Resources for South Asian Area Studies in the United States: Report of a Conference Convened by the Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies for the U.S. Office of Education [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512803259

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Resources for South Asian Area Studies in the United States

Resources for South Asian Area Studies in the United States Report of a Conference Convened by the Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies for the United States Office of Education, February 23-25,1961

Edited by

Richard D. Lambert

Philadelphia U N I V E R S I T Y OF P E N N S Y L V A N I A PRESS

© 1962 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Published in Great Britain, India, and Pakistan by the Oxford University Press London, Bombay, and Karachi Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 62-11263

Printed in the United States of America

Preface Except for the first and the last, all of the papers in this volume were written as working papers for a conference held in New York on February 2 3 - 2 5 , 1961. T h e agenda and a list of participants are given in appendices. T h e meetings were held under the auspices of the Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies. T h e impetus for the meetings came from the feeling shared by South Asian scholars and members of the Language Development Section of the United States Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, that the purposes of the National Defense Education Act would be most fully served if, in addition to planning by governmental agencies, representatives of major institutional and disciplinary interests in South Asia would assess their own general developmental needs. Since the spirit of the National Defense Education Act has been interpreted to place primary emphasis upon the development of language skills, the first conference was held at the University of Pennsylvania in January, 1960 and it dealt almost exclusively with matters pertaining to South Asian languages. T h e results of that conference were published under the editorship of Professor W . Norman Brown in a companion volume to the present one, and was entitled Resources for South Asian Language Studies in the United States. Many of the recommendations of that conference have since been carried out. It was clear, however, that two additional developmental spheres remained. One was the expansion and improvement of area studies other than language. As Professor Brown notes in the opening essay of this volume, virtually all of the recommendations made a decade ago by a representative group of scholars who formed the J o i n t 5

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Committee on Southern Asia of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council had been fulfilled. It seemed time to state a new set of goals and to examine the impediments to satisfactory growth in the field which had developed during the past decade. T h e other additional developmental sphere lay in the special problems encountered in the integration of area and language training in South Asian studies. Each author of a working paper was directed to consider his discipline or substantive topic with special emphasis on means for making maximal utilization of materials in South Asian languages. T h e individual working papers contain surveys of specific disciplines and problems with these two developmental areas in mind. T h e final paper is a summary report by the conference chairman on the nature of the discussion and the over-all recommendations for development of South Asian studies which emerged. It is desired that the hopes herein broadcast upon the waters will, in the same mysterious way, Teach as ample a fulfillment as did those expressed in the report of the J o i n t Committee on Southern Asia. T h e Committee wishes to thank Professor H . A. Gleason, J r . for the preparing of the index to this volume. Richard D. Lambert, Chairman Committee on South Asia

Contents

Development of South Asia Studies in the United States, 1951-1961 by W. Norman Brown Anthropology and Sociology by McKirn Marriott An Inventory of the Needs in the Development of Political Science in South Asian Studies by Myron Weiner Economic Materials for South Asian Studies by Wilfred Malenbaum An Inventory of Needs in the Development of South Asian History by Holden Furber Notes on Preparation of Materials for Modern Indian Literature by Edward C. Dimock Contemporary Philosophy, Religion, Arts, Music, and Dramatic Art by Karl H. Potter Neglected Fields by Morris David Morris Varieties of Language Competences by H. A. Gleason, Jr. Means of Increasing the Student's Use of Vernaculars in His Area Studies by John J. Gumperz Means for Increasing the Use of Vernaculars Among Area Studies Faculty by Gerald Kelley A Program of Language and Area Studies on Afghanistan by Leon B. Poullada Pakistan Studies in North America by Keith Callard Problems Related to Area and Language Studies on Nepal by Leo E. Rose Ceylon and South Asia Studies in the United States by W. Howard Wriggins American Research Library Resources and Needs for Support of Studies of South Asia by Horace I. Poleman

11 16 33 46 58 67 79 90 103 118 126 134 153 164 177 192

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Visual Resources for South Asian Studies and South Asian Studies in U n d e r g r a d u a t e Liberal Education by Ward Morehouse T h e Role of C o o r d i n a t i n g Agencies and of InterUniversity C o o p e r a t i o n in Strengthening South Asian Studies by Robert I. Crane Utilizing the Visitors f r o m South Asia by Burton Stein Bridging the G a p Between the Academician and the Practitioner by William T. Phillips Resources a n d Facilities for Research in South Asia by Richard L. Park R e p o r t of the C o n f e r e n c e o n the Strengthening and Integration of South Asian Language and Area Studies by Richard D. Lambert Index

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235 251 262 275

284 318

Resources for South Asian Area Studies in the United States

Development of South Asia Studies in the United States, 19-51-1961 W . N o r m a n Brown University of Pennsylvania The growth of South Asian studies in the United States since the end of World War II has been outstanding and justifies a forecast now of rapid acceleration. When the Joint Committee on Southern Asia of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council published its report in 1951 [Southern Asia Studies in the United States), it made the following statement (p. 11): In its universities, in government agencies, in journalism, in business, and in independent research the United States has approximately 160 persons with special competence on Southern Asia. This figure, so alarmingly small, was reached by means of a careful and complete scrutiny of personnel and covered the fields of both South Asia and Southeast Asia. The number for South Asia alone was, of course, considerably less than the total of 160. What the number is now I do not know since no survey has been made since 1951, but it is surely many times as large. Resources for South Asia studies had already started a significant expansion as one of the consequences of the war, but no one dared prophesy in terms of all his hopes as a South Asia scholar. There were then only three universities with special graduate programs of study on South Asia, in whole or in part, dealing with both language and area subjects; these were California (Berkeley), Columbia, and Pennsylvania. A handful of trained scholars went each year to the field, occasionally a predoctoral student. The annual production of books and articles 11

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by Americans dealing with South Asia was small in n u m b e r . T h e Fulbright Act agreements with India and Pakistan, under which many students and faculty members have gone to the field, had only recently come into force. T h e Carnegie Corporation a n d the Rockefeller F o u n d a t i o n were s u p p o r t i n g South Asia studies; the Ford Foundation Avas shortly to come into the area. N o one yet dreamed of the support f r o m the federal government which became available in 1959 under the N a t i o n a l D e f e n s e Education Act. T h e J o i n t Committee, after surveying the existing resources in the U n i t e d States and the needs of the next ten years, presented a plan of development in eight parts, not knowing where the support was to come from, but hoping that the needs w o u l d b e so impressive as to attract the financing. I should like briefly to recapitulate that program and indicate what has been done in the decade 1951-61. I shall take u p the J o i n t C o m m i t t e e ' s recommendations in the order of their presentation in the Report (pp. 17, 37-55): 1. Grants-in-aid to University Centers of Southern Asia Studies in the amount of $300,000 annually. This was to include both South Asia and Southeast Asia studies. T h e university programs of study for South Asia alone existing in 1951 have had continuing and increasing support, while new programs have been developed at other universities, namely Arizona, Chicago, Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan, Minnesota, Rochester, Wisconsin, and are being planned for Claremont, Duke, Hawaii, Texas. How much is being spent at these centers on faculty appointments alone I do not know, but I feel it safe to say that the total of new appointments since 1951 costs each year several times the total of $300,000 asked by the Joint Committee for both South and Southeast Asia. 2. Scholarships. T h e Joint Committee wanted for the two areas together an expenditure of 5162,500 annually on graduate student scholarships and field fellowships. When the Ford Foundation initiated its Overseas Training and Re-

Development of South Asia Studies

search program a part of this support became available. Other support came through Fulbright operations. Now we have the National Defense Education Act Title VI fellowships, while some of the centers have also had some fellowship funds. Again, the total annual amount available for South Asia students in the universities and the field is now many times that specified by the Joint Committee. 3. T o provide field facilities and assist both student and faculty research, studies, and projects in the field, the Joint Committee asked for the establishment of an American Institute of Asian Studies located in India with an initial outlay of $3,500 and a recurring annual expenditure of $25,500, which it hoped might be met from U.S. counterpart funds in Southern Asia. This Institute never seemed likely to be established until January, 1961, when the U.S. Department of State found itself in a position to support such an Institute in India on funds accumulated there. Plans have therefore been started to organize the Institute under the sponsorship of the various United States universities and other institutions likely to profit from its services. T h e contemplated annual outlay for a center and sub-centers in India, fellowships, and research projects is not clearly foreseeable, but estimates have set it at as much as a half a million dollars annually. 4. A Monograph Purchase Fund of $5,000 a year for three years, to stimulate publication. Such a f u n d has not been established, but more than the equivalent amount of money has been available through subventions to scholarly publication by foundations (some of it through the Association for Asian Studies), through university presses, and now through contracts with the U. S. Office of Education as part of contracts for the preparation of teaching materials for South Asian languages. 5. For a Quarterly Accessions List at the Library of Congress, a non-recurring grant of $6,000. More than this amount was made available from the Ford Foundation and the Quarterly Accessions List was published for nine years. It is now suspended for lack of financial support, but the service it ren-

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dered is still needed and should be provided, if not at the Library of Congress, in some other form. 6. Conference on Undergraduate Education. A single sum of $2,500 was specified for this purpose. Two such conferences have been held in recent years, one at Columbia University and one at the University of Chicago. 7. Conference on Library Services, for which $2,000 was asked. This sum was found, a conference was held at the Library of Congress, and a National Committee on South Asia Library Needs has operated for a number of years, dealing with problems of libraries in this field. 8. A Coordinating Committee on Southern Asia, for which $11,500 annually was thought necessary. A Committee was not established on precisely such terms, but in 1955 the Association for Asian Studies, with foundation support, created the Committee on South Asia, which does much of what was contemplated by the Joint Committee. T h e present Conference is one of the many developmental activities which this Committee has fostered. T h i s record seems to me impressive and greatly encouraging. Everything which the J o i n t Committee recommended has been done or is now being done or is in sight, the last item being the American Institute of Indian Studies in India, and has been done uniformly on a much more generous scale than the J o i n t C o m m i t t e e had asked. T h e members of the J o i n t Committee, having always been engaged in a starved field of study, had not foreseen the possibility of getting such support. American scholarship, it seems to me, has responded satisfactorily to the opportunities offered it. T h e best index to this is the large number of good scientific publications in the South Asia field. Another guide is the increase in number of students. T h e first great impetus to our studies came from the post-war support of the great foundations, first the Carnegie and the Rockefeller, then the Ford. T h e second came from the Fulbright Act operations. T h e third came from the operations of the U.S. Office of Education under T i t l e V I of the National De-

D e v e l o p m e n t of South Asia Studies

15

fense Education Act. T h e fourth is the recently inaugurated program of the Ford Foundation, giving ten-year support to language and area centers on a most substantial scale. I believe that the American Institute of Indian Studies in India will be a fifth major impetus. What the future holds for our studies I shall not try to predict, but I shall only say: Do not let your anticipation be too modest. We are dealing with an area containing well on to 600,000,000 people, whose aspirations are great, and whose prestige and importance in the world are increasingly and rapidly expanding.

Anthropology and Sociology McKim University

Marriott of

Chicago

T h i s paper undertakes to survey the present state and needs of two related disciplines which are centrally involved in South Asian area studies—anthropology and sociology. These two disciplines share one large field of interest in the study of social organization. Within the field of social organization, anthropologists have tended to focus intensively upon small segments of society (villages, kinship groupings, etc.) and to study them directly as wholes in their natural contexts. While studying social organization, anthropologists have tended to emphasize the study of related cultural norms and values. Sociological researchers into social organization have tended to focus more often upon abstracted aspects of the larger society (e.g., mobility, marriage, industrialization, etc.) and to study those aspects statistically. Each of these disciplines also includes several fields of interest which it does not share with the other. T h u s sociology includes the fields of demography and human ecology, communications and social psychology—fields which border upon, but do not much overlap with anthropology's additional fields of ethnology (the study of the history and distribution of culture) and cultural personality, respectively. Anthropology furthermore embraces the fields of prehistoric archaeology and human evolution, concerned with the whole development of man as a cultural and biological being. (Linguistics is excluded from consideration as a field of anthropology in this paper since it is considered at length in several other papers of this conference.) T h e opening three-quarters of this paper is devoted to studies of culture and social organization, the central field of anthropology and sociology. But there is need to insure at the 16

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same time that the other, neglected fields of these disciplines begin and continue to develop their contributions to area studies in an orderly manner. They are taken u p in the latter sections of this paper. Needs are stated below according to the fields of the two disciplines. A description of each need is followed by a numbered recommendation for action.

I. C U L T U R E AND SOCIAL O R G A N I Z A T I O N

Among all these fields of interest in anthropology and sociology, the shared field of social organization is the field thus far best worked in South Asia. T h e primacy of attention thus far given to studies of social organization is justified by the wide relevance which this field has for all other kinds of knowledge of the peoples of South Asia. T h e great need for published information on social organization may be measured by the large demand for the very few existing compilations of modern research results. Nevertheless, many of the most authentic and informative recent publications on social organization are scarce, and relatively inaccessible to generally interested students and to specialized scholars alike. (1) Reader on social organization. A reader on main elements in the social organization of South Asia should be compiled and published. Such a volume might especially aim to bring together the most important studies of family, kinship, caste, regional networks, and cities. It would serve importantly to supplement the two available volumes of village studies. A grant for preparation and a subsidy would be required.

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General education and specialized training at all levels on South Asian culture and society deal with a subject matter remote from American life and tend to be grossly deficient in realism. Greater realism can be introduced into the classroom by the development of audio-visual materials such as collections of art objects, artifacts of daily use, and sound recordings. Creative efforts are especially required for the collection, editing, cataloging, and distribution of relevant motion-picture films. Publication of annotated slide collections can probably be done with existing materials and should be undertaken at once. Coordination is needed for all these proposals. (2) Audio-visual materials center. A center should be established for the collection, development, and distribution of films, slides, recordings, and artifacts as aids in teaching about South Asian culture and social organization. U p to the present time, the field of social organization in South Asia has been worked predominantly by anthropologists. T h e resulting predominance of direct, holistic studies of small scale can be justified by the need for accurate knowledge of structural detail and meaning as a prerequisite to researches and interpretations of larger scale or more specialized aspect. In an area as little known and as varied as South Asia, the need for many more such intensive studies of social organization is likely to be with us for a long time to come. However, social research needs increasingly to be extended to units and problems of larger scale, applying the methods and techniques which are especially cultivated in sociology. Very few American sociologists have competence in the area of South Asia at present, and very few students of sociology are being trained to work in the area. T h e most rapid and economical means of filling this need for personnel would be to offer additional training on the area or in sociology to those who are otherwise well prepared by previous graduate training or completion of doctorate.

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(3) Sociological fellowships. Special inducements in the form of fellowships for advanced training should be offered to graduate students or scholars holding a Ph.D. (a) in sociology to permit their training in South Asian language and area studies and (b) in other disciplines such as anthropology combined with language and area studies to permit their additional training in sociology. One to two years would be the normal term of such fellowships. (4) Sociological research. Whenever intensive local research provides adequate controls on the validity of more abstract data, special consideration in the award of research grants should be given to plans for sociological field studies in South Asia. Weaknesses in Present

Research

Small-scale, direct studies of culture and social organization in South Asia have been yielding a high degree of understanding, but remain subject to a series of inherent weaknesses. Some weaknesses of these studies and some proposals for strengthening them are given here. A. GENERALIZATION

When field studies are of small scale, extension of their findings to larger areas is often impossible, or can be accomplished only by speculative extrapolation. One cannot say with certainty from studying a single village whether a phenomenon found there exists elsewhere, yet knowledge of the larger "elsewheres" is one implicit long-term aim of all research, however local it may or must be in the first instance. Local studies may properly be regarded as samplings of larger universes. The criteria for selecting each sample therefore need to be considered and stated explicitly with reference to a larger universe, a practice which is very rare at present. Similarly, knowledge gained

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from a local sample often needs to be extended by a wider survey in order for its significance to be realized. (5) Representative sampling. Preference in awarding research grants for local studies of culture and social organization should be given to plans which aim toward wider representativeness rather than toward random exploration. (6) Regional research. Support should be made available for field and library research on the distribution of social and cultural phenomena across regional and larger areas. Centers for the study of regional languages will in many instances be equipped to organize such regional researches. A series of a dozen regional monographs on culture and social organization, preferably laid out on a comparative basis, would be a reasonable and desirable goal for the next ten years. T h e unfilled need for general explanation may be distinguished from the need for descriptive generalization discussed above. In order to contribute more usefully to general explanations of social organization, local samples need always to be placed in analytic contexts by systematic comparison with other samples chosen to highlight similarities and differences. Comparisons can generally best be conducted around a limited topical focus (e.g., caste, family, religion, personality, etc.), with reference to a common theoretical scheme, and by the primary researchers themselves. (7) Comparative conferences. Topical conferences to elicit, compare, and analyze the results of local studies should be supported and planned now for at least the next five years. One or two such conferences should be conducted each year, each aiming to produce a systematic published treatment of its topical subject. While existing centers for language and area studies might

A n t h r o p o l o g y a n d Sociology

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properly convene such conferences and give partial support, the conferences would naturally draw on scholars from many institutions, and would require joint financing by several centers with the help of additional new funds. B. CULTURAL LEVELS AND HISTORICAL DEPTH

In civilizations like those of South Asia, where cultural and social phenomena are often highly stratified, a local study, especially if it is a rural study, tends to depict life at a low cultural level. Villagers are relatively illiterate, unlearned, and parochial. T h e researcher who bases his study on their lives alone— unless he is throughly trained in what does not meet the eye— may easily fail to grasp the connections between what he observes and those less obvious upper levels of the society and civilization on which local phenomena often depend. Many students and even mature scholars have gone out and are still going out to undertake local field researches in South Asia without having had even rudimentary Indological training. Once in the field, where there is lessened chance for self-correction, such naive researchers have found it easy to attack spurious problems and to overlook genuine problems. Another way of stating the same sort of weakness is in terms of time: the anthropologist or sociologist who undertakes a sixm o n t h or twelve-month village study without adequate orientation to events in the long history of the civilization is in danger of mistaking as fixed elements of the situation phenomena which he might otherwise have seen as fluctuating, or mistaking as radical changes phenomena which he might better have understood as signs of enduring processes. (8) Indological preparation. N o scholar should be encouraged to undertake field research on culture or social organization in South Asia without a minimum of a previous academic year's full-time training (or equiv-

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alent) in the history, humanities, and learned traditions of the civilization within whose area he intends to work. Beyond this recommendation as to the curriculum needed for the adequate training of specialists on social organization, far more strenuous means must be sought constantly to bring the work of such social science specialists into mutually educative relationships with specialists on other aspects of the civilization. Regular cooperative enterprises need to exist within each university. Cooperative enterprises may consist of jointly taught courses on the area, or a faculty research seminar, or a joint faculty research project, etc. Preferably it would include all of these. T h e essential requirement is that both basic concepts and the results of advanced research be brought into frequent communication across disciplinary lines between the social sciences and humanities. T h e same requirement may of course be met by cooperative enterprises on an interuniversity scale. A recent example of an interdisciplinary enterprise within a single university is the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Another desirable example would be a (9) Center for the study of Hinduism. A center for Hindu studies would offer advanced training and would bring together around a plan of research specialists on history, philosophy, literature, and religion with specialists on the social organization of South Asia. A series of annual research conferences combining contributions from such specialists at several universities could be sponsored by this center and could do much to further understanding of Hinduism. T h e activities of the center would constitute a continuing challenge for closer disciplinary integration. C. PUBLISHED SOURCE MATERIALS

Despite prodigious efforts at acquisition, American libraries are and seem likely to remain notably deficient in many basic

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descriptive sources on the local cultures and social organization of South Asia. More than one-hundred community studies have been published in English, but it is a rare library that can supply half of them. American libraries are especially weak in the voluminous official statistical and descriptive literature in English from the period of British rule. Beyond these are numerous unpublished manuscripts in English and resources of untold extent in the indigenous languages. Since libraries cannot acquire what does not exist, what is needed is a (10) Reprinting of basic sources. Interested American libraries should cooperate to reprint by copy-flow or other suitable process complete series of district gazetteers, census volumes, settlement reports, essential outof-print journals, and important but unpublished doctoral dissertations. A preliminary to such a reprinting program would be the compilation of exhaustive bibliographies in these strategic categories, a survey of American library holdings, and a pooling of information on wanted volumes. Even where some of such sources exist in American libraries, they are rarely well used due to lack of comprehensive indexes and bibliographic guides. (11) Bibliographic guides. Research grants should be offered for the compilation of basic bibliographic aids such as the following, along with subsidies for their publication: (a) A bibliography of descriptive articles in the Census of India. (b) A new compendium and index to caste statistics in the Census of India, 1931, by strength, occupation, language, and district, updating Kitts's partial compendium of the 1881 census.

