THREAD
On April 23, 2020, @Harvard_Press tweeted the below racist and evocative picture about #Hinduism and #Hindus to promote a talk by @ajanthasub with @tmkrishna @BIC_Blr.
On April 23, 2020, @Harvard_Press tweeted the below racist and evocative picture about #Hinduism and #Hindus to promote a talk by @ajanthasub with @tmkrishna @BIC_Blr.
Picture shows a #Hindu religious figure grinding a mill stone, conjuring up a devilish figure and crushing black figurines or throwing them into fire (one figure is even seen holding the religious figure's foot).
@Harvard_Press failed to to review the contents of the link. Interestingly, the picture is not even from the book and was used specifically to promote the book and the lecture.
Racist cartoons are reminiscent of the antisemitic caricatures about Jews in the late 19th and early 20th century, using bodily stereotypes and showing them as immoral, criminals, corrupt businessmen, usurpers, etc. See tabletmag.com/sections/arts-… and adl.org/resources/back….
Similarly, African Americans were depicted as animalistic, crazed and savage based on pseudo-scientific anthropological theories of the late 1800s. See ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jim….
It is well known that such characterizations were used to openly justify oppression of and violence against Jewish, African American, women, LGBTQ and other communities. Indigenous peoples were also depicted in such cartoons in early 20th century to justify their conquest.
While this cartoon (1917, by Gaganendranath Tagore) is different and comes from Indian culture itself, it is important to note that such a cartoon needs to be viewed and presented in a cultural context, which this use of Tagore’s art did not do.
The use of the cartoon is prejudicial and sensationalist, and without providing the context of colonial critique, the cartoon seems to present a racist view of Hindus and can be seen as pejorative.
It also reinforces the kind of narratives that were created about #Hinduism to justify colonial conquest and #conversion.
Recently, Hindus have been the subject of attacks on college campuses and places of worship, endorsements of such bigoted portrayals of Hindus and Hinduism by #Harvard and HUP further reinforce racist colonial theories, and are a matter of great concern in the Hindu community.
Indeed, such endorsements do lend to the political view that Harvard endorses #Hinduphobia, something that CoHNA hopes is not the case.
CoHNA demands that the @harvard_press acknowledge this error of representation, and in good faith, issue an immediate apology to the Hindu community.
In addition, CoHNA asks that @Harvard sponsor a seminar by Hindu scholars to discuss the problematic nature of such endorsements and the issue of representation about Hinduism to reduce #prejudice.
As an institution proud of its rich intellectual #History and on #inclusion of #diverse voices, it is important to set the record straight about the absence of prejudice in such communications. The choice of the cartoon does not demonstrate that unprejudiced view.
Finally, it is also shocking that @BIC_Blr is peddling #Hinduphobia by allowing the use of such cartoons in promotion of a book on caste dynamics in Indian higher education. Why was this cartoon used?
