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H-ASIA January 13, 2006 A further report re: banning of James Laine's _Epic of Shivaji_ -- an interview with the author reported in _Indian Express_ ************************************************************************ From: "Everett, Jana" <Jana.Everett@cudenver.edu> Another interview with Jim Laine has appeared. Today's Indian Express (1/12/06) has an article entitled, "I'll always write on India, says Laine," which describes an email interview with Professor Laine over the latest controversy on his writing on Shivaji. This article gives more space to Laine's views than the one in the _Maharashtra Herald_ yesterday. The IE article quotes Laine as saying that "in the current context" he "can no longer do fieldwork in Maharashtra or write specialised work on Maharashtrian culture," and noting that _Epic of Shivaji_, banned this week was published in 2001, representing work mostly done by 1997. The article reports that on the ban, "Laine says no comment. 'It is not my business. Rather I would say that it is up to Indian intellectuals to decide whether they want books banned.'" According to the article, Laine goes on to say, "The worldwide scholarly community assumes the free exchange of ideas. It is up to Indians to decide the degree to which they want to participate in that community." He notes that his book is mostly (346 of 386) pages a translation of the Sanskrit epic commissioned by Shivaji to praise his deeds," and he used the word, "oedipal" in a "literary way to reflect passages in the text that suggest father-son conflict. In no way is it used in a derogatory fashion. I take full responsibility for this work." In my humble opinion, it is commendable that the IE allows Laine to express his views, but this whole tamasha is an unfortunate event raised for political purposes. While the worldwide scholarly community may believe in freedom of expression, the scholarly community exists in an extremely politicized context, not just in India, but also in the US, as the "Fire Ward Churchill" campaign in my state illustrates. In fact, because of the Ward Churchill tamasha, there is a University of Colorado task force established to investigate tenure, and I have the misfortune to serve on the internal component of that task force. Jana Everett University of Colorado at Denver Jana.everett@cudenver.edu ------- Ed. nte: The "Ward Churchill tamasha" to which Professor Everett refers involves an unfortunate political spectacle involving scrutiny of the academic record of professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder who drew attention for some rather extreme comments about victims of the 9/11 tragedy ("little Eichmans") and whose scholarship was subsequently critiqued extensively. I agree with Professor Everett that this is, in a way, part of the whole assault on intellectual and academic freedom, but I would strongly dissent from putting Jim Laine in the same box with Ward Churchill--Laine is a well regarded scholar who has pursued his scholarship with care and caution and been regularly subjected to peer review; Mr. Churchill's career has followed a rather different path. When Salman Rushdie visited Boulder last year, he was asked about the Churchill affair. His response was that he felt Ward Churchill had the right to say what he said, although he, Rushdie, found it "hurtful." Rushdie then added: "Remember 'freedom of speech' is not freedom of speech for your friends, it is freedom of speech for jerks." FFC ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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