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South Asian Area Studies

(c) Completion and publication of the Materials for a Bibliography of the Ethnology of India begun by David G. Mandelbaum and including materials up to 1940. (d) Complete publication of the bibliography on caste begun by William H. Gilbert, Library of Congress. (e) Indexing of the many learned journals lacking indexes. (f) Compilation and publication of a bibliography of Ph.D. and M.A. theses on South Asian social organization submitted in all countries. Even when published sources of information are readily available, they still tend to be neglected by intending field workers in South Asia. This serious neglect of published information may be due in part to traditions of scholarship built up in anthropological and sociological field research in other areas of the v.'orld. Until recent years, anthropological field work had been concentrated in remote primitive areas on which there had been little or no relevant publication, while sociological field work had been concentrated on parts of our own society where there is little need for the field worker, a native, to undergo special orientation. In South Asia, on the contrary, orientation of field work by reference to previous publications is essential wherever possible, and is often possible. Yet the majority of recent American research reports suggest that the field worker had taken no preliminary account of major existing publications on the locality which he studied. (12) Library preparation. In awarding grants for field research preference should be given to plans which indicate that adequate library research has preceded their drafting. Submission of bibliographies should normally be required as a part of proposals for field work.

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D. UNITS O F STUDY

Village studies have until now dominated the field of social organization in South Asia. T h e village is a unit of study which many anthropologists regard as unsurpassed for the training of students of social organization in that area: more of the whole of social life can probably be experienced and understood through study of the small community than in any other way. Alternative units of study which may be highly productive in South Asia have yet to be as fully explored as the village. Studies of larger natural units such as castes, sects, cities, and regional networks have scarcely been begun, while studies of smaller natural units or analytic units such as institutions, occupations, classes, and small informal groups still remain very few. Biographic and clinical studies in depth of individuals have also progressed very little. Development of more precise knowledge of social organization and of the potentially vital fields of social psychology and cultural personality in South Asia depends, of course, on the adoption of such alternative units of study. Insofar as contextual variables can be controlled by knowledge of the surrounding communities, exploratory use of these more specialized units of study should be encouraged in the immediate future. T h e general utility of obtaining views from many perspectives in addition to that of the whole village should be obvious to all researchers in the complex and littleknown societies of South Asia. (13) Varied units of study. In the award of grants for field research, special consideration should be given to plans which adopt new and various units of study, preferably within or controlled by comparison with known community contexts. E. T E C H N I Q U E S O F STUDY

Techniques found useful for study of social organization in the West and elsewhere—the anthropologist's techniques of

South Asian A r e a Studies

26

participant observation and work with informants, the sociologist's techniques of interview, questionnaire, scale, and test— all appear to require experimentation and adaptation before they can be employed confidently in field studies of special organization and culture in South Asia. Adaptation can best be carried out by or with the guidance of specialists possessing not merely technical proficiency, but also experience in the area and a thorough methodological grounding in the principles underlying their respective techniques. At the same time, field training of students planning research in the area could do much to raise the quality of research skills, and promote greater realism and creativity in research design. A field orientation under experienced guidance could also help to avoid the wastage occasioned by the incompetence of a minority of neophyte field workers. (14) Field work summer seminar. A series of annual summer seminars in South Asia should be developed for training students and orienting specialists who are new to the area in the adaptation and use of field techniques for the study of culture and social organization. A seminar would be led by one or two experienced specialists, and would enroll from five to ten members for a study period of eight to ten weeks. F.

LANGUAGE

Ocular observation still plays an unjustifiably large part in the field techniques of most American field workers, who are handicapped by lack of adequate language training. Yet South Asians are generally highly verbal, and understanding of their social organization sometimes hinges on linguistic differentiae. Earlier, longer, and more effective language instruction is clearly required for students, while intensive make-up and refresher courses are required for faculty specialists. (15) Language preparation. Grants in support of field research on social and cultural topics in South Asia

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should require applicants to have had a one-year course of instruction in the relevant regional language and should favor applicants having had more than one year of instruction, provided that such instruction is available. (16) Intensive language courses. Intensive make-up and refresher courses in South Asian languages should be offered together with fellowship support for faculty specialists. (17) Social linguistics research. Encouragement through grants for research should be given to studies of the social functions of language in South Asian culture and social organization, both as an end in itself and as a means for the better orientation of language training programs.

II. DEMOGRAPHY AND H U M A N ECOLOGY

Development of these two fields of sociology has special pertinence for understanding of major current trends in South Asian societies. Knowledge of the population crisis in South Asia is vital to the future of the area and to the world at large but has not yet gone beyond statistical description. Understanding of motivations for population increase and decrease remains to be sought through sociological experimentation and field study. Questions of population are so close to sensitive considerations of national policy, however, that research on population cannot presently be undertaken in India under other than government auspices. For the foreseeable future, the major direction of effort in population studies must be into training young South Asians in the United States for thorough competence in tech-

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niques of research on population and on the related uses of mass communications in the service of population policies. (18) Population fellowships. Fellowships should be made available for the training of young South Asians in the United States in sociology with special emphasis on the methods and techniques of population studies. (19) Population research. Grants should be given to promote experimental and field research, technical and methodological, on the sociology of motivations affecting population size and on related uses of mass communications. Such research would have great relevance for South Asia, even though it must probably be conducted elsewhere for the present. Accelerating urban migration and urbanization in South Asia and their effects upon family and community structure are important but little-known aspects of the South Asian area for American students and specialists. Social factors in economic and political development likewise urgently require sociological study. Most of these topics can be directly studied without impediment. (20) Urbanization and social change research. Research and training for research on urbanization and on economic and political development should be especially encouraged by awards of support to students and specialists in sociology.

III. C O M M U N I C A T I O N S A N D SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

For economy of statement, these two fields of sociology along with anthropology's field of cultural personality have been dis-

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cussed tangentially in this paper under the headings of "Culture and Social Organization" (see section D) and "Demography and Human Ecology" (see part II). T h e neighboring discipline of psychology deserves, but unfortunately cannot receive full treatment in a separate paper.

IV. A R C H A E O L O G Y AND PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

T h e fields of archaeology and physical anthropology (human evolution, racial differentiation, and population genetics) in South Asia lag far behind all other fields of anthropology and sociology in their pace of development within American scholarship. Creative activity in these fields by American scholars could yield rich dividends in knowledge of the area's cultural and racial history, and in comparative general knowledge of man's civilizational and biological development. Firmer answers to any of the many open questions of the area's ethnic history could contribute to new and firmer views by the South Asian nations of their own respective pasts. American technical and financial assistance in those fields could also constitute constructive acts of international relations. At present there is no American institution which concerns itself with the field of South Asian archaeology. T h e two or three American prehistorians recently experienced in the area are scattered and have sharply restricted interests. Scholarly institutions of India are active in archaeological work within their extremely limited budgets, as to some extent are those of Ceylon; Pakistan and Nepal are inactive. Since archaeological research peculiarly requires permanent physical facilities for processing and analysis of field materials, institutional connections must be established for this work both in the United States and in South Asia.

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(21) Center for South Asian archaeology. Expert consultation should be sought as to the feasibility of establishing a center for South Asian archaeology at an appropriate American university. Such a center would carry on research, probably staffed in part at first with visiting specialists from South Asia. It would give technical training to both Americans and South Asians. (22) American field, school of archaeology. A survey should be conducted in South Asia to determine the feasibility of setting up in one or more localities an American field school for South Asian archaeology. T h e previous experiences of American schools of archaeology and related subjects at Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem would be relevant to the survey's findings. While South Asian physical types are fairly well known through older collections of anthropometric samples, research enlightened by modern knowledge of population genetics has scarcely begun. Yet the many sharp social divisions of South Asia's peoples make the area especially suitable not only for reconstruction of racial history but also for research in general human genetics using reliable indicators such as blood typing. (23) Human genetics research. Specialists in physical anthropology should be encouraged by research grants to develop genetic research on known population isolates and mixtures in cooperation with the several suitably equipped and interested hospitals of South Asia. Summary Checklist of Recommendations for Action (a) The Underpinnings

of Teaching

and

Facilities: Audio-visual materials center (2) Center for the study of Hinduism (9)

Research

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Anthropology and Sociology

Center for South Asian archaeology (21) American field school of archaeology (22) Materials: Reader on social organization (1) Reprinting of basic sources (10) Bibliographic guides (11) (b) Direct Support

to

Research

Research conferences: Comparative conferences (7) Research projects: Sociological research (4) Regional research (6) Social linguistics research (17) Population research (19) Urbanization and social change research (20) H u m a n genetics research (23) (c) Training

Programs

Curriculum for students of culture and social Indological preparation (8) Language preparation (15) Special courses: Intensive language courses (16) Field work summer seminar (14) Training fellowships: Sociological fellowships (3) Population fellowships (18) Intensive language courses (16) (d) The Raising of Standards Criteria for evaluating fellowship applicants: Indological preparation (8) Library preparation (12) Language preparation (15)

organization:

32 Criteria

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for evaluating

research

plans:

S o c i o l o g i c a l research (4) R e p r e s e n t a t i v e sampling (5) V a r i e d u n i t s of study ( 1 3 )

An Inventory of the Needs in the Development of Political Science in South Asian Studies Myron Weiner Massachusetts Institute of Technology Among both scholars and laymen, the line between political science and journalism is a thin one; every scholar feels that he is as competent as a political scientist if he reads the newspapers carefully and is capable of saying something intelligent about the future of communism or Nehru's possible successor. Among academicians in area studies, therefore, the discipline of political science is low on the pecking order of scholarly disciplines. In the field of Indian studies, political science is also burdened by (1) an overly unnecessary emphasis on national politics with correspondingly less attention to state, district and local politics and (2) a disproportionate interest in political philosophy (with studies of Gandhi heading the list) with less on the unstated value systems which often underlie political behavior (i.e., the political culture). T h e r e are still other neglected areas. Studies of political movements have thus far concentrated on the major national parties to the neglect of the important regional parties. Only a handful of studies deal with the politics of trade unions or associations organized around the interests of castes, students, business groups, tribes, religious communities and linguistic regions. Even the politics of the administrative structure has been neglected, a particularly critical area when one remembers that in most of rural India government is still administration and that the advent of representative government is resulting in a new relationship between local administrative bureaucracy and local party organization. Lacunae in scholarship are so great that for India alone S3

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South Asian Area Studies

one could list a host of research areas in political science in which there has been little or no quality research, or where research has only recently begun: urban politics, voting behavior, local political organization, community associations, patterns of political recruitment and training, state-center relations, interest groups and so forth. In short, on the very fundamental issues of how power and authority are distributed at various levels in Indian society and with what effects on the formulation and implementation of public policy, we have only scratched the surface. In other countries of the area, such research is even more scarce. T h e normative and somewhat ennobling view of politics which stresses the art of building the good polity and good society and which is oriented toward the study of public policy tends to blind political scientists and other social scientists to the more "sordid" elements of politics. Indian and western intellectuals share a common disdain for violence, corruption, and nepotism, which leads to the shared belief that such acts are to be condemned, not studied. What accounts of such phenomena exist (with a few distinguished exceptions) are less concerned with analysis than condemnation; as a consequence such phenomena are rarely subjected to the rigorous scrutiny which they deserve. Unfortunately, understandable cultural sensitivities and implied invidious comparisons (which are usually unwarranted) would probably make it difficult for western observers to explore such phenomena even if they were inclined to do so. I have spoken at length on the lacunae in scholarship to call attention to the fact that political science is still largely a neglected discipline as far as scholarly research on India is concerned. Fortunately, the growth in interdisciplinary area and language centers is likely to have a profound effect on graduate students in political science. Contact with linguists and anthropologists are bound to be an incentive to the younger political scientist to do his research elsewhere than

Needs in Development of Political Science

35

New Delhi. Then, too, recent theoretical developments in the field of comparative politics are likely to have their effect in directing graduate students away from narrowly descriptive or journalistic studies. Not only is political science scholarship on India underdeveloped, but so are the facilities for conducting research. I will briefly enumerate the existing resources and needs under the following heads: (1) source materials, (2) bibliographic guides and indices to primary and secondary sources, (3) translation aids, (4) handbooks, and (5) inter-disciplinary seminars.

I. SOURCE MATERIALS

1. Political scientists derive a considerable amount of their knowledge from newspapers, political tracts, and public documents, a substantial portion of which is not easily accessible, or is in vernacular languages. While political scientists are increasingly studying Indian languages, it is unrealistic to expect any social scientist to have competence in more than one or two South Asian languages. Unless, therefore, a substantial quantity of political materials is translated into English, political scientists would have to confine their research to one or two regions. The need of non-Indian specialists to keep themselves informed on Indian affairs must also be taken into account. And finally, the quantity of political sources in South Asia is so great that both translations and condensation are necessary as guides to the full corpus. A press digest and translation program covering Indian newspapers, public and unofficial political documents is an essential need to political scientists, American government officials, and would be of great assistance to Indian intellectuals, politicians

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and government officials as well. While the Soviet Press Digests and the translations and condensations of Chinese Communist documents by the American Consulate in H o n g Kong are useful models, there are clearly some special problems which arise in attempting to prepare a similar program for Indian materials. Since a multitude of languages must be covered, clearly no one institution could prepare such a translation and condensation program. T h e responsibilities of handling each language would have to be parceled out to various American or Indian institutions, although one university would probably have to take on the responsibility of organizing the program, and collating, editing and publishing the regional reports. Hopefully the digest would include all the official regional languages as well as English and would be published fortnightly. Each issue of the digest might include the following: (1) a summary of the major news events in the region within the preceding period; (2) a summary (and where necessary a translation) of the major official and non-official documents and speeches; (3) a brief report on the debates within the state assembly; (4) a summary of selected editorials and articles; (5) and a bibliography of current articles, government documents and non-official political documents. A yearly index to the guide would, in effect, serve as an index to the state assembly debates, newspapers, magazines, government and other political documents. T h e advantages to participating American language centers would also be considerable. Each would have the opportunity to build substantial collections of newspapers, magazines, legislative assembly debates, government documents and political tracts published in the region with which they are concerned. A translation program of this sort provides a host of opportunities for small but invaluable projects: a glossary of political terms used in each of the languages; translation sheets for students who want to test their translations against that of a professional; a continuous index of important articles in the ver-

Needs in Development of Political Science

37

nacular press and magazines. One might also add the intangible benefits of being in close (in time) contact with the area which is of special concern to the language center. 2. A press digest and translation program which included non-official documents can also be of great service in preserving what librarians have so aptly called " e p h e m e r a . " T h e s e transient materials—such as party manifestos, articles in difficult-to-obtain journals, trade union and business chamber reports—are often the raw materials of politics. While the specialist and hopefully a few libraries in this country may collect such materials, only a handful of teaching centers can place "ephemera" into the hands of students. Students of Indian politics, and students in general courses on entire civilizations which touch on modern political developments do not have the opportunity to read such primary materials. One way of making such materials more widely available for teaching purposes is to publish source books. One such volume is available from the Syllabus Division of the University of Chicago Press. Intended for use in Chicago's Indian Civilization course, the volume contains readings by Indians on various aspects of the development process: controversies over national unity (states reorganization and the official language) ; economic development issues (such as cooperative farming, public versus private sector, and the role of cottage industries); a n d critiques on India's democracy. Several other source volumes would be extremely useful: (1) a source volume on political and related developments on the state level; (2) a volume on Indian nationalism which could b e used to supplement the popularly used autobiographies of N e h r u and Gandhi; (3) additional volumes focusing on one or m o r e political issues since independence; (4) a volume on Pakistan politics which contains source readings focusing on the problems of creating an Islamic state, such as selections from the Munir report and publications of the Jamaat-i-Islami; (5) a comparative volume on

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language and politics in South Asia, drawing materials from India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Two aspects of these source volumes should be noted especially: though they might contain selections from the writings of Europeans and Americans, they should primarily contain articles by Indians; and secondly, an effort should be made to include translations of regional language materials.

II. BIBLIOGRAPHIC GUIDES AND INDICES

1. Probably no political scientist studying South Asia has avoided the tedious and time consuming task of searching through the weekly editions of Economic Weekly, the Modern Review, or a host of other periodicals which lack indices. T h e annual bibliography of the Journal of Asian Studies now includes articles from South Asian periodicals but deliberately and wisely confines itself to important scholarly works. T h e political commentary, the news story, the partisan account is not and cannot be included in this selective bibliography. Hopefully, South Asia might someday have a "Readers Guide" which would cover all the major periodicals in all languages. Several less expensive and more manageable alternatives come to mind: (1) Each designated language center could prepare a yearly index of articles appearing in selected magazines in one regional language. (2) One or more centers could undertake to prepare a similar index for major English language weeklies, fortnightlies and monthlies. (3) T h e press translation and digest program could undertake to publish an index of its own journal, thereby in effect

Needs in Development of Political Science

39

providing a guide to the major English and vernacular newspapers. While initial attention should be given to preparing indices to current vernacular and English periodicals, each of the participating centers might undertake to prepare such retrospective indices for all available years. Each volume might cover a five-year time span. None of these indices, of course, need cover European or American journals since these are in general adequately covered by available index services. 2. Ever since Patrick Wilson's fine bibliography on government and politics in India and Pakistan appeared, many assume that political scientists have at least a basic and minimum guide to the literature. However, as substantial as Wilson's bibliography is, it was not intended as a guide to primary sources nor as a substitute for the much needed technical bibliographies which research scholars need. Nor does the bibliography include any articles in either Indian or Western periodicals. And finally, the bibliography is confined to Western (primarily English) language materials. Several more specialized bibliographies are clearly needed: (1) A guide to the Parliamentary papers which are now so badly indexed as to be almost unusable. Invaluable material on items ranging from local government to administration are buried in these massive volumes. A brief guide should not only include an index, but an annotated description of the major papers on various subjects. (2) A guide to South Asia's legal materials. (3) A bibliography of primary and secondary sources on state politics in South Asia including English and vernacular materials. If, however, a substantial index is prepared of periodicals by regions, such a bibliography need only cover articles in Western periodicals, and books and government documents. (4) A bibliography of important documents published by the central and state governments since Independence. (5) A bibliography of "who's who" volumes, autobiogra-

40

South Asian Area Studies

phies and biographies, in English and vernacular languages. A substantial number of "who's whos" are published in South Asia but never make their way to American libraries. They are published by minor presses, and their major sales are among those who are included in their book, and of course their relatives. Bookstores and libraries rarely see them. I have seen a small collection of such volumes at the American Embassy in New Delhi, including many volumes that I have seen nowhere else. Every effort must be made to assemble these and similar volumes in the Library of Congress, and to include them in a bibliography so that scholars know of their availability. Apart from political science, data on the social backgrounds of South Asian public figures are of great use to anthropologists, sociologists, historians, government officials and a host of others interested in modern India.

III. T R A N S L A T I O N AIDS

T h e linguistics needs of political scientists are essentially the same as those of other scholars, but there are several more specialized needs: (1) A glossary of political terms employed in the various languages. While a substantial (probably a majority) of political terms, including the names of many parties, are adopted from English, there has been an increasing tendency for political groups and the various governments (especially the central government) to use regional (or Sanskritic) terms, and few of these can be found in current dictionaries. Such a glossary could easily be prepared in conjunction with a press translation and digest program. (2) Similarly, the multiplicity of local land revenue terms and of the occupational categories associated with them, need

Needs in Development of Political Science

41

to be included in a glossary. Not only political scientists, but agricultural economists, anthropologists and sociologists would find such a glossary invaluable.

