Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children : A Francophone Postcolonial Analysis / by Kundan Singh, Krishna Maheshwari.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singh, Kundan.

Contributor:

Māheśvarī, Kr̥shṇā.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Postcolonialism.

Hinduism.

Education--Philosophy.

Education.

Imperialism.

Postcolonial Philosophy.

Philosophy of Education.

Imperialism and Colonialism.

Local Subjects:

Postcolonial Philosophy.

Hinduism.

Philosophy of Education.

Imperialism and Colonialism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (268 pages)

Edition:

1st ed. 2024.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.

Summary:

Euro-American misrepresentations of the non-West in general, and in particular on Hinduism and ancient India, run deep and have far greater colonial connections than that have been exposed in academia. This book analyzes the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. The authors show that there is an intimate connection—an almost exact correspondence—between James Mill’s colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. The very parameters and coordinates on which James Mill constructed the discourse are the ones that are being used to describe Hinduism, Hindus, and ancient India in the textbooks currently. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children a psychological impact quite similar to what racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors. This book argues that the current school textbook discourse on Hinduism and India needs to change so that the Indian American children do not become victims of overt and covert racism. For the change to occur, the first step is to recognize the overarching and pervasive influence of the colonial-racist discourse of James Mill on the textbooks. For the reconstruction of the discourse to take place, the first step is to engage in a thorough deconstruction, which is what the book attempts. Kundan Singh is a professor at Sofia University, Palo Alto, the president of the Cultural Integration Fellowship, San Francisco, and a senior fellow at Hindupedia, Cupertino. Krishna Maheshwari has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and from Cornell University an MS in Computer Engineering and a BS in Computer Science. He works as the Chief Product Officer at NeuroBlade. Krishna also founded and directs the research institution Hindupedia.

Contents:

1. James Mill and the History of the History of British India

2. The Francophone Postcolonial Thinkers and the Colonizer-Colonized Dialectic

3. Primitivizing the Hindus: Hindus as Hierarchical and Oppressive

4. Imagining the Hindus and Hinduism

5. Mill’s Colonial-Racist Discourse in School Textbooks

6. Damaging Psychological Consequences of the Discourse.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9783031576270

3031576276

OCLC:

1432498068