South Asian Studies

Zooey Live blogs about being a South Asian graduate student and South Asian Studies, one of her points is this:

[T]here is also something else which intrigues me about the South Asian departments. Something that’s also very visible in this class. So few of their students work on modern and/or contemporary South Asia. It’s not that I think working on pre-modern South Asian texts or societies is inherently bad. But there is also this general reluctance to acknowledge the existence of a modern South Asia. Very similar to the project of classical Indology. Which relegated India perpetually into the realm of “ancient.” And my pea-sized brain tells me this is not just an innocent fascination with the pre-modern past. But indeed, this is a very problematic manisfestation of an evolutionary understanding of the world and not totally unconnected to the racial-colonial politics which attempted to colonize non-Western territories by claiming that the people in there are not that “modern.”

Racial Tensions in Malaysia

The Cicak posts a video from a BBC interview with Malaysia’s foreign minister.  Some of the questions asked to the minister were:

Sarah Montague from the BBC asks Foreign Minister Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar about the “rising resentment” from Indian and Chinese Malaysians about Malay rights and privileges.

1. Is it fair that it’s easier for Malays to get into universities compared to Chinese and Indians?
2. How can Chinese and Indians feel a sense of belonging when they can’t get access to top cabinet posts?
3. There are foreign investors “cashing out” of Malaysia because of privileges accorded to Malays. What do you think?
4. Is the constitutional right to profess and practice one’s religion becoming increasingly meaningless?

100th Anniversary of the “Hindu” Riots

Angry Asian Man blogs:

This week marked the 100-year anniversary of Bellingham, Washington’s “Hindu” riots, when a mob rounded up the city’s East Indian mill workers and ordered them out of town: 1907 Bellingham mob forced East Indian workers from town. On September 4th, 1907, roving gangs of thugs walked from mill to mill, and boarding house to boarding house, hauling out “Hindus” (a common label for all East Indians at the time) roughing them up and ordering to get out of town. This feature is a detailed look back at the area’s largely forgotten racist past, part of a larger campaign to get rid of Asians West Coast during the turn of the century.

100th Anniversary of the “Hindu” Riots

Angry Asian Man blogs:

This week marked the 100-year anniversary of Bellingham, Washington’s “Hindu” riots, when a mob rounded up the city’s East Indian mill workers and ordered them out of town: 1907 Bellingham mob forced East Indian workers from town. On September 4th, 1907, roving gangs of thugs walked from mill to mill, and boarding house to boarding house, hauling out “Hindus” (a common label for all East Indians at the time) roughing them up and ordering to get out of town. This feature is a detailed look back at the area’s largely forgotten racist past, part of a larger campaign to get rid of Asians West Coast during the turn of the century.

Happy Birthday Mandela

Michael writes:

On 18 July 1918, Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Qunu in the Transkei, South Africa.  Born to African royalty, Mandela (a Methodist Christian) studied and practiced law, joined the African National Congress during its Gandhian nonviolence stage, and later came to lead this central organization in the struggle against apartheid(racial separation) in South Africa.  After the Sharpesville massacre (1961) of unarmed students, Mandela led the ANC to abandon its commitment to Gandhian nonviolence and take up arms in a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare (terrorism was rejected).

Deportation Based on Name

Sunny, from Pickled Politics, blogs about how Sabbir Ahmed was almost deported simply because of his name:

A British Asian was held in a detention centre for nearly two months and threatened with deportation to Pakistan because Home Office officials believed he was a foreigner. Immigration officials assumed that Sabbir Ahmed, who speaks with a Lancashire accent, was Pakistani despite the fact that he was born in Blackburn and has a British passport.

I found this on the blog aggregator Brown Blogger Brigade.