IV. HANDBOOKS

Although India is the largest country in the world to have had free elections, social scientists have hardly begun to explore Indian voting behavior. The role of caste, occupation, income, tribe, linguistic affiliation, socio-economic status, education, and family in the ways in which Indians vote remains an uncharted area of scholarship. The bulk of the literature on South Asian elections is concerned with the issues on the electoral mechanics. Few of the attempts to assess the factors involved in voting behavior would pass any rigorous methodological tests. The basic data for research are available: two statistical volumes on the two general elections, subsidiary reports on bye-elections, delimitation volumes, and the census. These sources on elections, are however, limited to the post-independence elections in 1952 and 1957, plus special state-wide elections. Data on pre-Independence India are scattered in government reports and newspapers and cannot easily be reached. Although these earlier elections were based on limited suffrage, thus making problems of comparison with postindependence elections exceedingly difficult, it may be possible to use earlier data to isolate specific groups. This material is unused and is likely to remain unused until someone undertakes to prepare a handbook which brings together the scattered statistics on pre-Independence elections. A statistical handbook on local (including municipal) elections in India, both before and after independence, might also be difficult to compile, but would be equally invaluable. T o

42

South Asian A r e a Studies

attempt to put together such a handbook for all local elections is very difficult, but an attempt might be made to compile data for selected areas: these might include the important municipal corporations or, more realistically, those for which data can be found, and a select number of rural areas on which data can also be obtained. Students of legislative behavior would find of great use a handbook of roll calls in state assemblies and in the national parliament. Together with the proceedings of legislative debates, biographical information, and electoral data, it should be possible to develop the hitherto unexplored area of legislative behavior in South Asia. Such a handbook would also serve to stimulate the use of the various legislative assembly proceedings which contain, mostly in the vernaculars, a wealth of important information.

V. SEMINARS

Perhaps more than most other disciplines, political science is a syncretistic discipline. While, like other disciplines, it has its characteristic questions, the data necessary to answer these questions must be derived from a wide range of materials on human behavior. Statistics on economic growth, descriptions of family organization, texts and sociological studies of religious values and behavior, demographic information, description and analyses of cultural and social change are all appropriate and indeed essential data for many political science studies. Indeed, Plato and Aristotle reached into all modes of human experience to build their political doctrines. But while it was possible for the classicists to absorb, distill, and then utilize the existing storehouse of human knowledge, the contemporary

N e e d s in D e v e l o p m e n t of Political Science

43

political scientist is in constant need of devices which will help him sort out what is relevant to his intellectual interests. T h e small group of American political scientists who are now exploring state and local politics in South Asia is in need of data accumulated and analyzed by other scholars who have worked in the same regions. Bibliographical guides to regional materials is one important facility needed. But much of the existing scholarly literature is cut from a cloth different from that needed by the political scientist. A series of regional seminars in which political scientists studying politics in one area of India have the opportunity to meet with linguists, anthropologists, students of literature, government officials, journalists, and others also familiar with that area, can be an important device for filling this need.

VI. P R I O R I T I E S

If I had to assign priorities to the projects listed here, I would give highest priority to the digest and translation program as essential for the needs of research scholars, and the source books as essential for training of graduate and undergraduate students. T h e limited number of trained language personnel in this country would probably make it unwise to pour the considerable resources required into an extensive translation program at this time. Since these needs are as great for Indian as for American scholars, perhaps greater attention needs to be paid to the development of facilities at Indian institutions. Closer association between American South Asian centers and Indian universities and research institutions can be an important approach for improving both training and research needs in both the United States and South Asia. T h e need to upgrade the level of training of graduate

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and undergraduate students of political science is so great that a high priority must also be given to this area. The standard introductions—-Nehru's and Gandhi's autobiographies, or Bowles' Ambassadors Report, are woefully inadequate for the present purposes; they fail to introduce the student to the richness and diversity of Indian politics, and in some fundamental ways we need not elaborate here, are misleading. A source book on the nationalist movement, for example, which contained excerpts from British government documents; correspondence between Congress leaders and the British government; speeches and resolutions not only by Congress spokesmen, but by dissidents within and without the movement; documents illustrating the controversies within the nationalist movement including excerpts from the writing of C. R. Das, Subhas Bose, the terrorists, Socialists, Communists, Hindu Communalists as well as Gandhians; documents illustrating Muslim League-Congress relations; and documents which illustrate the activities of the movement at the state and local level would provide the subtleties which the present readings do not provide. Source books on contemporary political, economic and social issues in South Asian politics would also make it possible for the student to see the development process not as a single track from "traditional" to "modern" but as a process which involves the constant making of choices at many levels, from the individual (as illustrated in Jayaprakash Narayan's recent autobiographical writings) to the local, state and central governments. These two, along with others cited in this paper, are directed primarily at filling the needs of students and of specialists. But clearly these projects would be of great use to practitioners—to American officials in USIA, ICA, the political desks of the State Department, the embassies, and American journalists in South Asia. Furthermore, a digest and translation program, source books, bibliographies, indices and the like would be equally invaluable to South Asian public officials

Needs in Development of Political Science

and scholars who are eager to munication within their own international needs would be further materials and facilities of South Asian politics.

45

improve the channels of comsociety. Clearly national and served by the development of in the underdeveloped science

Economic Materials for South Asian Studies Wilfred Malenbaum University of Pennsylvania

I.

T h e literature dealing with economic phenomena in this region is expanding at a rapid rate. And the same appears also to be true for related social sciences—so at any rate it seems to an economist. This expansion is due primarily to India's contributions, although the rate of expansion in the production of social science literature in Pakistan is heartening. For Ceylon, Afghanistan and Nepal the position on basic supply remains, to my knowledge, very thin, but there are some developments—the new industrial team in Nepal, for example —which will be helpful. In India, the output of material is due in important measure to government; private operations have, however, always been significant and, under the spur of enterprising publishing houses, action here may even be accelerating. Important also has been the role of government in spurring university research through a well-organized program of financial grants. In Pakistan, the relative importance of government and public-sponsored publications seems to be much greater. As significant perhaps is the extent to which materials from South Asia, especially India, have become available in this country. Over the past year or two, the old bottlenecks to this flow seem to have been broken. At least to major research cen46

Economic Materials for South Asian Studies

47

ters concerned with this area, materials are coming. In this regard, I might point up the need for continuous guidance on the part both of the librarian and the specialist if collections are to remain relevant and current. Essentially, the economic literature is in (or is available in) English. While some universities find it necessary and convenient to conduct social science research in regional languages, this will continue to remain a small part of the total output in South Asia's developing scene for many years to come. It is true that this small part may be disproportionately important in view of some of the economic problems of the region. In any case, it is appropriate to pay attention to the role which scholars from outside the area who have a combination of economics and regional languages can play in the broad perspective of present-day problems centering on the economic aspects of South Asian studies.

II.

For the present state in economics is one of vast materials on on South Asia and especially on India; yet, the adequacy of these for understanding the economic problems of the area leaves much to be desired. Despite the central position which India's development effort holds on the world stage, and despite the vast involvement of foreign nations in this effort, it nonetheless remains true today that these programs still rest on a "text book of growth." They do not take full account of India's documented experiences with growth. The analytics of the past decade have not been appraised fully, nor is there much evidence that such appraisal is in process, and especially not in South Asia itself. Plan and performance have in fact

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been far apart. Basic characteristics of the economy with respect to growth—savings behavior, allocation of investment, levels of consumption, employment multipliers—seem to be quite different from a priori expectations. Basic needs and opportunities for expansion in the e c o n o m y — t h e possibilities for agricultural expansion and for the growth of labor-intensive production alongside of the expansion in modern industry— continue to be appraised in terms of what happened elsewhere rather than in the light of observed experience in the area. N o t that the data needed for such studies of indigenous materials do not exist in considerable measure. In many ways the resources of the National Sample Survey, of the various rural research facilities at university centers and of the Reserve Bank, to say naught of governmental activities, are unparalleled, even in the rich countries of the world. A n d these resources are reasonably flexible. T h e y are readily adapted to special collections of data needed to pursue and test special hypotheses. Rather the need is precisely for the formulation of such hypotheses from the available data. A n d this is particularly true with respect to the rural areas and the less organized sectors of the economies of South Asia. It is here where the modern market has made least inroads and where the objectivity of modern economic intercourse has yet taken only small root. It is here where great changes in responsiveness, in the degree of integration with the more modern parts of the economy, must occur if the nation is to progress economically. A n d finally, it is here where most of the people of these nations live and work and will continue to live and work for decades even with steady progress in the economy. T h e r e is little tendency for scholars from South A s i a — s o heavily committed intellectually to the professional literature of the wealthier n a t i o n s — t o strike out anew on the "special evidence" of their o w n experience and especially of the experience pointing u p the importance of rural studies and programs.

Economic Materials for South Asian Studies

49

Foreign experts tend to be called upon for their expertise; their relatively brief commitment to work on these countries neither permits nor demands extensive first-hand study of evolving local experience. Moreover, it is relatively simple to explain away many gaps between past plan and performance by pointing to the uncertainties associated with such new development and planning ventures. Gaps are to be expected, one can argue, and the way is then clear for again focusing upon new future projections, the past record notwithstanding. Finally, the present international picture needs a demonstration of successful economic take-off in a democratic India. There is an understandable impatience with looking too intensively into the record. Modern views on the analysis of economic growth emphasize the importance of appraising the role and responsibilities of government leadership in the emerging nations. Yet the temper of the times demands stress on the close ties that bind India (and Pakistan, too) with the great democracies of the West rather than questions on the appropriateness of South Asia's governments and leaders for the tasks which successful development requires. It is obvious that the very importance of achieving effective economic growth in South Asia provides the strongest reason for complete and objective analysis of the factors in planning or in administration which explain the gap between plan and performance. Only actions which take into account the parameters of economic affairs in these countries will be effective in achieving more rapid growth there. Moreover, we are clearly at an early stage of understanding of the complex phenomenon of national growth. Apart from the significance of recent experience to South Asia's own future—and to any further western investment in it—a decade of real experience is simply too valuable a source of insight and knowledge to be glossed over. We must find means of making the record and its meaning broadly available; there is here a fundamental task of research as well as of teaching.

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South Asian A r e a Studies

III.

What implication does all this have for our continuing and expanding programs in South Asia study centers? Clearly, there is a need to develop competent staffs of economists who are committed to intensive study of the region. Ideally, the present disciplinary concentration in South Asia regional programs should be broadened through a relatively large increase in scholars with languages and basic affiliation to the region but who are primarily trained in the discipline of economics. T h i s ideal objective counters the pull away from regional specialization by economists, and this situation is well supported by career opportunities. T o d a y the greatest demand is for economists with broad functional competence along with specialization in one or more theoretical fields. T h e r e is a general predilection for theorists competent in mathematics and statistics. Clearly, therefore, South Asia regional programs must present a challenge to such scholars. In addition, however, the regional programs need also to seek ways of using effectively economists who will make but temporary commitment to the region. Finally these programs must seek to broaden the economic analysis and research competence of scholars committed to the region but whose basic functional interests are not primarily in economics (or indeed not necessarily in other social sciences). Some observations are warranted on two points therefore: howto attract more people whose major career interest is to develop as a scholar in economics, and how to broaden the competence in economics of South Asian scholars not primarily in this discipline. On the first, the truth of course is that the region offers unusual research opportunities in areas of vital importance from both the practical and the theoretical points of view. Economic growth is a central interest of economic theory today. Few

Economic Materials for South Asian Studies

51

newly developing regions offer an economic record of growth as long or as documented as the decade or more of pertinent experience in South Asia. With respect to teaching opportunities, the programs themselves should provide a growing body of graduate students who will want some economics (see below). Moreover, they usually provide some opportunity for a many-disciplined approach to an understanding of the region; such a collection of viewpoints focused on the area can also provide the teaching dimension with a depth, the importance of which is increasingly recognized in modern economics. Basically, of course, economists in South Area programs should be expected to do a good part of their teaching in the economics department proper. Appointments should generally be of a joint nature. Scholars interested (and able to participate) in such a joint teaching program are few indeed. They must be encouraged and developed. Funds should be used to provide attractive research grants in South Asia for young persons of promise who already hold Ph.D.'s in economics. Perhaps team arrangements, where the economist might have opportunities to work with sociologists, political scientists, and anthropologists interested in their own aspects of the same problem, could provide additional inducement. From such grants might come both valuable research results and economists anxious to participate in a joint South Asian economics program. Graduate students in economics are, of course, a larger and more flexible source of recruits for the programs. Present staff members of South Asia regional programs need always to be on the watch for promising new graduate students—at the time of fellowship application, and in the early terms of the graduate curriculum. Some students may be interested enough to begin language studies. Mostly, however, there should be some effort (and financial assistance) directed toward a larger volume of Ph.D. dissertations in some economic aspect of South Asia and its nations. Again, basic material of unusual value is available

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S o u t h Asian A r e a Studies

in South Asia, or it can be made available there. Intensive study can be expected to yield both a good dissertation and a valuable contribution toward understanding the economic behavior of poor nations. W h a t about the need for the languages of the area? Insofar as an understanding of behavior patterns, and especially of the poorer (and most populous) sectors of these nations, is of basic importance, language facility will pay off. Wherever possible, such training on the part of the graduate students in economics should be encouraged. Given the premium which the economics profession itself attaches to functional as against regional proficiency, it is not likely that many graduate students will be inclined to prolong their period of study or to dilute their economics course-work with new language studies.* Nonetheless, we must remember that there is much room for analysis in South Asia on the basis of materials written in English, and on the basis of direct contact with people using or accustomed to English. T o d a y the greater need is simply to expand the number of qualified economists prepared to devote some years to South Asian research and teaching. South Asia programs might also be equipped to make possible even relatively short study periods in South Asia for more senior economists who are already so well established as not to be seeking new long-term professional commitments. T h e gains here are principally indirect; new interest may result in more economics graduate students seeking out Asian concentrations. But the direct gain in research results might also be impressive if the assignment were clearly research and not policy-oriented: the objective would be to test expertise against some South Asian materials rather than to apply expertise to the South Asian operating problem. Moreover, it is with such mature • Perhaps the "workshop" idea might be extended to provide some way of permitting a graduate student to devote another graduate year on languages as part of an actual research effort. T h e workshop idea is, of course, well suited to graduate programs without any special language training.

E c o n o m i c Materials for South Asian Studies

53

scholars that a great gain might materialize through multidisciplinary teams or projects. Clearly, the combination of professional economists and strong area commitment deserves encouragement wherever possible—especially at the graduate student level but at the higher and even the advanced scholar level also. Nonetheless, with the most favorable developments along these lines, the problems posed earlier will not be fully solved on those routes alone; they need simultaneously to be tackled in other ways. T h e obvious additional course is to encourage the study of economics 1 by graduate students already committed to South Asia studies. All students interested in any aspect of the contemporary scene in South Asia, in whatever discipline, should be given tools that permit understanding of economic developments; at the least, they should be able to assess what other people say is happening in an area so critical to South Asian life. T h i s means a minimum program of training in economics, one which goes beyond description and which tries to give the student an understanding of method. A decision must be made on the number of hours that can be allocated to economic materials in the course of formal graduate training in a South Asian program proper. T h e problem is how to combine work in the discipline and in the area. If the medium is a so-called regional economics course—the usual offering for students majoring in South Asian studies—this must be a course which emphasizes the basic structural character of the problems and the range of pertinent tools for tackling these problems. For example, treating economic planning in South Asia demands some understanding of the economics of growth, of consumption and of production. Economic models, consumption propensities, and factor proportions are the familiar tools in these areas. They are sophisticated tools. Alternatively, the medium could be a special graduate course in ecoi Clearly, this subject needs simultaneous consideration of the requirements in other social science disciplines.

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nomics theory proper (an intermediate level course tailored for the non-economics graduate student) plus a separate course dealing with South Asian economic developments. On the basis of personal experience with both procedures— a single area economics course in which I have sought to impart some feeling for analytic devices and some capability in their application, and a more general economics course for the noneconomist graduate student—I believe both can offer what these students must have, and generally want very much to have. Yet, there are few short cuts, and it may be best to plan programs in which the second alternative more nearly prevails. For both these courses, it is hard to anticipate a smaller commitment than six or seven semester hours. 2 In my view, the problem seminar has demonstrated its value as the unifying core for the different disciplines and interests in a program of South Asian regional studies. T h e device of seminar papers—and indeed course papers in other parts of the program—testify to the general recognition of the importance of training students in techniques of systematic exploration of the record of the known and of the fringe areas of darkness, whatever the student's primary discipline. Where these seminars are reasonably large (fifteen students or more) and where the training offered extends in some detail from humanities through social sciences, they impose major responsibilities upon faculty. For unless the young graduate student is given detailed guidance not only in sources but in the organization and structure of the research report, training opportunities for both the writer of the paper and the rest of the class are missed. T h e ideal solution here would seem to be a research dimension for the regional program as a whole—a program which lends itself to selection of related topics in many fields. Presumably, the very existence of central themes, to say naught of the 2 With special requirements in other social science disciplines, such demands raise the question as to what courses are to be given up in order to make time for an expanded emphasis in the social sciences.

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research interests of the staff, will facilitate the tasks and benefit the training of the student. In lieu of the overall research program, active projects on the part of several faculty members in their own fields can serve the same purpose in some measure. Obviously, the existence of a comprehensive research dimension provides channels for financing students; it fits readily into workshop programs. In addition, a strong case can be made for the appointment of a full time research man with major responsibility for assistance to graduate students on seminar and perhaps other course papers. It is clear that such an assignment poses real problems of disciplinary competence. On the other hand, there are single themes in methodology which transcend disciplines. Given a staff man who has himself demonstrated competence in his own research activities, the pay-off of such an appointment in training—and in product—may be high indeed. While attracting the right person to such a position poses difficulties, it can provide the incumbent with unusual opportunities for research. It could be a post which offers opportunities of professional advancement comparable to those of teaching at assistant professor and even higher levels. In any case, the need for training in research for graduate students is clear, and some method, whether or not of the varieties mentioned above, must be found. Finally, there are some students in South Asia—entering upon graduate studies without any special interest in the social sciences or economics—who will develop the desire and who have the ability to go beyond this minimum. For them, some minor graduate concentration in economics, say, with perhaps this focus in their dissertation, may produce scholars who do combine a South Asian commitment (with languages) and considerable technical competence in economics. We should seek to develop and expand the corps of such scholars grounded enough in the social sciences so that their competence will continue to develop as they mature. They should be encouraged to

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Avork on indigenous language materials in the field, and upon all the available data for the insight this material gives for the area's development prospects. Such a corps of specialists could better serve the needs of inducing in others the critical analytical faculties. They could serve to induce better and more relevant products from the professional economist who somehow gets involved briefly in the region's problems. Our South Asian program should devote special efforts over the next year to train social science oriented South Asian specialists.

IV.

In the preceding materials there are several major points upon which action might well be initiated. In practically all of them, the availability of an institute in South Asia will be of great assistance for expanding economic studies and capabilities on the part of graduate students, post-doctoral and mature scholars. FIRST:

funds should be made available to permit the appointment of an economist in each South Asian program, on a joint basis with departments of economics.

SECOND:

institutions offering higher degrees in South Asia programs might stress the opportunity for minors in a functional discipline (for example, economics).

THIRD:

comprehensive research programs in the social sciences should be associated with regional study programs. These research efforts should permit research training (on fellowship arrangements), should provide systematic coverage of subjects in a number of disciplines and should have associated with it a fac-

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57

ulty member charged with the responsibility for research training. T h e preceding recommendations focus upon students committed to the region and already embarked upon study of its languages; the remainder extend to students and scholars committed to economics and without training in South Asian languages. FOURTH: workshops directed toward training in methods of research might be established (or, where they exist, be expanded) to do research in economics of South Asia and to allow credit for study of indigenous languages. FIFTH:

publicity might be given to areas where there is great need for further research (the economics of "static" rural societies, for example) and funds made available to encourage dissertations and other studies on such subjects.

SIXTH:

opportunities should be created (through the new Institute in South Asia perhaps) for research on the part of more advanced scholars in economics without any South Asian commitment. T h i s should stress research as against policy orientation; efforts might be made to package the assignments so that scholars from several functional disciplines could participate.

