTERPRETATION
As I read “The Interpretation
of Gods,” I found my mind entertaining the following image: Imagine
a Martian anthropologist—learned, sensitive, but quite deaf and not
a little arrogant. Suppose him to visit Chicago and attend a performance
of the symphony. And suppose we looked at the notes our Martian scholar
was scribbling—how might they read?
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ACADEMIC ARROGANCE?
The real fight is that the University’s Religious Studies Department
[Chicago has no religious-studies department per se; there is a graduate-level
Divinity School, and the College offers a religious-studies major.—Ed.]
is deeply immersed in social-sciences methodologies which do not provide
legitimate interpretations of classical Indic texts dealing with religious
experience.
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AGAINST INTERPRETATION
In “The Interpretation
of Gods” Amy M. Braverman seems to suggest a simplistically bifurcated
way of viewing Hinduism: that of the objective scholar and that of the narrow-minded,
conservative Hindu. Is it really so clearly defined? What happened to the
critical thinking one would expect in a University of Chicago publication?
Wendy Doniger is a respected, astute, and well-known scholar, and she has
a right to her views.
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FORGET FREUD, DEEP-SIX MARX
Thank you for the discussion of the objections to non-Hindu psychoanalytic
interpretations of Hindu scripture. I object to most psychoanalytic interpretation
of literature, claiming serious intentions, as reduction by an immature
hermeneutic. Admittedly the issues in the present case are complex, but
psychobabble in any case exploits the vocabulary of diagnosis.
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BEYOND INTERPRETATION
This is in response to the first two feature articles of the December/04
issue. I felt the need to write as an alumna of the University of Chicago
who returned to India after receiving a PhD (with honors) and built her
professional career in India, apart from an academic year spent as a fellow
of the National Humanities Center in the United States. I am shocked and
amazed that the University of Chicago Magazine should profile a
former CIA agent in a lead story [“Spy
Guy”], given the very negative image the CIA has come to acquire
among many millions of ordinary people worldwide.
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FALCON FEST
Re: “Falcon Quest” (“Chicago
Journal,” December/04). Attached you will find my photograph of
“our” female peregrine falcon perched on a Cobb Hall gutter,
taken from the fourth floor of the Administration Building last spring.
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Shocked! Shocked! That’s the reaction to the “Figure 1” chart (December/04). The chart claims to display “The Levelized Cost of Electricity.” Levelized? Levelized? Has the English Department been abolished? Are the authors of the study (economics, GSB, Harris School of Public Policy) without adequate vocabularies to express their conclusions without such a hateful neologism? Please incentivize them to study our rich and beautiful language.
Robert N. Kharasch, PhB’46, BS’48, JD’51
Miami
THE JOY OF FITTING
“Putting It All Together” (“Editor’s
Notes,” December/04), about jigsaw puzzles, is a delightful piece
and its question, “Why do we do them?” is a good one. But in
glancing at answers, you skate on thin ice—one can quickly fall through
and encounter surprising depths.
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WHOSE WAR IS IT ANYWAY?
I was distressed to see the “War
Stories” (October/04) piece trumpeting what was evidently considered
to be the achievements of grads Wolfowitz, Chalabi, and Ashcroft, in connection
with the Iraq war. The subhead’s “godfather” reference
for Wolfowitz was especially suitable, as a “godfather” figure
is one who directs a ruthless gang in the conduct of illegal activities,
generally of a violent and socially harmful nature. Not at all inappropriate
for Mr. Wolfowitz. This is a U of C favorite son? Is the pride of association
an accurate reflection of the wider U of C family or only the editorial
staff?
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OTHERS ON THE GROUND
I just finished reading “War
Stories” and was surprised to see that you only mentioned a select
few alumni. Here are a couple of alumni you ignored.
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OUR READERS READ—AND WRITE
Give me a break. So Chicago graduates are publishing too many books for
you to list—much less describe in any detail—in the Magazine.
What a shame! We’ve become what we were educated to be. Instead of
the joy I’ve had learning about the books written by fellow alumni,
I am now flipping through your mass-market inspired People magazine meets
Time. You seem to have plenty of room for full-page photographs.
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REAL PRAIRIE GOTHIC
Because of the title of the October/04 article about the Graduate School
of Business’s new building—“Prairie
Gothic”—I felt I must respond. The choice of relating context
to a residence, when you are designing a building in excess of 400,000 square
feet, only works if it is a residence for a duke or earl, or at least several
hundred students, not a single family home. The Gothic comparison is minimal.
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“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world....” In “Feel the Film Music” (“Investigations,” December/04) the Casablanca still was not from Rick’s Café but a bar in Paris. In the same issue’s “Arts & Letters” section, the photograph accompanying the “Welcome Home” article about Second City founder Bernie Sahlins, AB’43, showed the improv institution’s Toronto outpost. The 3,500-piece Boone Collection featured in “Investigations” was donated to the Field Museum over many years, with the last gift made by Katherine Boone, Commander Gilbert E. Boone’s widow. The collection ws exhibited twice in the early 1990s, and the Field’s Boone internships have been ongoing. And in the “Chicago Journal” report on the Human Rights Program internships, the citizens of Ghana should have been referred to by the preferred term, Ghanaians.
The Magazine welcomes letters. Letters for publication must be
signed and may be edited. To ensure a range of views, we encourage letters
of fewer than 300 words. Write Editor, University of Chicago Magazine,
5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. Or e-mail: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.