An Inventory of Needs in the Development of South Asian History Holden F u r b e r University of Pennsylvania Each author of a working paper for this Conference on the Strengthening and Integration of South Asian Languages and Area Studies is asked to assess the focus, quality, and lacunae with respect to his topic. History is a discipline so wide in scope that much of what is said under that head may impinge on other disciplines. This is especially true of two lacunae which in the writer's opinion dwarf all others relating to history. For those who teach and study the history of this part of the world, surely the provision of funds to enable them to visit their area of interest should have first priority. Some first-hand experience in Asia itself is far more important for teachers of Asian history than experience or research in Europe is for teachers of European history who are after all sharers in European culture. It is even arguable that actual experience in Asia is more important to teachers of history than to teachers of language, for one can, after all, with the aid of native speakers, acquire complete fluency in a language not one's own without ever leaving home, but one cannot at all effectively visualize the milieu in which historical events took place without really having had more than a casual look at it with the eye of a historian rather than a tourist. Whether the history concerned was made five or five thousand years ago, there is no substitute for seeing the site itself, standing on the ramparts, walking where the Buddha walked, or threading one's way through a teeming bazaar. T h e situation in which only a handful of those endeavoring to impart a knowledge of South Asia to young Americans have ever been in any part of the area deserves immediate correction. 58

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Allied to this is the lack of adequate cartographical aids to the study of history. We not only need historical atlases for South Asia which will bear comparison with those available for Europe and widen the trail blazed by C. C. Davies' Historical Atlas of the Indian Peninsula (Oxford University Press) reissued in 1959, but we need to tap at least a fraction of the vast mass of material buried in the "map divisions" of the Department of State or similar depositories in India, Britain and elsewhere. This, however, is as much a matter of geography as of history, and will no doubt be more extensively treated under that head. There is hardly an atlas which gives any part of South Asia the same painstaking care that is bestowed on Europe, and the map of Switzerland is understandably still far more familiar than the map of Nepal. Despite obvious lacunae such as these, history is in a far better position than many other disciplines. T h e number of historical works in English concerning the Indian subcontinent and adjacent areas has reached monumental proportions during the past century; obviously the major works are in English, and the libraries of the leading American universities are well stocked with them. The teaching of history depends less on textbooks and manuals than is the case with several other (and usually more recently developed disciplines). Hence, the teacher at most of our older and larger universities need seldom be at a loss. He has a wide choice of books, and within the last decade, the aid of collections of sources and bibliographical aids in respectable numbers, two of the most indispensable being the Sources of the Indian Tradition (ed. Theodore De Bary, Columbia University Press, 1957), and Robert I. Crane's guide for teachers of Indian history in the series of pamphlets published by the American Historical Association's Service Center for Teachers of History. All teachers will soon have the section on South Asia in the Association's new Guide to Historical Literature published in March, 1961, and the series of Indian Historical Documents soon to be published by the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. Other im-

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portant collections of sources are in preparation, notably G. D. Gardi's on traditional Hindu political ideas, D. Mackenzie Brown's on modern Indian political thought from Ranade to Vinoba, and Joan Bondurant's on the works of eminent Chitpavin Brahmans, translated in collaboration with D. G. Karve. In addition, teachers always can turn, for the modern period, to the relevant sections of the great British collections of documents (for example, the new series, English Historical Documents, edited by David Douglas for the Oxford University Press; the numerous collections of constitutional documents for the Empire and Commonwealth, especially Nicolas Mansergh, Documents and Speeches on British Commonwealth Affairs 1931-52, Oxford University Press). If, therefore, we are primarily considering lack of availability of teaching materials in history, the teacher in the smaller colleges and secondary schools deserves our chief concern. He, more than his colleague in the larger universities, needs the new interpretations of the subcontinent's history that have not yet been written, and the greater accessibility of the older works which the inexpensive "paperback" makes all the more possible for classroom use. T h e absence for South Asia's history of "texts" precisely analogous to those formidable compendia of what every well-read undergraduate should know about European or Western civilization does not greatly distress the writer of this working paper. Such texts are certain to be written within the next few years. Textbook publishing houses are already aware that there is a market for them, and it is all the more important that the supporting material be adequate and easily accessible. Emergence of some one all-comprehensive South Asia text as a complete and final answer to the needs of these teachers would be most unfortunate, especially if it were thought of as superseding the many "general works" which have long proved their worth for the beginner. Paperback reprints of such books as the Oxford History of India, the Cambridge Shorter History of India, Moreland and Chatterjee's

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History of India, T . W. Wallbank's India in the New Era, W. Norman Brown's The United States and India and Pakistan, H. Rawlinson's Cultural History of India, the essays on Modern India and the West edited by L. S. S. O'Malley, and other works of like range and scope, should have high priority. In particular, a reasonably priced student edition of the newly revised Oxford History of India would be a great boon—better format, larger type and issuance of the three parts separately are what is needed. A somewhat similar improvement is in order for A. L. Basham's invaluable Wonder That Was India, which does appear in paperback but on thick paper in a bulky format difficult to handle. In re-issuing books of this scope in cheaper and more convenient guise, publishers would surely at least break even or make a profit. A subsidy would clearly be demanded for the perhaps more important task of reprinting works essential for any more than cursory study of the Indian subcontinent, but long out of print. This is really the crux of the problem facing a small school or college in building up a South Asia collection. Waiting until such items appear in London booksellers' catalogues is a most frustrating and uncertain business. With the aid of the Harvard catalogue and that of the Ames Library in Minneapolis, a list of at least one-hundred titles worth reprinting by the photo-offset or other appropriate process could be compiled. T h e Shoe-String Press is already doing this for rare works in English history. W. H. Moreland's two books, India at the Death of Akbar and From Akbar to Aurangzeb, and F. C. Danvers' two-volume work on the Portuguese period in Indian history are good examples of essential works now virtually unattainable. T h e r e was also a period when works printed in India were physically more perishable than is now the case, and many of these need prompt rescue from oblivion. Expenditure of a moderate amount of funds would also rescue from oblivion much recent South Asian history. Members of this Conference are no doubt aware of what various

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"oral history projects"—taped interviews with those who made history—are doing for American history in the Roosevelt era. No great imagination is needed to realize what the extension of such projects to India could mean, especially if prompt action is taken before all the leading actors in the drama of independence and partition have died. If we turn from the lacunae in the teaching materials to the lacunae in the writing of South Asian history itself, we find almost universal agreement that the so-called Muslim period is neglected in comparison to what occurred before and what came after. The reasons for this need not be elaborated; at present, they spring, on the South Asian side, mainly from preoccupation with the launching of Pakistan and its consequences, and, on the Western side, from the preoccupation of most Western Islam-ists with Islam in the Near and Middle East, and the lack of appeal which the study of Urdu and Persian have in comparison with Arabic. This situation will not correct itself easily. There is surely a case for urging more Americans to undertake studies in the field of Islam in India and for the provision of support for the purpose. Unless something is done to present a more balanced view, the impression will remain that the period is a confusing one—a chronicle of mere blood and slaughter which deserves the neglect into which it has fallen. Since we are training a new generation of Western historians of modern South Asia who will, in contrast to nearly all their predecessors over the last century, be familar with at least one language of the region, there is something to be said for making available in the West in convenient form, at least a handful of important modern historical works written in Indian languages. At present, students in most American colleges seldom or never actually thumb over a work not in a European language and though nearly every American knows what Chinese characters look like very few Americans have ever given a thought to what Devanagari looks like, let alone any other

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Indian script. Belonging a m o n g those as yet unemancipated f r o m dependence on E u r o p e a n languages, the writer of this working paper is hardly the person to suggest a short list of titles whose reproduction for use in E u r o p e and America might b e desirable. Perhaps o n e significant historical work in each major Indian language would be enough: For example, Ojha's Rajputana Itihas for H i n d i , Sardesai's Marathi Riyasat, or J a v a d e k a r ' s Adhunik Bharat for Marathi, a n d so on. F o r Persian, it might be desirable to print some evidence of its use in modern I n d i a n diplomatic intercourse, as well as to choose o n e or more important historical works written in Urdu. A concerted effort will b e needed to convince deans a n d administrators that the American scholar in the South Asia field should b e j u d g e d in the light of the special requirements of that field, just as it is now increasingly recognized that the medievalist a n d the specialist in classical history face different problems from those which confront the large numbers of specialists in American a n d m o d e r n E u r o p e a n history now being trained. F o r his part, the American anxious to teach the history of South Asia must realize that there is almost n o A m e r i c a n institution where he can devote himself entirely to Asia a n d that he must also teach in another field, whether American, British, or E u r o p e a n . Because history is a long established discipline with departmental lines rather sharply drawn, it Tesists intrusion from fields regarded not only as " p e r i p h e r a l " b u t as complex. Hence a real campaign of educating administrators is needed, a n d we should not only train specialists in South Asian history but also encourage graduate students who wish to b e able to teach in that field as a "second string to their b o w . " T h e teaching of Asian history in many small institutions will d e p e n d u p o n such people for a long time to come. History is indeed fortunate not to need many teaching aids other than books, and even as regards books, to need increased

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accessibility, chiefly at the smaller colleges and schools, for what already exists rather than provision of entirely new works. It will have been noticed that few Indian authors are mentioned above, and as all our efforts are unlikely to give support to Western historical scholarship in this field at all comparable to that afforded it by more than two centuries of British rule, it is highly important that historical scholarship in South Asia itself receive every possible support. Anyone at all familiar with the area knows that the conditions which produce the leisure for independent scholarly endeavor no longer exist to any significant extent and will soon have entirely disappeared. Everyone also knows the institutions of higher learning in South Asia cannot quickly ameliorate an examination and instructional system which makes research in the humanities all but impossible, especially in the face of burgeoning masses of students. If the ablest scholars among the harrassed teachers in these countries are to have the leisure to write and think possessed by the gurus, missionaries, and foreign administrators in former times, they must have help. More especially, they must have help to learn about other Asian countries. It was an unfortunate by-product of Western rule that the Westernized elites had to steep themselves in the history of the European nation that conquered them, and in the history of their own country, and were hence increasingly diminishing the contact with the history and culture of their Asian neighbors. This situation needs attention along with the removal of the obstacles that now make it very difficult for the ablest among South Asian historical scholars to contribute to the history of their own countries. These problems were of concern to the Conference on Asian history in London in July, 1956. They are of definite interest to American foundations and this Conference should certainly support any steps to enable Asian scholars to carry on historical research in their own and other Asian countries. For the American scholar working in the field of modem

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South Asian history, the vast masses of records of the activities of European East India companies and European governments in Asia must remain the chief source of information. T h e writer of this working paper feels that projects for bringing the American scholar to the records should have priority over projects for more than selective microfilming of the records, unless the objective of saving a whole archive from atomic destruction is to have priority. Certainly specific microfilming projects (e.g., the microfilming of all Indian Englishlanguage newspapers in the India Office Library in London) should have priority over indiscriminate microfilming of records in London or elsewhere. In many cases, microfilming of materials for early South Asian history should have priority over microfilming modern records, of which duplicates often exist, as is the case with much East India Company material in the National Archives of India. If the teaching of the history of South Asia is to show marked improvement within the next few years, it is desirable that: 1. Those who teach it should actually have visited the area, preferably each "on his own" with an eye to appreciating the setting in which the history which most fascinates him took place. 2. A small group, including geographer, sociologist, and anthropologist, collaborate to get a historical atlas published (one that will do for Asia at least as much as Shepheard's does for Europe) and to provide teachers with more and better wall-maps than those now available. 3. The best of the "general works" now available and not already in cheap paperback editions be reissued or revised in that form. 4. At least a hundred scarce or out-of-print titles of great importance for the history teacher be reissued in inexpensive form. 5. T h e writing of new general works be encouraged.

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6. Steps be taken to foster further research and writing in the "Muslim period" of Indian history. 7. A group of scholars from within South Asia and from abroad agree upon a very short list of important historical works in the languages of the region which should be made conveniently available in the West. 8. Foundation support be sought to improve the quality and quantity of historical research done by Asian scholars in Asia. These proposals place the emphasis more on the needs of the teacher who is not a specialist, namely where it must be for the immediate future. In this connection, it must be made clear to school and college administrators that the teacher who deals with South Asia needs a leave of absence to familiarize himself with that area just as much or more than he needs it for the purposes of his chief specialty.

Notes on Preparation of Materials for Modern Indian Literature Edward C. Dimock University

of

Chicago

T h e r e are two ways in which we can view contemporary Indian literature: as essentially didactic, as data for analysis, or as writing to be read for pleasure as well as instruction. T o be sure, the two views are not entirely separable from one another. T h e contentions (given in the following paragraphs) will be centered on literature itself, and not upon movements, schools, or other historical or sociological phenomena for which modern writing provides the data. As far as the remarks below apply to the training of students, they will apply to the training of students to read modern South Asian writing with ease, understanding, and for pleasure, as much as for purposes of scholarship. In any discussion of the literature of a foreign culture, certain questions of comparison inevitably arise. O n one hand, these questions are: T o what extent can literature be judged by absolute standards? Is the application of the term "great" to a literary work to any extent dictated by cultural conditioning? A l t h o u g h many non-Europeans would agree to the application of the adjective "great" to such a writer as Shakespeare, to what extent is this agreement a function of their having accepted European literary values? Should not each piece of literature be judged according to the esthetic ideals and standards of the culture from which that literature comes? These are not easy questions, and there is a good deal of disagreement as to how they should be answered. For on the other side are such questions as: Does not great literature have to be universal, applicable to the metaphysical and psychological problems of all mankind? 67

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In the beginning, then, I should state that I am of the opinion that each literature should indeed be judged by the esthetic standards and values of its own culture, and that we all are most inclined to judge favorably that which comes closest to our own standards and values. Connected with this is the opinion that appreciation of literature and insight into it is a matter of intellectual cultivation, not merely sensitivity. There is a segment of English literature for which one must have intellectual knowledge. T h e most obvious example is T . S. Eliot. An understanding of the Wasteland is partially intellectual. Eliot brings to the poem a knowledge of history and anthropology, of religion and philosophy, particularly Christianity, and of literature (Ovid, Baudelaire, Shakespeare, Dante, etc.) 1 T h e reader must also bring such knowledge to the poem for an understanding of it. If it is necessary for one to bring conscious intellectual knowledge to literature of his own cultural tradition, how much more necessary is it for literatures other than his own? T a k e for example the verse from Kalidäsa (Kumärasambhava 3.48): Like a rain-bearing cloud without the violence of the rain, like a waveless lake of waters, like a lamp-flame, sheltered from the wind and steady, (for) his internalmoving winds (märutam) had been restrained. T h e verse describes Siva seated in meditation. But there are other levels of meaning as well. T h e rain-cloud is symbolic of a glad and gentle time, a time for lovers; in the poem the beautiful Umä had come to the ascetic Siva. T h e cloud is here, beautiful and promising, but it does not fulfill its promise. Umä, perhaps the earth, does not receive fulfillment. Again, Siva, who sits in austere meditation, his breath—the winds—controlled, in whose stillness is extreme potency and power, is the essence of the ascetic. But he is more; he is Rudra, l See Eliot's notes on the poem. Collected Poems, New York, 1936, pp. 91-98. Other outstanding examples of this type include, of course, Joyce's work, especially Finnegan's Wake.

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the storm-god of the Veda, whose companions and servants are the winds. And the winds are Siva's breaths. His status then is also cosmic. This is perhaps a sufficient indication of what I would contend; that one cannot read Indian literature without a knowledge of the tradition out of which that literature comes. T h e example here is classical, but the same holds true for modern writing. Let us look somewhat more broadly at a novel by Tagore. Seser Kavitä, which has been excellently translated by Krishna Kripalani, under the title Farewell My Friend,2 is considered by some critics to be among Tagore's best (perhaps because it was linguistically revolutionary). Mr. Kripalani says in the brief introduction to his translation that much more than the development of the plot of the novel, it is the form of its presentation, the artistry of the author's style, the exquisite poetry interwoven with scintillating, sophisticated prose, the half-lyrical, half-mocking tone of the narrative, which startle the reader and give the novel its distinction. Unfortunately, it is precisely these virtues which, as it were, evaporate in the process of being rendered in an alien medium like English, whose spirit and idiom are so entirely different from those of the original. I must agree with Mr. Kripalani. T h o u g h his translation is sensitively handled, the novel does not come across well in English. T h e Bengali is more a long prose poem than anything else, and those who do not understand first of all Tagore's tendency toward lyricism and secondly the love not only of Tagore but of all Bengali writers for the beauties and delicacies of their language, their delight in sounds, find it even in Bengali wordy and overdone. How much more so in translation, where the playfulness of the original language cannot be rendered! But linguistic difficulties and translation prob2 Jaico, Bombay, 1956.

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lems are not all that stand between the average reader of English and this novel. T h e r e is also the matter of the tradition out of which it comes. It must be understood first that the novel is a European form. It is not a form which has grown out of the natural development of Indian literature. T h i s borrowed form is treated in two ways. By some writers it has been used without any understanding of the strengths, limitations, or implications of it. Such writing is imitation, and imitation is rarely effective. Other writers, however, like T a g o r e in Seser Kavitä, borrowed the form but gave to it a peculiarly Indian character. W i t h such writers the novel is a transplant, with its roots in Indian soil and absorbing the peculiar qualities of Indian soil. People say also that Seser Kavitä has no psychological depth, that it is romantic. T h i s is in fact a usual criticism of modern South Asian writing, and I think in large measure a justified one. T h e obvious question, of course, is why should we expect psychological depth or realism? T h e r e is sensual frankness in some Indian art—witness the sculpture of Konarak or the lyrics of Jayadeva—but little examination of the effect of emotion or passion on the individual. T h e r e is even bitterness — a s in the partition stories of the U r d u writer Sadat H a s a n — but there is no sense of brooding evil or struggle against a hostile nature. Feeling for the dignity and strength of the human individual is rare. If what I have said is true, the study of modern literature can in no way be separated from the ancient and, perhaps even more important, the medieval cultural and literary traditions. A program for the study of modern South Asian literature, then, should require of the student, and, I might add, of the teacher, not only knowledge of the language of the literature with which he is working, b u t a firm grounding in esthetics and general cultural studies and at least enough Sanskrit, old T a m i l , or, in the case of Urdu, Persian, to enable him to grasp

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the similarities and differences between the classical and modern languages and literatures. All that I have said implies that a large part of South Asian literature will be accessible to or appreciated only by the few who care to train themselves both broadly and deeply in both language and cultural tradition. We need more such people, both to translate and interpret the literature of South Asia to us, and to impart enough background both to specialist and non-specialist students so that students will be able to read with appreciation South Asian writing in its original and in translation. This brings up two related questions. T h e first is in relation to the type and quality of literature in translation which should be made available to students and scholars (for ease in reading modern Hindi literature does not mean that the scholar can read Marathi and Malayalam with equal ease; training in all the major languages of South Asia is a little too much to ask of anyone). T h e second is of the clarification of such questions as the relationship of classical theory and tradition to modern literature. T h e problem of the availability of South Asian literature in translation is not an easy one; it implies a good deal more than simply increased publication of South Asian materials in English in this country. That part of modem Indian literature which is known to most people in this country is that relatively small part represented by such writers as R. K. Narayan and Bhabani Bhattacharya, written in English with an eye to an English-speaking Western or Westernized audience, the few translations of worth by such writers as Krishna Kripalani, S. H. Vaysyayan, and Lila Ray, and a large mass of indifferent writing both originally in English and in translation. In their current attempt to gather material for an anthology of modern Indian short-story writing in translation, a group of Indian and American scholars and writers has come across the disturbing though understandable belief among Indian writers that

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imitation of Western style is a strong point of modern Indian literature. Many writers and critics who were asked to suggest for translation outstanding pieces of writing in their respective languages suggested pieces which a reader of English literature would consider second-rate, pieces which employ Western concepts and techniques awkwardly and superficially. T o be sure, a few pieces of this Westernized type, in which the writer understands what he is doing and does it well, are effective. T h e other type of effective modern Indian writing is on the other extreme—not imitation of Western literature but writing which is distinctively Indian and well within the cultural and esthetic tradition of that country. Suggestions for pieces within this category were very few. This seems to me to indicate that we cannot count on any significant amount of outstanding and representative literature, literature which will be to us both useful and worth while, coming to us in translation from India. T h e matter of translation itself is another part of this problem. There are few Indians who know English we'll enough to translate effectively in that language. This is a statement which obviously must be qualified in several ways. First, though few, there are some excellent Indian translators. But as a Bengali friend, a man of considerable linguistic sophistication, recognizes, the English accepted as standard in India is not necessarily the standard accepted in other parts of the Englishspeaking world. T h i s is of course in no sense a value judgment, nor should it be interpreted as meaning that clear English cannot be written by a great many Indians, and subtle English by some. T h e fact is that English is a second language to most Indians. T h e argument is frequently advanced that Conrad and, more recently, Nobakov, non-native speakers of English, have learned to write outstandingly in that language. But the English such writers learned is that form accepted as standard by speakers of the British or American varieties of English.

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The significance of the fact that the Indian variety of English sometimes has its own values can be illustrated on two levels. On the most superficial one, the translation of the term muri by "rice crispies" is in many contexts absurd to an American reader.3 This sort of thing is more amusing than disastrous, but it can disturb the beauty, and thus the effectiveness of a passage. But the self-consciousness of many Indian writers when they write in English is a more serious matter. Awkward handling of a delicate phrase or concept, when multiplied through a novel-length work, can be disastrous. It must be remembered, furthermore, that this works both ways. A friend of mine, a Bengali writer, and I have recently been working through Tagore's long essay, Chelebhulano charä, preparing it for translation. In a passage in which Tagore speaks of how the myriad vague sense impressions are dispelled when consciousness focuses on a single object, there is an expression which I would have translated something like "soft humming sound." My friend, however, told me that the term is in fact suggestive of the somewhat random but not unstructured prelude to formal instrumental music. If my translation had been kept, the point of a very beautiful and subtle passage would have been lost. We need, then, more, different, and better translations. These translations should not only be of carefully selected representative pieces of modern Indian writing, but of medieval also. For Bengal, we must know for their own sake and as a background to modern writing, not only the Vaisnava lyric writers, but also the long mangal poems of medieval times. The whole tradition of a regional literature has contributed to the form which that literature takes in modern times. A team of two translators should work upon each piece, one whose native language is English but who knows both the 3 See Trasankar Banerjee's story " T h e Seat of Stone," in Humayun Kabir, ed., Green and Gold (New York, 1958), where this phrase mars an otherwise very beautiful and powerful translation.

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language from which he is translating and the culture which the language represents, the other whose native language is the language of the piece to be translated. Such an ideal situation would assure both readability and accuraccy. T h e main problem is again availability of personnel for such work as this. But even though trained people are not yet available, there are two things which can be done to meet the need. T h e first is for agencies which are prepared to support work on the production of teaching materials for South Asian studies to recognize translation projects as directly productive of such materials. I feel that the anthology project mentioned above will prove to be useful, both for itself and as a pilot. Yet, finding support has been difficult. T h e second step which can be taken is for agencies to provide fellowship opportunities for students of literature, first to enable them to gain linguistic and general knowledge of South Asia in this country, secondly to spend at least two years in the area in which the language of their choice is spoken, reading and working on translation with outstanding writers in that language. General, to say nothing of linguistic, training must include at least two years of living in South Asia before an understanding of that area can be approached. T h e second problem with training both specialists and nonspecialists in modern Indian literature lies in the fact that the subject is an extremely complex one, both spatially, in that there are so many languages involved, each with its own tradition, and temporally, in that the classical traditions are also directly concerned. When such problems as the relationship of classical Sanskrit esthetic theory to modern writing, the adoption of non-Indian literary forms into Indian literature, formal invention and concept in modern Indian poetry, problems of translation, etc., are considered, a number of disciplines and types of knowledge must come into play. There is a wide variety of significant problems with which we must come to

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grips. Not only specialists in ancient and classical literature and culture, but specialists in English literature, linguists, creative writers, and critics, as well as specialists in modern Indian language, must be involved. One way to get such a variety of people working on the same sets of problems would be through a seminar series. Such a series of seminars might be held summers, one seminar at a different university each summer for a period of five years. Each seminar might last about four weeks. Scholars and writers might be invited from South Asia and from Europe, as well as from the United States, to prepare and present papers of real scholarly value on various phases of a particular problem. T h e papers of each session would be collected into a volume and published. A sample proposal for the first of these seminars is given as an appendix to this paper. Another matter directly concerned with the training of students in modern South Asian literature, and one which has prospects of immediate fulfillment, is the production of teaching materials directly concerned with literature. Many research programs are in the process of producing readers for training language students at various levels. There should be more intensive work done on literary readers. This is a complex matter, for not only should readers for modern fiction writing be made available, but also readers for modern and medieval poetry, essays, and letters. Certainly the shape of the preparation ought to be left up to the scholar doing work on it, but whether the individual pieces are placed on pages facing an English translation, whether there is no translation but good notes, or whether the reader takes some other form, certainly the emphases should be dual: the literature selected for reading should be good and representative literature, and stress should be on the teaching of the language through the literature. In other words, the readers should be graded, and the student should learn to read one form of the language well,

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before he goes on to another. This rules out both historically oriented anthologies and samplings. It seems to me that in the area of contemporary literature, as in almost all other areas of South Asian studies, the major need is for personnel. In terms of general literature courses, we need people who can treat literature analytically, not merely historically or by name-dropping. In terms of specialized courses, we need people who are as concerned with sixteenth-century Marathi or Tamil literature as their counterparts in European literature are with sixteenth-century French. There seems but little reason to launch large programs to fill the gaps in our knowledge and method in regard to South Asian literature until we have such people to carry out the programs. Ultimately, each university will have to provide its students with the general cultural knowledge which is the necessary background for understanding South Asian literature. It is to be hoped that as more students become aware of the importance of the various languages of South Asia, some of them will become concerned with literature. We cannot force students into such fields. But we can encourage them. We can train students of all disciplines to read South Asian languages well, and we can orient them toward literature as well as toward writing in their particular disciplines. W e can encourage interest in South Asian writing by active support of translation projects, if they are carefully enough thought out to warrant support. W e can encourage students by realizing that study and residence in the area in which a given language is spoken is a vital necessity for understanding that area in all its aspects, and set aside fellowships for those who are specifically concerned with literary studies. Above all, we ourselves can be aware that there is worthwhile literature being produced in South Asia, much as there always has been, and that this literature offers us a pleasurable means, not yet followed by many in the West, to gain insight into the society.

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APPENDIX: PROPOSAL FOR SEMINAR IN I N D I A N L I T E R A T U R E

DATES: one session of a b o u t four weeks' d u r a t i o n each s u m m e r for a period of at least three years. scholars, writers, a n d critics from the United States, South Asia, a n d Europe. T h e personnel for each session of the seminar will be dictated by the subject of the seminar. T h e total n u m b e r of invitees should n o t exceed twenty-five, a n d each of these invitees will be expected to c o n t r i b u t e a p a p e r of value to scholarship.

ΤΟ BE INVITED:

A m o n g the topics which have been proposed by various scholars and writers who have expressed interest in the idea of such a seminar are the following:

PROPOSED TOPICS:

T h e objectives of the contemporary I n d i a n writer, with reference to Western literatures a n d their values. Awareness of conflict and Indian tradition. Creative process and bilingualism. Idealogies and the rejection of ideology in m o d e r n I n d i a n literature. Translation problems: f r o m South Asian languages to English and f r o m English i n t o South Asian languages. T r a i n i n g problems: I n d i a n literature at Western universities and Western literature at Indian universities. T r a d i t i o n a l esthetics in respect to m o d e r n South Asian writing. Experimental currents in contemporary I n d i a n poetry. Indo-Anglian fiction and its limitations. It is suggested that the first seminar deal with Tradition and Experiment in Modern South Asian Literature. T h e papers which would be presented to the seminar would be divided roughly into five sections:

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Traditional esthetic theory. Relation of the traditional theories to modern writing. View of contemporary writers to traditional theory. T h e assimilation of literary forms. T h e problem of translation.

T h e first of these topics might involve papers on views of language, the concept of literature in the classical scheme, the role of the audience in traditional theory, reality and realism in classical literature: love, evil, the individual, and similar questions. T h e second topic might treat in a historical fashion the effect of these classical views on modern writing, as well as classical remnants in modern literature from the point of view of attitudes and literary forms: metrics, etc. T h e third topic would consist of statements by contemporary creative writers on traditional influences. T h e fourth topic might consist of discussion of certain literary forms such as the novel, how it has been adopted by South Asian writers, to what extent it is a valid form in terms of traditional literary and social attitudes, etc. T h e last section might focus on problems of translation from classical and from modern languages, and how these problems differ.

Contemporary Philosophy, Religion, Arts, Music and Dramatic Art1 Karl H . Potter University of Minnesota The treatment of so many fields will require extreme brevity. I have tried below to assess for each field the resources now available both in English and in vernacular languages with respect to their focus and quality, and then to point to gaps and desiderata which I have noticed or which have been indicated to me by experts in that field. In discussing resources in the various languages, the reader should consult the Appendix to this paper, which represents a very partial survey by the writer of materials listed in the Indian National Bibliography over a two-year span or so. Nothing definitive is claimed for this survey; its value lies only in that it suggests the relative importance of certain languages for the study of certain subjects. In listing original publications I have tried to eliminate translations and/or editions of classics, but the survey was made extremely hurriedly and the relevant figures are only approximate. In distinguishing philosophy from religion in the text, I have followed my own understanding of these terms, which is very likely not that of the Indian National Bibliography's compilers. Philosophy, as I understand it, means specifically speculation about the nature of the world or our understanding of it in an attempt to resolve doubts about the possibility of man's achieving freedom. Religion, on the other hand, includes treatises which attempt to teach aspirants the way to freedom or salvation through one path or another, or offer remarks l In a t t e m p t i n g to cover this n u m b e r of distinct fields, I have received advice from the following: Charles Elson, Michael Mahar, McKim Marriott, Walter M a u r e r , H a r o l d Powers, Walter Spink, E d m u n d Whiting.

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exhorting the development of a suitable attitude toward life which readies a man for spiritual endeavor. ( T h e table in the A p p e n d i x , however, follows the INB's classification.)

I. P H I L O S O P H Y

L e t me turn first, then, to philosophy. It will be seen f r o m the A p p e n d i x that English continues to be the m e d i u m in which contemporary philosophical works are most frequently written, but that certain of the Indian languages are developing a sizable philosophical literature of their own. T o some extent, this represents the commitment of certain localities to their own peculiar systems, for example, of the Tamil-speakers to Saiva Siddhänta, as well as in the case of J a i n i s m in G u j a r a t , Navya-nyäya in Bengal, a n d Advaita a n d Dvaita in Kannadaspeaking areas. B u t there have also been important original contributions to metaphysics in H i n d i and T e l u g u , to ethics in Hindi, etc. As explained above, the table excludes translations from Sanskrit, b u t there is a great deal of activity in this field. T h e r e is a large a m o u n t of material available from various ashrams, e.g., from Sri A u r o b i n d o ' s a n d f r o m Shivananda's; though these are listed under philosophy in the I N B , they are of dubious value in my sense of " p h i l o s o p h y . " Of importance for social and political philosophy are the editions of V i n o b a Bhave in Marathi and other languages. A student preparing himself for scholarship in Indian philosophy will as yet b e best advised to study Sanskrit; a reading knowledge of a vernacular will only b e necessary if he wishes to specialize in a regional philosophy such as Saiva Siddhänta, for instance. But the importance of the vernaculars in philosophy is growing, and the picture m a y b e changing

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more rapidly than can be seen from the small sampling I have made. Turning to the English language materials, the most impressive fact about these materials is the dominance of a few contemporary philosophers: Radhakrishnan, Ramana Maharsi, Aurobindo. There is little assessment of contemporary thought by scholars outside of myriad books extolling these few. Editing of all volumes tends to be of poor quality; they are published in limited edition and poorly distributed. There are a number of philosophical journals in circulation, four in English and a variety of them in the vernacular languages. In addition, philosophical materials appear regularly in the organs of universities and research societies. Some of the most valuable work in the field is obscurely published in such little-known journals as the Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Research Society, for example, or the Journal of the Sri Venkatesvara Rao Institute. There is no bibliography of publications which includes even English journal articles in any systematic fashion, much less vernacular publications. Also, as noted, there is over-representation of a certain few philosophers in English language publication. Thirdly, some procedure by which work in various areas in vernacular language can be collected, translated and made available to Western and Indian scholars is highly desirable. All three of these needs might be satisfied by the establishment of a journal, frequently published, which keeps up to date a bibliography of all philosophical materials in all languages published in India, which selects outstanding articles or excerpts from books and translates them into English, particularly articles and books by important but little-known and promising younger philosophers. This journal would have to be organized in India, but it could be encouraged by sympathetic Western advice and aid where needed. T h e market for such a journal would of course depend on how attractively

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it was done, but I tend to think its reception might be surprisingly clamorous. T h e above proposal, in its bibliographical aspects, presupposes the existence of a general bibliography of Indian philosophy. T h e writer has presently under preparation a collection of some 4,000 cards covering both classical and modern philosophical publications in English as well as editions and translations of Sanskrit texts. This start could be adumbrated in several ways: one, by adding to it vernacular materials; two, by assessing the collections of major university libraries in America and so in effect bringing up to date the Emeneau list 2 at least as regards philosophy. T h e writer has consulted with the head librarian of one of the leading Indian universities who, himself a philosopher, would be eager to collaborate in any such bibliographical schemes. As the vernacular literature in philosophy grows, there will be more and more need for translations of important contributions. This is not, however, an immediate problem. On the other hand, there are a number of general works on classical Indian philosophical systems by modern authors in English which are out of print and need to be re-edited. I think of Rasvihary Das' Essentials of Advaita3 and the works of Kalidas Bhattacharya, for instance. I find it hard to separate recommendations for the improvement of coverage of the field in this country from the improvement of philosophy itself in India. I believe that in philosophy real interchange of ideas between American and Indian philosophers is possible, provided opportunities are carefully arranged and participants carefully chosen. I should like to see more young philosophers from India coming to America, particularly those whose training is at least in part of the traditional sort, and who will thus learn more that is new from 2 Μ. B. Emeneau, A Union List of Printed Indie Texts American Libraries, American Oriental Series, Vol. VII. 3 T h i s was George Burch's suggestion.

and Translations

in

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exposure to American techniques in, for instance, philosophical analysis. At present the policy of the Fulbright committee in India is to refuse consideration for Fulbright travel awards to all Indians who have not spent at least two years in their chosen profession—teaching, research, etc.—subsequent to their attainment of the M.A. degree. This in effect rules out all pre-Ph.D. candidates who have not taken two years out to teach or otherwise employ themselves. Though there are excellent reasons for the Committee's policy,4 it would seem to me that it may be applied too rigidly, with the result that exceptionally talented and mature young scholars cannot be encouraged just went it counts most. Granted that it is difficult to select suitably mature and promising young scholars, it is not impossible, and a special effort should be made to find ways and means of getting them here in outstanding cases. The process of selection would be enhanced if more responsible and sympathetic philosophers from America could have the opportunity to travel in India and look for such younger Indians.

II. RELIGION

I should suppose that scholarship in contemporary Indian religion is impossible without at least reading, and probably speaking, ability in Indian languages. Here again, which languages depend upon which religious sects one is concentrating upon. As can be seen from the Appendix, publications on religion in Indian languages are many. A large percentage of the publications in each language are on regional sects, for example, Virasaivism in Kannada, Sikhism in Punjabi, Srivaisnav4 Τ he main reason is the Committee's concern that Fulbright scholars who spend a year in America return to India in a suitable frame of mind and with employment opportunities which will enable them to contribute most positively to the welfare of the Indian nation and people.

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ism in T a m i l , etc. My impression of these materials is that they are mostly inspirational and infrequently scholarly; however, this is only a superficial impression drawn from a hurried survey, and it is in any case an open question whether even the most wildly inspirational pamphlets may not be the most interesting and useful for the scholar's purposes. T h e r e are also many periodicals, in a variety of languages, and more are being instituted all the time. For example, in 1958 a Sanskrit and a T e l u g u journal were begun. 5 A large percentage of English language material on religion now published in India is Christian. T h i s emphasizes even more the relatively small amount of English publication and thus the indispensability of a reading knowledge of Indian languages for the study of Hindu beliefs and practices. T h e Christian literature, particularly the missionary reports, may have some value for social scientists, I understand. T h e r e are some English language journals which have recently been instituted,® but I am not competent to judge the value of these publications. As in the case of philosophy, I should suppose that a critically annotated bibliography of publications in all languages would be highly beneficial. For maximum worth, it might be done through collaboration between several scholars whose interest in religion stems from different disciplines—anthropology, comparative religion, literature, philosophy. Such bibliographical investigation would, I feel confident, bring to light materials relevant to the particular research concerns of each discipline. For example, the interest of current anthropological researchers in the written materials which lie between the Sanskrit classics and the oral tradition reported in village studies could be administered to by identifying such materials and fostering editions and translations of them. 7 5 Pranava-parijätäh, monthly, Calcutta; Artär Mehar, monthly, Eluru. β For example, Deeksha, quarterly, Bombay; Nitai-Gour, quarterly, Calcutta. τ T h i s point was made to me both by Michael Mahar and McKim Marriott.

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Additional teaching materials in this field are needed. Teachers are in need of inexpensive editions of epic, purana and other religious classics. In connection with this, I should like to suggest that the needs of both religion and art could be satisfied together by preparing editions of these materials with reproductions of miniature paintings illustrating textual passages placed opposite those passages. Other teaching aids might include a reader, or pamphlet-size monographs. 8 New translations are needed, possibly, for example, of the Sikh Granth and of other important texts from the less wellknown sects. T h e improvement of auditory and visual aids and other nontextual devices for teaching Indian religion must be emphasized. Among such devices one may number collections of relevant objects—not just fine "art" but in addition ritual objects, idols, icons, paraphernalia, costumes, etc.; systematic photographic coverage of major religious centers, personages and practices; a library of recordings of religious performances, literary and musical. In particular, films on religious topics are almost nonexistent. An N D E A center might be designated as a visual aids center for the kinds of materials mentioned above to be purchased, edited, catalogued, advertised and circulated. 9

III. VISUAL A R T S (Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, etc.) For the student of contemporary art in India, a reading knowledge of Indian languages is not of great importance, b u t a speaking knowledge certainly is. Such written materials as 8 Marriott's suggestions, β Marriott's suggestions.

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there are on art in Indian languages tend to be mostly on art history; there are a few guides to museums and temples, and some secondary school teaching materials. But the practicing artist, or the student of contemporary practice of the arts in India, will need spoken Indian languages not only to speak with artists but also to get at technical problems. For example, Professor Edmund Whiting, a sculptor who visited India as a Fulbright grantee in 1959-60, writes: "I do not know to this day what it was I was mixing with my bees-wax to harden it. No Tamil-English dictionary had it, and even highly educated people did not know the English word for it." Professor Whiting suggests a more comprehensive Tamil-English dictionary as part of the answer to this kind of problem. There are a few important English language works which ought to be made more easily available, in paperback form, for teaching purposes, for example, H. Zimmer, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization; J . Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology. The matter of colored slides of Indian art, so important both for teaching as well as research here in the United States, is still not satisfactorily organized. The visual aids center mentioned above might meet some of the difficulties. Another part of the difficulty, however, is that the available slides, having been photographed, selected, reproduced and circulated by people without insight into the needs of scholars and teachers, frequently do not serve the needs of the scholar.10 There are still other, more or less unexplored, ways of developing understanding and appreciation of Indian art here. Exhibits of Indian art are scarce, and those that do come are not circulated to enough museums. Some of the articles in periodicals, especially Marg, would be worth collecting into a volume for teaching and general purposes. More interchange between Indian and United States museums of major works of art is desirable, and more generally the establishment of more sure T h e s e points were urged by E d m u n d W h i t i n g and Walter Spink.

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lines of communication with Indian agencies which have materials available. 11

IV. MUSIC

Though publications on music in India are not large in quantity, it can by no means be said that knowledge, both speaking and reading, of Indian languages is unimportant for scholarship in this field. For the understanding of the texts of vocal music, which constitutes a large proportion of all music in India, Indian languages are indispensable. Also, in the case of music perhaps even more than in the other fields so far discussed, there can be no separation between contemporary and traditional musical scholarship, for musical theory is Sanskritic in origin and cannot be well understood, at least in the present state of things, without knowledge of relevant Sanskrit texts. Though there are several general introductions to classical musical theory in English, none of them are very satisfactory. T h e need for a speaking knowledge of Indian languages, again, stems not only from the importance of conversing with musicians in the field, but also from the necessity of understanding idiomatic nuances that affect contemporary song texts. T h i s suggests the need for translations, highly annotated, of texts such as the relevant portions of the Nätya Sästra, as well as the preparation of one really good introduction to musical theory in India and one good descriptive account of the kinds of musical styles and genres in India. What I have read can hardly be used in classes, and I am told there is nothing better. It is possible that someone trained in music and who knows an Indian language might render a vernacular treatise into English and produce a better volume than is produced by Indians n W a l t e r Spink's suggestions.

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writing directly in English. It would also be helpful to have a book or books which combine a clear description of the theory of rägas and räginis with paintings illustrating them. T h e works in existence tend to be highly technical, historical and to presuppose more understanding of Indian culture than most Western readers can be expected to have. Though there are now a number of long-playing recordings of performances of Indian music on the market, there are, I gather, 12 few tapes, certainly not enough to allow the teacher of Indian music to present his students with examples of the various musical styles of the North and the South. T h e preparation of a library of such tapes is a task the next few scholars of Indian music who visit India could well be specifically encouraged to help carry out.

V. DRAMA, DANCE AND CINEMA

T h e large number of Kannada treatises in this category indicated in the Appendix are all on the dance, quite a few on folk dances. On cinema as an art, so far the only work is in Bengali. Generally, as yet, there is very little written on these arts, but what there is is written in Indian languages. In the case of dance and drama, as in music, an understanding of theory is vital, and Sanskrit is important for this, although there are some translations. There is need of good films on dance and drama. It is strange that these two fields, so obviously crying for cinematic treatment, have in fact received so little careful and extended attention. Professor Charles Elson writes: "Since the only theatre in 1 2 In this and other suggestions in this section I am indebted to Harold Powers.

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India today which has any tie with the past is that of the itinerant rural players, I would like to see a thorough study and visual treatment of this vital but rapidly deteriorating vestige." Professor Elson would also like to see the translation and publication of Indian plays of this century, and speaks of the need for popularized writings on the history of the Indian theater and dance. T h i s last seems to be a need felt in all the disciplines that have been discussed here. Walter Maurer has also suggested to me that handbooks of two or three hundred pages should be prepared in each of the humanistic disciplines, whose treatment should avoid the extremes of being too technical or too general, extremes which existing treatises in one way or another manage to exemplify. These handbooks should be copiously illustrated and have good-sized bibliographies.

APPENDIX LANGUAGE O F O R I G I N A L PUBLICATIONS BY S U B J E C T L I S T E D IN INDIAN N A T I O N A L BIBLIOGRAPHY A P R I L 1958 to D E C E M B E R 1959 Language English Assamese Bengali Gujarati Hindi Kannada Malayalam Marathi Oriya Punjabi Sanskrit Tamil Telugu Urdu TOTAL

Philosophy

Religion

Visual Arts

Music

70 3 21 12 66 11

33

12 3

33 5 2 10 24 13 5

83 1 54 15 94 17 21 28 5 19 78 40 51 28

275

547

—

-

3

-

20 2 3 7 3

3 20 12 4 8 2

-

-

-

2 1 1 1

3 4 15 2

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Drama, Dance, Cinema 3 -

6 1 2 25 4 4 1 —

3 4 -

53

Neglected Fields Morris D a v i d Morris University of Washington "Neglected fields" tend to be those falling in the interstices of standard disciplinary interests and training. It is difficult to estimate, without seeing the other papers, what ought to be considered within this category. Certain fields seem to be ignored in the schedule of papers to be presented—history of science, law, social psychology, the applied arts and economic history are some that come to mind. While I will discuss only my own specialty, economic history, this may suggest some of the problems and needs of other "neglected fields" as well. T h e justification for training and research in South Asian economic history seems clear enough. Understanding the organization and functioning of the economy of the region in the past, apart from its intrinsic interest, is necessary to the comprehension of total social behavior in South Asia. Beyond this general value, there are two more immediate, mundane and practical contributions to be derived from such training and research. T h e first is the contribution to our understanding of the general process of economic development. Virtually all we know about the character of economic change and growth is derived from Western societies (plus, perhaps, Japan.) We are faced now with problems of economic and social development in societies where the process is likely to be quite different from that in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe. Here then, the critical problem is to obtain adequate generalizations about economic and social change and their interrelations. T h e study of South Asian economic history can provide additional socio-cultural evidence to add to the elaboration of a general analysis of the process of economic development. 90

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Secondly, and perhaps most important, adequate evaluation of the processes of economic behavior and change in the past will make it possible more correctly to evaluate the nature and possibilities of South Asian progress in the future. I think it is fairly safe to say that at this time, in regard to any of the substantial problems of South Asian economic development, it is virtually impossible to predict outcome and consequence of any major policy because we have virtually no clear clues about the long-run dynamics of these economies. I do not propose to go into great detail on this last point. Let me say, however, that we have so little basic historical understanding that it is impossible to estimate, even within broad ranges of error, whether the Indian economy over the past century has grown, remained static or has actually declined in economic capacity. Moreover, much of what passes for historical understanding may well belong in a course on great South Asian myths. Let me offer three examples of inadequate historical analysis and the dangerous economic policy consequences that can flow from this bad economic history. (1) It is a universally accepted article of faith that Indian cotton textile handicrafts were wiped out by British factory competition in the period 1800-50. In fact, this is an almost completely unexamined proposition. A limited exploration of the British-Indian trade data suggests that it is even possible, mirabile dictu, that the handicraft textile sector grew rather than declined during this period. T h e simplest consideration of the situation with the aid of elementary Marshallian and Keynesian tools would indicate that the matter is not yet settled. And if my hunch is at all correct, it raises some substantial new issues of policy toward handicraft industry. (2) It is widely accepted that Indian agriculture was largely static during the nineteenth century. A very

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modest examination of the data suggests that this is probably not true, that there were significant shifts in crops produced and a substantial elaboration of regional specialization. If a careful investigation does reveal that Indian agricultural response to the market mechanism in the nineteenth century was indeed great, it would raise rather serious questions about the entire community development program and agricultural and transport policy in contemporary India. (3) It has been widely assumed that for a whole host of reasons it has been very difficult to recruit an industrial labor force and almost impossible to develop a proletariat that is stable, committed and disciplined to industrial requirements. Recent research on the subject suggests that this interpretation is basically erroneous. B u t in the meantime, a fallacious interpretation of historical experience resulted in a labor policy that has diverted scarce social resources from more desirable to less desirable investment. T h e point I am trying to make is that policies devised by South Asian governments and recommendations made by foreign advisers at the present time are not infrequently based on historical generalizations with little if any foundation in fact. T h e decisions that flow from inadequate or erroneous assumptions about the historical dynamics involved are not infrequently inappropriate. T h e y produce consequences that result at the very least in a distressing misallocation of resources and at the worst can yield crisis and chaos. Having suggested that the study of economic history has substantial justification, let me consider the status of teaching in the field. (What I have to say is limited by my personal and certainly imperfect knowledge.) At the undergraduate level, there are no courses on South Asian economic history. T h e r e are a growing number of courses in South Asian history; there

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are also a very few institutions where courses are given on the contemporary problems of South Asian economies. (My impression is that these seem inevitably to concentrate on India to the neglect of Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma, three quite different economies.) In these courses, economic history is ignored or (perhaps worse yet) the baldest and most uncritical traditional generalizations are advanced, perpetuating among the younger generations the notions and mythology which, as I have suggested, yield such distressing results among policy makers. In many so-called "Civilization" courses, all social sciences tend to be neglected because the courses have been dominated by the humanities. Even where social sciences are included, economics and economic history are largely ignored. T h e neglect of economic history stems, apart from all other reasons, from the lack of materials. At the graduate level, South Asian economic history is neglected mainly because the field has traditionally stressed the United States and Europe. However, graduate studies in economic history are beginning to focus on the problems of comparative industrialization. Certainly, both at California and Washington graduate courses in economic history are beginning to incorporate Asian data. Here again, however, the critical weakness is the lack of materials in the absence of which the region is bypassed. T h e result is that even in these two institutions students who, if presented with the opportunity, might turn to a scholarly consideration of South Asian economic history do not get that chance. Since 1945 there has been a significant expansion of interest in South Asia. Pennsylvania, Cornell, Chicago and California now have more or less elaborate programs of research and training. Michigan is beginning a serious graduate program as is, I believe, Wisconsin. However, economic history finds no representative in any of these even when, as in the case of Pennsylvania and Chicago, economics does. The main social

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science stress in all of these programs is on anthropology and political science. T h e fault is not all on one side, of course. Economics as a discipline has been notoriously hostile to area specialization, despite the fairly respectable record of Soviet studies. Although the recognition of economic history as a legitimate field of economics has been once again growing in the nation's departments, the discipline still seems to think that it is sufficient to offer work in European and/or United States economic history. I think it is safe to say that there is no place in this country where a student can get effective training in South Asian economic history or where serious research work in the field is being systematically done. T h e few scholars who happen to be writing in the field seem to have come from a number of disciplines in somewhat unpredictable fashion. Nor is there any great encouragement for a student to make South Asian economic history a field of specialization. While there is a greater demand for qualified economic historians of the United States and Europe than can be supplied, there are no positions for those with South Asian specialties. T h e growing enthusiasm for economic history in departments of economics still retains its provincial character. Nor have departments of history shown any great sense of purpose in this matter. T o the extent that history departments around the country are being stimulated to move into the teaching of Indian history, the concentration is on political and intellectual subjects. Economic history is ignored not only because there have been few economic historians trained to fill these posts but also because historians typically have a bias against economic history in all its forms. (I have never understood why studies of the "Black Hole of Calcutta" or Ram Mohan Roy by Ph.D. candidates should better test their qualities as historians than the history of agricultural innovations in the nineteenth century.) Viewed in terms of training economists for South Asian economic history, it is also important to recognize that the prep-

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aration for such a specialization is very great. A student must be trained in economic theory and in Western economic history as well as in the economic history of South Asia. He requires special training in the region's socio-cultural history and structure and he must learn a language probably somewhat more difficult than those normally required of the Ph.D. candidate in economics. Graduate students in economics have little objective incentive to undertake a specialty that imposes such burdens. Most students of quality, specializing in the orthodox fields of economics, can get excellent positions without such great effort. Economists, especially fledgling ones, are notoriously sensitive to the importunities of the market. When they estimate the cost of producing the skill with which we are concerned and the likely price the market will offer for that skill, they allocate their intellectual resources in keeping with these calculations. T h e result is that the society does not get what it needs, economic historians with a South Asian specialization. Some indication of the difficulty of recruiting any economists into the South Asian field is suggested by the Ford Foundation experience. Of ninety-nine grants given for South Asian studies between 1952 and 1959 through their Foreign Area Training Program, only sixteen went to economists. Not only has the number of economists in the program been small, but the proportion seems to be steadily declining. Six grants were made to economists in 1943 and by 1957 only one was awarded. So far as I can tell, none was made to economists in 1958 or 1959. Of the ninety-nine grantees, regardless of field, only two have entered the teaching field with economic history interest. Of these, only one (the other one!) possesses a South Asian language skill. (This should not be taken as a reflection on the workings of the Ford program, for which I have the highest regard. T h e Foundation cannot give grants when there are no applicants.) What seems very clear is that there are a series of funda-

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mental barriers to the elaboration of teaching, training and research in South Asian economic history in this country. T h e r e is a lack of teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels; there is the unwillingness of potential economists to undertake the additional training burden required; there are relatively few (if any) positions available in this field, either in departments of economics or history. As a consequence, there is almost no monographic or text material being produced for teaching and training. This, in turn, inhibits the development of work at undergraduate and graduate levels. And so the vicious circle is perpetuated. ( T h e situation seems, from a distance, to be equally serious in England but for reasons that are somewhat more mysterious. Even at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, where a program of Southeast Asian economic history is getting under way, there is no work for South Asia. T h e answer to this conundrum may well be found in the psychology of a terminated imperialism!) There is one additional factor that inhibits the reasonably wide development of teaching and training. This is the library problem. T h e main source of materials for South Asian economic history is London. No American library can lay claim to any complete and massive collection of Indian materials. While there are respectable collections at a number of places, what is critical is that no single library has a respectable holding of all types of material relevant for the economic historian. Even absolutely basic sets are not found in complete runs in any one place. For example, I know of no library in this country that has a complete set of the original district gazeteers, which are a mine of information for the economic historian. This means that with a few exceptions, students and scholars are not capable of carrying on serious scholarship in the field at their own institutions. Continuing with the matter of library weaknesses for a moment, let me mention two additional handicaps. T h e first is the

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absolute lack of bibliographic aids in the field. As Patrick Wilson has written, Economic history lacks even works comparable to those on political history. . . . While a good deal of work has been done in the way of cataloguing manuscript records, no one has worked at compiling a list of printed material of importance for economic history. T h e second weakness is the fact that virtually all the materials available are Western language materials, at least for the period after 1700. This is not a weakness solely in this country. Indian scholars have been notoriously neglectful of the materials in South Asian languages. In some cases the difficulty has been the lack of resources to process material that is around. Ν. V. Sovani of the Gokhale Institute tells me that there are literally hundreds of thousands of documents in Poona relating to the economic history of the Maratha Empire, but the lack of funds has made it impossible to catalogue them, much less analyze them. T h e result is that both Western and South Asian scholars have worked from English language sources. (At this point I am tempted to recommend that American economic historians ought to concentrate on the still largely untouched Western language materials while South Asian scholars work on materials in the vernaculars. However, this division of labor is probably too rational to get much support. Moreover, it is unwise to suggest this to a conference devoted to the integration of language and area studies in this country. Therefore, I will refrain from responding to the temptation. Beyond this jocularity, there is good reason for not attempting such a division that has to do with the quality of economic history work done in South Asia. I will touch on this matter briefly at a later point.) T h e difficulty that disturbs me at the moment is not the lack of funds to finance the use of materials that are under the control of various archives in South Asia. I am bothered by the

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fact that neither American nor South Asian scholars seem to be at all disturbed by the systematic destruction or general loss via attrition of materials absolutely crucial to the economic historian. No one seems to calculate the importance of private records—records of individuals, families and organizations— that are absolutely basic to that detailed monographic work on which all satisfactory economic history analysis depends. Let me give two examples from my own experience. In 1952, shortly before he died, I visited Ν. M. Joshi, one of the leading figures in the early development of Indian trade unions. H e told me that, living as he was in a single room, he had no space for the records he had accumulated over three decades. Having offered them to various institutions and being refused, he was forced to destroy what obviously must have been a magnificent collection of information. In 1957 I worked at the Tata Iron and Steel Company in Jamshedpur. While the Company was most generous with what records it had available, I discovered that about five years previous to my appearance the company had donated a large portion of the records of their Jamshedpur operation (going back to 1908) to a scrap paper drive directed to providing financial aid to a leper colony. How fortunate for lepers; how distressing for scholars! (But perhaps this is the appropriate hierarchy of values!) Moreover, because of a growing need for space at Jamshedpur, vast amounts of remaining records had been bundled into gunny sacks and were being moved about from one warehouse to another. It is likely that these will also ultimately end up as a contribution to the Indian public health program unless Indian and Western scholars recognize that there is more to research than can be found in official publications or in the polemic literature that clutters up so much library space. Now that I have sketched, however imperfectly, the problems, let me offer some suggestions for improvement. As always, there is a bit of money involved. While money does not solve all problems, it is still the finest lubricant of progress, even in

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the non-materialist halls of academe. However, I envision money being used sparingly merely to get the process started. T h e key issue is to break the teaching bottleneck. I suggest that three positions for economic historians of South Asia be established in this country. Inasmuch as there is a tendency for universities to move very slowly into new fields, it will take some external inducement to get the business rolling. I suggest that the foundations be encouraged to subsidize (probably on a matching basis) the establishment of these posts, preferably in departments of economics. With all due respect to my colleagues in History, it seems to me that it is from the economic orientation that the maximum benefits will flow. In order to guarantee the maximum contribution on all counts, not only should the posts be established in departments of economics, but the departments should be those where orthodox economic history already has a foothold and the universities those where a South Asia program already exists. California, Chicago and Wisconsin are centers where all my conditions are more ar less fulfilled. (In the event that the University of Washington moves into a South Asia program, as now seems possible, I can immodestly suggest that it, too, would be an appropriate center.) If financing can be obtained to provide the initial faculty, I think that most of the other problems would gradually be resolved. Say's law of the markets would operate with the supply of trained personnel creating its own demand. As the field establishes its significance and a supply of talent, employment opportunities would expand. I am not fearful about the supply of students at either the undergraduate or graduate levels. If my experience at Washington is any guide, the interest of students at both levels is there. T h e only thing that prevents the tapping of that interest is the absence of courses. I can suggest that at my institution, at least, the moment courses in South Asian economic history are made available, the students will be there to fill them.

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Nor am I worried about financing the work of graduate students with this enthusiasm. The Ford Foundation and NDEA area programs are available. However, as the 1959 Conference on Asian Economic History pointed out, these funds tend to support area training but dry up when disciplinary training is involved.* I would suggest that this bias be re-examined with an eye to strengthening support for disciplinary training. The establishment of positions in the field would produce undergraduate and graduate courses at the designated institutions. The lack of teaching materials at the undergraduate level would have to be resolved by the efforts of the faculty involved through the development of appropriate reading materials and syllabi. It is possible that these needs will partly be met by an independent development in the next few years. One product of the 1959 Conference on Asian Economic History was a proposal for a volume of selected readings on the Economic History of South Asia. Negotiations are underway for the financing of this project. Another and more immediate product of that conference is a bibliography on Indian economic history by M. D. Morris and B. Stein, which appears in the Journal of Economic History, June, 1961. Graduate instruction will gradually be made easier by the inevitable building up of materials in the field. Readings, bibliographies, the work of seminars will gradually produce the basic training materials. Here another consequence of the 1959 Conference on Asian Economic History may be of assistance. A small group of interested scholars scattered at various universities in this country is attempting to coordinate and stimulate work in South Asian economic history. While progress is slow, it may be that this group can provide the information and bibliographies for basic graduate training. At least this group could suggest the order of priorities for filling major gaps in economic history holdings around the country. • For a report on this conference, cf., Journal of Asian Studies (May 1960), pp. 383-86, or Journal of Economic History (September, 1960), pp. 435-40.

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While the libraries of this country can in one way or another provide the materials for basic graduate training, they are not able to provide for advanced graduate or faculty research on any large scale. As I have suggested, it is unlikely that in the foreseeable future this situation will change. All of us will be forced to depend on British and South Asian resources. T h e normal grants for training and research will have to be depended upon to make possible travel to these areas. This leads me to mention two issues that come to mind. First is the tendency for grants to be made more easily available for people who want to work in South Asia rather than, for example, in London. Hidden here, I believe, is the assumption that people who want to go to South Asia to carry on their work are more serious about South Asia than those who propose to work in, say, the British Museum (which is more comfortable and ipso facto less serious). I would urge on the groups financing such research a recognition of the fact that library facilities in Europe are typically far more adequate and substantially easier to work in than in South Asia. We should not mistake suffering for scholarship. On the other hand, my second point suggests the opposite conclusion. One of the great weaknesses of the bulk of South Asian economic history work is that it is oriented to the impact of the West on South Asia, not on the economic history of the region itself. While the two issues cannot be separated, and less so as we come closer to the present, there is a basic distinction in emphasis. Economic history work should increasingly stress the indigenous developments. This suggests that effort should be put into uncovering and using private records of the type I have mentioned. This would certainly require a use of vernacular materials, something that has been almost entirely neglected by Indians as well as Americans. It would also increase the need to work in South Asia rather than in Britain. Let me, in conclusion, make one comment about the work that is being done in South Asia. On the whole, the quality of

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economic history work done there is incredibly bad. I do not propose to discuss the reasons for this here, but some relevant comments will be found in the bibliography on Indian economic history, Journal of Economic History, June, 1961. But what is important in this regard is that if there is to be any economic history work of quality developed in the United States, its development will not be accelerated by importing South Asian scholars to start the training. The results can hardly be anything but negative. In fact, if there are no other benefits to be derived from the establishment of work in South Asian economic history in this country, there is the contribution that can be made to the improvement of the field in South Asia itself.

Varieties of Language Competences H. A . Gleason, J r . Hartford Seminary Foundation

I.

There is a temptation to think of language competence as something which can be evaluated along a single scale. This is surely to oversimplify the problem, perhaps dangerously, and can only lead to ineffective programs. Rather there are a number of dimensions that must be considered separately, though they interact in various complex ways. The problems can only be defined clearly against a background of the actual language situation. There are in South Asia a very large number of different language forms. These are o£ many kinds: there are numerous languages and many of these in turn are divisible into dialects. In any given area, there are often sharply distinct speech forms correlated with social differences. Each individual speaks in a variety of styles as demanded by the situation in which he finds himself. Everyone resident in South Asia must operate in terms of a number— perhaps a considerable number—of these speech forms. An American who hopes to participate effectively—in however specialized and limited a role—in South Asian society will have to operate in terms of several forms of speech. Effective language preparation must be preparation for such multiple media of communication. Moreover, in many of the languages of South Asia there are very ancient literary traditions. These have interacted with one another in intricate ways, and have accordingly developed 103

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into a very considerable variety of forms of written language. Diverse scripts, varied orthographic conventions, a very wide range of literary styles, and very complex interrelations between writing and speech characterize the area. For many Americans going to work in South Asia, some segment of this complex picture must be understood and assimilated. Each of these many varieties of language has its own social value and role. Everyone of them functions as much more than merely a channel of linguistic communication. T h e i r use defines the social situation and so communicates on a different level. A n American who desires to be sensitive to South Asian society and culture must not only speak one to several of the speech forms, but he must also understand their social implications. Effective use of the language demands not only linguistic competence, but also cultural competence.

II.

It is not enough to think of competence in a language; rather we must think of competence in relation to a set of speech forms (and often also written forms), perhaps closely related, perhaps quite disparate. Moreover, we must think of competence with reference to several distinguishable needs. I would like to suggest three major types that impose quite different demands. Language competence may commonly be needed to live and function in a South Asian society. And this sort of language competence will be needed not only for the American whose business takes him to South Asia, but commonly as much by his dependents who accompany him. T h e r e are cities in South Asia in which a knowledge of English will serve. Most commonly these are old "camp" or "can-

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tonment" centers, highly Westernized communities included in or adjacent to cities of more indigenous patterns. They were created to cater to British government people and business men. In these areas most shopkeepers speak English, and English-speaking servants are available and can be delegated most of the tasks for which English will not suffice. But even in these centers, lack of knowledge of a South Asian language can be very restricting. For example, in some Indian cities most taxi drivers speak English, but motor-rickshaw drivers do not. This is typical—certain services are simply not obtainable in English, though generally an equivalent (usually more expensive) service is available. In the older cities adjacent to the cantonment areas, the usefulness of English is much reduced. And it should be borne in mind that the use of English in the old cantonment areas themselves is steadily decreasing with the diminishing Western population and the altered political and economic situation. In other areas, English may be of little or no value. In the past, English has not been very effective away from the cantonments or railway centers. In these smaller towns the drop in English has been often severe. I have been in cities of considerable size where I could find no one who spoke English. Over the greater part of Bharat, Hindi will serve in cities and towns. But in a few areas Hindi is not widely known. In one of the largest cities in South India, an Indian friend and I tried English and Hindi in half a dozen shops before we could get anything to eat. (Undoubtedly in other parts of that town English-speaking people are more numerous.) In the rural areas, Hindi is not as widely known outside the Hindi-speaking region, though generally much more widely useful than English. In the villages it is essential to have some command of the local standard language. For basic communication in South Asia a clearly definable kind of language competence is needed. Greetings and similar social formulae must be used with ease and fair correctness.

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One must be able to make simple inquiries and to understand the answers. It is necessary to be able to carry on simple business transactions like buying food, contracting with tonga drivers, dealing with railway coolies, etc. These are a bare minimum. It is valuable to be able to exchange pleasantries and, especially in a remote area, to answer, however haltingly, inquiries about one's self and one's work. Unfortunately, much of the existing language teaching materials for South Asian languages are very inadequate in meeting this need. They suffer from the two common difficulties: a tendency to skip around too rapidly from situation to situation, and a tendency to select rather inappropriate situations. There is a pattern, inherited from the "Army Method" of introducing a new situation in each lesson unit. None can receive enough attention. One dialogue in a bazaar with only minimal variation in the drill materials is certainly inadequate preparation for even the simplest commercial transactions. There should be several such dialogues and a great deal more attention to variations around them. T h e aim should be a fairly competent control of patterns for a few situations rather than superficial exposure to a large number. There is a tendency, very marked in some lesson sets, not only to skip over many situations, but to select rather unusual and often very Westernized episodes. Some of these are doubly unnatural, since when they do occur in South Asia, English is very likely to be the normal language. There should be, rather, a concentration on situations of very high frequency and ones in which a South Asian language will be most necessary. This would suggest such as: bazaar transactions, asking directions, negotiating with railway coolies, etc. rather than visiting in Westernized homes, etc. T h e basic communication need is not met simply by language. It is essential that the associated cultural patterns be understood, and many of the necessary reactions assimilated thoroughly. T h e economic and social functioning of an Indian

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bazaar and that of an American supermarket are about as different as the languages in which they are conducted. T o operate effectively in the bazaar, the American must not only know the language but also understand the mileu. This means not so much to understand the South Asian economic and social systems in their broadest outlines, though this is important, as to know the customary behavior of seller and buyer, be able to react to the one and operate within the other. Language competence may be useful for establishing rapport. I need not dwell on the obvious fact that knowing a people's language is a very important basis for good relations. Rather I would like to mention two specific cases. Bharat has been moving in the direction of making Hindi the national language, and already certain sectors of public life are largely conducted in Hindi. For many Indians, Hindi has become something of a symbol of the nation. Even a rudimentary knowledge of Hindi is valued, and a competent speaking knowledge is very highly respected. In most parts of the country, a knowledge of Hindi will be taken as evidence of a genuine interest in the country and the people. Even in areas where some other language will serve most needs, perhaps far better than Hindi, a bit of knowledge of the national language will be worthwhile simply because it will often open doors and assist in establishing rapport. It is, therefore, important that most Americans intending to work in India should obtain at least a minimal knowledge of Hindi. Hindi instruction should be included in every Indian area program in this country. In most instances this should be intensive Hindi only for those who will find Hindi their primary language. For others less intensive courses should be provided. T h e sort of minimal knowledge required is very much the same as that needed for basic communication. B u t it is important, also, that Americans going to Bharat with some Hindi understand something of the history of the movement for Hindi as the national language. They should

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know of the controversies that have surrounded the issue. T h e y should know that there are situations in which Hindi is not appropriate. Presumably much the same holds true for Urdu for persons going to Pakistan. A t least some minimum of Urdu instruction should be provided for everyone in Pakistan programs. Indian scholarship in the humanities is still very firmly rooted in Sanskrit. It is expected, as a matter of course, that a scholar in these fields will be acquainted with the language. And certain classics of Sanskrit literature are well known even to people who do not read the original language. Reference to these will commonly occur in addresses or even in informal conversation. In learned circles, the quotations are very likely to be in Sanskrit. For Americans going to India to study or do research in certain disciplines, Sanskrit will be a very necessary tool. They will need the ability to read it easily and they must have a general knowledge of the classical literature in their area of interest. For many more, at least some basic knowledge of the language and literature is very desirable if they are to participate easily in academic life. It will not only assist them in following discussions, but most importantly it will assist in confirming their claim to be scholars. For any American in Bharat, familiarity with Sanskrit and Sanskrit literature will be appreciated and will assist tremendously in establishing rapport with educated Indians. At an absolute minimum, every American going to Bharat should at least know something of the literary history of the country and know something of the Ramayana, the Mahabaharata, and of Kalidas, even if this must be gotten through the medium of English. In other areas of South Asia, Persian and Pali serve much the same function. T h e y are required for acceptance as a scholar in many fields. A knowledge of these languages is always deeply appreciated, and some acquaintance with their literatures is very nearly essential.

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Sanskrit, Persian, and Pali (in their respective areas) are the classical background for the modern languages of South Asia. Anything which can be said of the importance of understanding the Latin and Greek background of Western languages and cultures is applicable to the Sanskrit, Persian or Pali backgrounds of South Asian languages and cultures, except that the effect has certainly been greater and is currently more active. These three classical languages are more alive today in South Asia than Latin has been in Europe for several centuries. Moreover, their influence on the modern languages has been profound and continuous. There is a continual interplay not only between Sanskrit and modem literature, but also between Sanskrit language and the modem languages. This means that Sanskrit (or Persian or Pali) are of great value to anyone who would undertake any kind of study in depth in or through any of the modem languages. All South Asia programs must therefore make available to their students at least introductory work in whatever of these classical languages are appropriate in view of their special interests. A great deal more study of Sanskrit, Persian and Pali should be encouraged. Certainly those who propose to make careers in South Asian studies should be very strongly advised to take one or another of the classical languages of the region, and for those in the humanities, this should be considered as a very high priority. Persian and Pali have been far more neglected in this country than Sanskrit, and so some effort must be given to marked strengthening of the offerings in these languages. For all, some introduction to the literary history and to specific classics must be provided, through translation in most cases, as a part of the general cultural orientation. 3. Language competence may be needed for the actual work that a person intends to undertake. Both the level and the kind of language competence required will vary greatly according to the type of work proposed. A historian may need little other

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than a reading knowledge, but he may require a very deep and specialized ability. He may need to read easily handwritten documents in some of the more difficult scripts, and to understand the very special technical terminology of his sources. By contrast an anthropologist doing a village study may require only an oral-aural knowledge, but this in some out-of-the-way local language or dialect. He may need the ability to perceive and evaluate the most minute clues of attitudes or social reactions. Each man's competence would be totally inadequate for the other's job, indeed it might be wholly irrelevant. Some others may not need language for their work at all; many kinds of scholarship and some kinds of business are conducted almost wholly in English. (Such a person would still need a South Asian language or languages for daily life and rapport, of course!) It is, therefore, not permissible to make any generalizations about either the kinds or the levels of compentence which will be needed for work in South Asia. Language training programs must be designed to provide, as efficiently as possible, for this vast range of different requirements. It will obviously be impossible to provide fully for some of these most extreme needs in any training program in this country.

III. T h e problems of preparing Americans in South Asian languages will vary sharply among three kinds of speech forms: First, there are a score or more of "major" languages—ones spoken by several million people, with a developed literature, and generally with some sort of official recognition. Most of these have a fairly well-defined "standard" form which is widely used, and which a foreigner would normally be expected to

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know if he knows any form. Most of these will be needed by enough people that formal instruction, or at least proper lesson materials, can be provided. At the lower end of this scale only a single program may be justified. At the upper end, it will be feasible to have a considerable number of programs, and a small amount of diversity in these programs may be feasible. But in no case will it be possible to cater properly to all the specialized needs of different Americans preparing for work in South Asia. In general these courses must aim at a common nucleus which will meet a certain part of each person's needs and provide a basis for building special competences after arrival in South Asia. Secondly, there are a number of "minor" languages—several hundred in South Asia. In extreme cases these are spoken by very small populations, are without any developed written literature, have no official recognition of any sort, and commonly are almost totally unknown to scholarship. Obviously, the provision of formal instruction of the kind we can provide for Hindi, Urdu and Sinhalese is totally out of the question. For individual languages of this sort, demand will arise only very occasionally and often quite unpredictably. Yet we may reasonably assume that the total demand for "minor" languages as a group will be appreciable and as steady as for most of the "major" languages. Clearly something must be done to meet this need also, but it will have to be of a totally different nature, and it will have to frame its objectives in very different terms. Persons needing "minor" languages will normally need a "major" or regional language also. T h e latter can be taught in this country. Frequently there will be enough similarity in phonology, and sometimes in certain grammatical features, that a good command of a "major" language may be a very real help in learning the "minor" language. In a few areas, this will not be so true. Since "minor" languages will normally have to b e learned in the field from untrained informants, and

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commonly without any technical assistance, it is desirable to give students expecting to learn " m i n o r " languages a good grounding in descriptive linguistics with the emphasis on field techniques, analysis, and learning procedures. Such work should be provided in a number of South Asian program centers, particularly those which will be teaching the " m a j o r " languages of regions where there are many " m i n o r " languages (for example, Oriya and Assamese.). T h i r d l y , there are a number of "dialects" of " m a j o r " languages. As is well known, many of the so-called languages of South Asia are great agglomerations of dialects, sometimes reasonably natural groupings, but often quite heterogeneous. In many cases mutual intelligibility among the "dialects" is quite low—too low to be functional in any sort of use. Americans who expect to work in rural areas will commonly find it necessary to l e a m both the regional language and the local "dialect." It is very doubtful that many of these "dialects" can feasibly be provided with either regular instruction or adequate teaching materials. As with the " m i n o r " languages, the total demand for these "dialects" is likely to be large. A workable program here will probably be much like that needed for the " m i n o r " languages: a good grounding in descriptive linguistics together with instruction in the " m a j o r " language of the area. Perhaps, the two could be met by very much the same sort of program. T h e r e is, however, a special peril in learning two closely similar speech forms more or less together. T h i s is the danger of mixing them. A very firm assimilation of the habits of the first should be attained before work is started on the second. Modern language teaching has realized the necessity of thorough learning of speech patterns as habits, and extensive, often rather annoyingly monotonous, drills are provided to accomplish this. Language teachers find themselves facing rather constant rebellion from some students who want to get on a bit faster and who are bored by the repetitive nature of the drills.

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Students who face "dialect" learning in the field, must, however, be given even firmer treatment at this point.

IV.

T h e reading of South Asian languages presents special problems in any instructional program. T h e writing systems are quite different from those of European languages. Special care must be given in teaching them. T h e literary languages commonly depart quite sharply from even very formal spoken language, so that specifically written vocabulary, constructions, even morphology or semantic categories, must be learned. In some languages (for example, Bengali) there are even competing written languages with sharp differences of structure. Recent advances in language teaching have resulted in marked improvement in the acquisition of speaking and hearing skills. We have reached a position where an American can learn better and faster if introductory work is given in this country rather than if all his language learning is done in South Asia. But there seems to have been no comparable advance in the imparting of reading skills. (I am not contending, as do some opponents of modern methods, that reading is less thoroughly learned. I do not think that we are doing more poorly, only that we have not improved.) As I contended at the Conference on Resources for the Development of Language and Area Studies in the United States, I believe that a large part of this is because we have not expended the same efforts and ingenuity in devising better teaching materials for written languages. Linguists have a deep-seated bias against writing, and it is difficult to grow out of it. Yet some Americans will need highly developed reading skills. I am convinced that we can, and must, do a great deal better here.

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Basic instruction in South Asian languages must be oralaural. But only the briefest courses can be satisfied with this. In most cases some introduction to the written language must be provided if nothing more is imparted than the ability to decipher signs; something is accomplished, and this much can be highly useful in South Asia. But rather than any such minimum, a suitable program must provide a sound basis for development, by those who need it, of high skill in reading. This would seem to mean that there must be some effort to develop not merely the ability to struggle through short passages, but some fluency and ease. I suspect that it is nearly as true of reading as of speaking that fluency is better gotten when the repertoire is still small. In most South Asian languages the writing conventions are quite obviously profoundly influenced by those of Sanskrit, Persian, or Pali. Each does have its own individuality, of course, but in many points each is conformed to that of the pattern system. For this reason it is desirable to know something of the writing systems of these classical languages, and indeed it is highly desirable—more so with literary languages than with spoken—to know something of the appropriate older language. Students ought also to be given some understanding of the prevailing understanding of the writing system by its users and the attitudes about the alphabet which so color South Asian thinking on language matters.

V.

T h e puzzling variety of social dialects and styles in South Asian languages certainly ought to be taken account of in any language program. There are at least two ways in which it should enter.

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First, and most obviously, in the selection of forms to be taught. There are very complex problems here, even when all the information is available. It is probably a sound procedure to teach only one form of speech until it is thoroughly assimilated. T h e question then arises inevitably as to what type of speech should be used in the basic lessons. Probably some lesson materials have taught a less formal style than they should. Some others have taught a rather too pedantic style. Perhaps the commonest error has been to teach an inconsistently heterogeneous style which will seem shockingly out of place in any conceivable context. T h e American Council of Learned Societies' English for Foreigners materials attempted to teach a form of English as nearly neutral as possible, eliminating all prominent regional and social characteristics, and a style appropriate to semi-formal situations. Some have felt that this was not successfully done, and some have felt that a wrong aim was chosen. Still, it is significant that the problem was viewed as of such importance as to warrant careful planning. Such planning will require the more care in reference to South Asian languages since they are rather more complex in their variation than American English, and since a larger part of the lesson planning will be done by non-native speakers who are less sensitive to some of these nuances. Secondly, the language situation in South Asia is so complex that it will be most important for introductory language programs to give students some systematic briefing on this matter. Americans going to South Asia must know of the intricate interactions of various speech forms with one another and with culture patterns and with social situations. They must understand the political implications of language in the area, since only by understanding some of its deeper dimensions can they successfully remain totally neutral. T h e more intimately they penetrate into Indian society, the more important this becomes. Unfortunately, for neither purpose is our information at all adequate. For most of the languages of India we have no syste-

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matic information whatever on social, situational, or stylistic variations. The lack is equally apparent in the matter of linguistic structure and of social valuation and function. This is a research need of first magnitude. It must be cooperative research involving both South Asians and foreigners. Each has something to contribute that the other alone cannot supply. It will require, first, a large number of detailed studies of specific problems in many parts of the region. Then, there will be required a great deal of careful generalization and theory building. That is to say, that it is in the truest sense basic research. The South Asian region is an important locus for such work. In many respects it is a type region. That is, the problems of social differentiation of language structure are particularly sharply defined here, though in no other sense unique. This means that the research done in South Asia will have a significance far beyond our understanding of South Asian situations.

VI.

I have attempted to define some of the dimensions of differences in language needs. Americans proposing to work in South Asia will find a number of different kinds of language needs in each case. T h e combinations of requirements will be highly various. No possible program can meet the needs in full for other than most exceptional cases. Rather in our planning we should keep in mind the nucleus of needs which we can expect will be common to most of the students, and the necessity of providing a firm basis for further and more specialized work on the field. This latter prospect reinforces the necessity of establishing firmly entrenched basic habits, and of emphasizing fluency and accuracy before large inventories of either vocabulary or patterns.

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It also underscores the necessity of a language program being correlated with instruction in certain non-structural features of language and some non-linguistic aspects of culture. I have had repeated occasion to refer to the necessity of language students attaining some understanding of the social position of language in South Asia. This is least important when only minimal language control is sought or attained, but becomes crucial as a student works toward a highly specialized language competence. High competence can be very effectively neutralized by a lack of understanding of the social role of speech and speech types. Further, as I have mentioned above, at least a minimum knowledge of non-linguistic communication patterns must be considered essential even with minimal language control. If what we desire is the ability to communicate, it should be remembered that only in exceptional cases is language the sole medium of communication, and frequently enough it is not even the major medium. Language control, without cultural understanding is not likely to be worth the effort. (Not only is the usefulness seriously curtailed, but the effort in acquisition may be appreciably increased!) Language programs, it seems to me, require a much more imaginative approach than has been all too commonly characteristic. We must experiment with a variety of new patterns. We must engage in some really basic research. And we must see the communications needs of Americans in South Asia as much more complex and varied than we have.

Means of Increasing the Student's Use of Vernaculars in His Area Studies J o h n J. Gumperz University of California Before we consider concrete measures for encouraging area students to gain more competence in South Asian languages, it might be useful to ask why such encouragement is necessary at all. South Asian area programs have been in operation since shortly after World W a r II, and furthermore thousands of Americans have lived on the sub-continent for periods of u p to several years. Yet only a small percentage of those who have had this extensive contact with the region have a working knowledge of any modern South Asian language. Since Sputnik and the Ugly American, it has become fashionable to pay lip service to the need for increasing our knowledge of Asian languages, but there is still little agreement on the extent to which training is needed for students in the various disciplines and what it should consist of. Even among the area scholars in our universities, as Lambert has pointed out, 1 there are few who regularly use the vernaculars in their research. This deficiency is not entirely due to the inherent difficulty of the languages concerned, since similar conditions do not pertain in other area fields such as Far Eastern studies. T h e supply of experts in Chinese and Japanese, which have also been designated as critical languages under the National Defense Education Act, is still small in relation to the total need, but we have at least the core of a few well-balanced language and area programs. Chinese and Japanese writings are well 1 Lambert, Richard D „ "Prospects for the Use of Modern South Asian Languages in Social Science Research," Resources for South Asian Language Studies, W . N o r m a n Brown, ed. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960), p p . 97-103.

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known and appreciated as shown by the increasing number of commonly available English translations. T o be sure, proper command of these languages requires long years of practice, but there is little need to convince students of the scholarly advantages to be gained by this effort. T h e relevance of modern South Asian languages is nowhere as clearly defined. English continues to be the most important medium of communication at the national level and it is doubtful that it will be replaced in the near future. T h e American visitor to India or Pakistan rarely finds himself hampered by language difficulties. On the contrary his efforts to speak local languages are not encouraged by his Indian friends, who as members of the western-trained elite prefer to use English in their contacts with outsiders. Scholars find a wealth of English language materials of all kinds in the natural sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences. Indian English writers such as R. K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Khushwant Singh have an international reputation. It is this very accessibility to the English-speaking world which has determined the course of scholarship on India and has led to conditions such as those described by Lambert where "much of the current research is conducted at the all-Indian level" and "only the anthropologists in their village studies have been forced out of the restricted circle and accordingly have made much greater strides in the acquisition of language skills."2 W e find many indications of the rapid growth of Hindi and other regional languages, but any serious assessment of this growth and of its significance for scholarship encounters a number of difficulties. The literary languages of India have traditionally served as symbols for religious and political conflict. Scholarly writings about language and literature have not remained untouched by these disputes. Most modern South Asian vernaculars show an abundance of literature of all kinds, much of it dating back to ancient and medieval times. In the 2 Lambert, op. cit., p. 98.

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absence of proper bibliographical tools, proper text editions and literary and intellectual histories, however, evaluation is almost impossible. Even for modern writings channels of distribution are extremely poor when compared to English literature, and it is possible that much significant work has so far been overlooked. In the light of the emotional overtones of the language issue, this lack of accessibility encourages a host of conflicting claims. Hindi is said to have the largest number of speakers, but in view of the many divergent local dialects actual figures remain in doubt. Individuals even disagree as to what does and what does not constitute a language. Some say Konkani is a dialect of Marathi; others regard it as separate. When it comes to literature, Bengali and Marathi are certainly better known than Hindi and others, such as Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam are said by some to be equal to or better than Hindi. In this welter even the most highly motivated students find little encouragement for language study. Further reflection suggests that our failure to understand India's linguistic diversity may at least in part be due to our own language background. We live in a society where, regardless of local speech differences, English serves as the medium of formal communication and literature of all kinds. When we look at other countries we carry with us a concept of a single all-pervasive literary language, which prevents us from perceiving the true nature of the linguistic situation in a culture so vastly different as India's. A more fruitful approach lies in discarding our monolingual model and analyzing instead India's many languages in terms of their social function. 3 Recent research suggests that these languages function in limited and complementary spheres and that they serve different communication roles. T h e average educated Indian, as a rule, controls not one but several languages. English is used for messages di3 G u m p e n , J o h n J., " T h e Language Problem in South Asia Studies," Survey I (April, 1961), pp. 28ff.

Asian

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rected toward the Western-trained elite and toward outsiders. Hindi and the other regional languages serve as media of mass communication, literature and religious philosophy; local and regional dialects in turn are used in the home and local bazaars. Only an understanding of the function of India's major languages will enable the student to tailor his learning program to his research requirements. He must decide which section of the South Asian community he wants to establish contact with and how intense this contact is to be. An economist interested in national statistics available in Delhi has, of course, little need for language training. He can talk about his problems in English with Western-educated Indians. All the documentary evidence he will require is available in English. If, however, this same economist were to become interested in a study of village economics or of small town industry where data has to be collected directly in the field, he would do well to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the spoken language. He may, of course, use an interpreter, but the use of an interpreter is a dangerous affair in a society where the particular style of speech one employs is as important to proper communication as it is in South Asia. Furthermore, an economist interested in economic history might find much that is of interest in nineteenthcentury novels or in the court records of pre-British times which are kept partly in Persian and partly in Sanskrit and Urdu. A political scientist studying Indian foreign policy again needs little direct knowledge of Hindi unless he wants to extend his contacts to more than the upper English-speaking strata of the population. Any study of regionalism, however, should utilize both English and vernacular literature. T h e language problem is most acute for the historian whose research is strictly limited by his linguistic competence. Only the British Empire historian can afford to ignore local languages. A thorough understanding of developments in modern India is hardly possible without a knowledge of the modern literary languages which are so intimately connected with the development of

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nationalism. Even those who intend to concentrate on the English elite must be aware of the fact that English is rarely the sole language of the Indians they meet. An Indian may speak English with an outsider; in his home life and in his most intimate thoughts, however, the vernacular prevails. He may write in English on constitutional law or economic development, but his ideas and the symbols by which they are expressed will be influenced, however unconsciously, by the local literature he reads. Neither our language nor our area courses prepare the student for the complexities of the Indian scene. Traditional language texts tend to focus on one particular literary style or spoken form without showing its relationship to other forms of speech also employed within the same speech community. This is hardly justified in an area subjected to rapid social and economic change. T h e Hindustani of the prewar British and of the Army Spoken Language Text, for example, has lost prestige, and its use on the part of an American is not likely to help him gain rapport. Efforts to improve the cultural content of language course materials with the help of Indian students residing in the United States have not been completely successful. There can be little disagreement on the need for linguistically oriented spoken language texts. But if such materials are to be successful they must be collected in the country itself by a linguist with a background in Indian culture and an understanding of the social significance of the speech forms he is describing. Furthermore, course content must be adapted to those situations in which the language is actually employed. There is little profit in depicting conversations between a Westerner and hotel clerks. Indian hotel clerks pride themselves on their English and would be uncomfortable in using the vernacular with an American. A properly constructed spoken language text can illustrate many of the most important speech variants, in the same way a good play reflects our own social practices. In North India, Muslim speakers can be de-

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picted as using Urdu forms while the speech of traditional Hindus may be Sanskritized. Cultural notes can be supplied to provide relevant cultural background. Although a command of spoken language is necessary for elementary communication, the ability to read and write the formal literary style carries enormous prestige in all parts of South Asia and it is therefore important that even the elementary student desiring to learn the language primarily for rapport purposes know the local writing system and have a rudimentary knowledge of vernacular literature. Spoken language materials must be accompanied by introductions to the written forms designed to bridge the gap between formal and informal styles. Here again selection of lesson content is crucial. Too many readers do not progress beyond an artificially simple style which has little relation to current literary trends. In most modern South Asian vernaculars, it is possible to select reading materials from an ever-growing body of modern short stories and novels of varying degrees of difficulty. There is no reason why such material cannot be given to the student at a relatively early stage, provided proper lexical and syntactic drill materials are supplied. The student is thus introduced not only to the language but also to its modern literature. In the case of most Western languages, formal instruction leaves off when the student has acquired enough competence to attack research materials on his own. T h e relative inaccessibility of writings in modern South Asian vernaculars and the extreme stylistic variations in these writings suggest the need for additional teaching aids. It has been suggested that vocabulary lists of terms useful for the various disciplines be prepared. In view of the rapidity with which new words are coined and old ones disappear, and the extreme regional variations in the meanings of common words, such vocabulary lists seem less useful than properly selected and glossed anthologies. These anthologies can then be supplemented by annotated basic reading lists for each field. We further require properly printed

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and bound text editions of standard works in the vernaculars. Even the best-known classics, such as Tulsidas' H i n d i Ramayan and the poems of Kabir are very difficult to acquire for someone not acquainted with the local book trade. Some of the vernacular language classics are now being reissued in pocket book editions but these editions have not yet become available abroad. O n the teaching side, advanced language courses might be supplemented by seminars conducted jointly by language and area faculty, where advanced students have an opportunity for guided research with vernacular materials. T h e r e is also an urgent need for instruction in South Asian literature ranging from basic literature in translation courses to more advanced work requiring the knowledge of a South Asian language. Any increase in the language teaching program would, of course, require an increase in faculty. We now have a nucleus of American descriptive linguists capable of guiding elementary course work. Literature, however, is taught largely by Indian scholars who remain here for short periods of time and have little opportunity to adapt to our conditions. T h e inadequacy of our language teaching materials is matched by similar gaps in our resources for area teaching. Present texts rely almost exclusively on English sources. We rarely find vernacular language works mentioned in bibliographies. Texts deal with diplomatic and administrative history, b u t little emphasis is given to social and intellectual development. W e have, for example, as yet no good general history of the pan-Indian bhakti movement which has been so important in formulating modern Indian cultural patterns. Our materials dealing with modern India are weakest in those fields which impinge on the vernaculars. W e find little information on the development of indigenous philosophical and religious movements such as the Brahmo Samaj or the Ramakrishna movement. W e know almost nothing about the many language societies which sprang u p in the last half of the nineteenth century

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and which continue to play an extremely important role in modern Indian life. Reflection on the problem of improving the content of area courses suggests the following measures: more emphasis on religion, philosophy and mythology, especially in those aspects displayed in the bhakti movement and greater reliance on translation from modern Indian fiction. Basic to the above changes is a shift in research emphasis. We have already pointed out the need for more information on the social significance of speech forms in South Asia. Such work could very well be carried on cooperatively by linguists and sociologists. Social scientists in general should be encouraged to incorporate linguistic data into their research design. Speech distribution serves as an excellent index of social stratification and social change. T h e political scientist might profit by more detailed work on language politics and language planning, b u t such work cannot be carried out on an all-India basis and must proceed instead region by region. Students of economic development have long neglected the subject of literacy, one which is also closely related to language politics and social stratification. T h i s is not the place to go into a detailed list of possible research subjects, b u t if students are to be encouraged to learn the language, they must understand its relevance to their own research.

Means for Increasing the Use of Vernaculars Among Area Studies Faculty Gerald Kelley University of

Wisconsin

A l t h o u g h the importance of language in the training of scholars is generally unquestioned, relatively few scholars whose research interests may be broadly described as South Asian have a useful competence in a modern South Asian language. T h e r e are obvious reasons why this is so. For many such scholars research interest in South Asia developed at the postdoctoral level when their professional training had already been completed. Further, since, until recently, neither regular instruction nor satisfactory teaching materials were widely accessible, even if interest in the area developed early, opportunities to acquire linguistic skills were distinctly limited. Most American social scientists or humanists found it necessary either to pick up language instruction piecemeal in the field or to try to learn a language from inadequate or antiquated grammars and texts. A t the present time regular instruction is being offered for a majority of the most important languages of the area at one or another of a small group of universities, HindiUrdu, the most widely spoken language of the area, at half a dozen, T e l u g u at four, T a m i l at two, Marathi at one. Many area specialists are not on the campuses of this small group of universities. T h o s e who are not are little better off than ever; those who are face a different problem: there is no guarantee that the languages taught on their campus include the one most useful for their own research, even if they should be able to find the time during the regular academic year to devote to language classes conducted at a relatively intensive rate. In addition to scholars w h o may consider South Asia their 126

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primary field of research interest, there is a large group, particularly at colleges and universities other than those referred to above, who teach courses dealing with the area. T h e interest of this group in the area is also likely to have developed late, perhaps even accidentally. It is none the less real. Clearly, language training would benefit this group, particularly if coupled with an opportunity to visit the area, if it were to result in an intensified interest in the area and an increased efficiency in their teaching. A further difficulty for all of these groups, granted that linguistic competency, like any other scholarly skill, must necessarily contribute to the scope and efficacy of research and teaching, is that any attempt to achieve competency in a South Asian language will require a very considerable investment in time and effort by any mature scholar who undertakes it. For this reason it is important to recognize that the language training needs of scholars in the field vary. Social scientists who expect to do field-work, in addition to a fair degree of fluency in the spoken language, need an ability to read formal written materials, particularly if their interests include historical studies or studies of modes of cultural transmission. Philosophers, historians and humanists generally may not need the same degree of speaking fluency but do need intensive training in reading the language. Present language instruction, especially at the elementary level, is more efficiently geared to the needs of the former group. And, indeed, with present resources, it seems unlikely that this situation will change markedly. Also relevant to the investment which area faculty may make in language learning is the level of competence necessary to make the language of substantive value to the area researcher. In the writer's experience, attempts to speak Telugu, however halting, were welcomed and appreciated; grammatical and lexical inaccuracies were condoned; successful communication was applauded. Even a meager knowledge of the language may therefore serve a field worker well in establishing rapport, but

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to profit beyond this, a much higher level of competency is required. T h e major gains which language training provides the anthropologist, for instance, center around an ability to appreciate jokes and puns, to observe social relationships as reflected in modes of address (beyond, for instance, the simple knowledge that the language recognizes usages of polite vs. intimate; formal vs. informal), to record patterns of verbal abuse (particularly since such data, reported through an interpreter, may very well be distorted), to recognize the variables of social appropriateness of lexical items, esepcially, for example, items restricted to male or female speech. This sort of linguistic sophistication, however desirable, is obviously beyond that attainable in elementary and intermediate courses presently offered, even when these are available. T h e scholar who needs reading knowledge primarily faces different problems. In many of the languages of the area (Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, for example) there is wide divergence, both lexical and grammatical, between colloquial and standard literary usage; in other languages (Hindi-Urdu) there are competing literary standards. Beyond an elementary course, he needs instruction which will provide the means of overcoming these difficulties. Clearly, acquisition of language competency sufficient to be useful as a research tool, either in the field or in the library, will require a deep commitment of time and effort by the mature scholar. Whenever it is possible to make it, however, it should pay dividends. Not even Americans are willing to believe that they can be studied with complete effectiveness by field workers who know no English or by literary or social critics who read literature in translation. Quite as important, though requiring less thorough command of the language, it seems to me, is training sufficient to deal adequately with research results which have used vernacular resources. In view of the fact that within a few years students, now largely supported by NDEA fellowships, will be employing vernacular resources in writing dissertations, at

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least a small cadre of area faculty will need language ability to provide adequate direction; others will need it to cope with current research. Given the desire to acquire language competence, for original research or general professional skill, what resources are available to the area specialist? Not all the major languages of South Asia are currently taught on a regular basis in the United States; conspicuously missing, for example, are Kannada and Malayalam. Faculty capable of providing instruction exists, but is already fully committed to other work. Teaching materials adequate for advanced and specialized training are being prepared for a majority of the languages, but are not yet widely available, even in draft form. Among the exceptions are the Hindi and Urdu readers prepared by Gumperz, The Hindi Basic Reader prepared by Harter; and the Kannada lessons prepared by Bright. Much basic research is also being carried on, but the time of language specialists is spread exceedingly thin and it is quite possible that advanced materials which will provide the kind of detailed information on social and geographical variants, literary usages, and other material essential to the acquisition of (or at least acquaintance with) a high level of language skill will not be readily accessible for some time. An area specialist who is on a campus where the language he wants to learn is taught and who can find time to devote to its study apart from his other commitments, is practically the only one who can, under present conditions, attempt to acquire a working knowledge of the language. Obviously these represent a very small segment of the interested group. In dealing with this situation, there are three basic difficulties to overcome: (1) Providing wide dissemination of teaching materials designed to meet the needs of area scholars. (2) Making language teaching materials available to area scholars who are working in institutions where no

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area language is taught or where the languages taught or teachable are not central to the scholars' research interests. (3) Providing time and opportunity for area scholars to gain language competence. Little can be done about the first of these until research now under way has been completed, except for close coordination of effort by language specialists to ensure maximum efficiency in using quite limited resources of time and personnel. It is perhaps worth pointing out again that the need for more specialists in South Asian languages is critical. There are at the moment few interchangeable parts and, in effect, the resources available for research and teaching in all the languages of the area are minimal. A possible approach to the second problem is to make correspondence courses available, wherever this is feasible. Such courses would cover the material presently being given in the elementary courses at language and area centers. Since most elementary materials presume the availability of a native speaker, it would be necessary for scholars to find one locally, of course. Under these conditions language learning might, however, proceed during the course of the academic year according to the amount of time one could find to devote to it. It is not suggested that this is an ideal method of achieving language competency but it might help to overcome the difficulty currently imposed by the stringently limited availability of regular instruction in the languages of the area. A practical method of administering such courses might be to broaden the function of the language and area centers. Each center would offer work by correspondence in languages in which it offers regular elementary instruction, with the exception of HindiUrdu. In the latter case, each center would accept responsibility for a geographically defined area. Only faculty with a demonstrated research or teaching interest in South Asia would

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be eligible to receive the courses, although this requirement might be relaxed if the program proved successful. Tapes and exercises mailed in would be corrected by center language faculty and assistants, a portion of whose time would be budgeted on the center for the purpose. Payment of a flat fee for the course might be made to meet university requirements for faculty time and matching funds. Because of the pedagogical and administrative difficulties involved, a pilot project at one center or in one language might first be undertaken. Basic correspondence courses of this sort, could not, of course, provide a degree of competence adequate for using the language as a research tool. More advanced instruction could be provided by summer study at a center. An economical approach would be to concentrate language instruction at one or two institutions. By drawing language faculty from a number of institutions, such a program would provide a wide range of language instruction for both students and faculty and make efficient use of available language specialists. Area faculty who had taken basic lessons during the academic year would receive further language work. Others could take an intensive elementary course. At the same time, it would be possible to provide for both students and faculty a comprehensive series of courses in area studies. Part-time language training fellowship support for area faculty teaching at the center and full-time language training fellowships in lieu of salary for other area faculty would be necessary. (Screening of applicants for such summer support might be entrusted to T h e Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies.) Colloquia and seminars in such a program would also provide language specialists with excellent opportunities to evaluate and revise teaching materials prepared for basic courses and to plan advanced materials for both area faculty and students. T h e host institution might vary from year to year, though if government support were provided by NDEA, under present conditions, the location would be limited to institutions operating during

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the regular academic year as South Asian language and area centers. These suggestions, home study plus summer instruction, do not provide ideal solutions to the second and third difficulties listed above. Together they may give sufficient competency to allow advanced work during a second year of home study (assuming the availability of materials, particularly tapes of continuous discourse, graded readers, anthologies and reference grammars); probably they would give a knowledge of the language sufficient to deal with research which employs it. Unquestionably more effective would be opportunities for interested area faculty to undergo a year's language instruction at a center in India such as that currently being proposed for support under PL 480 by the Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. T h e advantages of studying a language in an area which would provide daily opportunities for using it to communicate with native speakers need not be catalogued. T h e proposed center would provide for language instruction, supervised by trained linguists, both Indian and American, for both area faculty and advanced graduate students. Faculty with a basic knowledge of a language gained by home study, summer instruction, or both, might expect to gain a knowledge of the language adequate for fruitful use in research. Faculty coming to the center with no knowledge of the language might expect to gain a solid grounding sufficient to communicate on general subjects and to read technical material with a dictionary. T h e center, of course, would also provide excellent opportunities to discuss research needs with Indian scholars and to plan research which would draw on vernacular language resources. Despite the growing importance of all the regional languages of South Asia and despite the recognition of their importance by area specialists, facilities and time to devote to language learning are presently inadequate for faculty needs. For some of the languages basic teaching materials are being prepared for the first time; for all of them more extensive and sophisti-

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cated materials are required. Until instructional materials and regular instruction become much more readily accessible than at present, steps to make available even provisional teaching materials and to provide language training fellowship support to interested area faculty seem imperative.

A Program of Language and Area Studies on Afghanistan L e o n B. Poullada Department

of State

INTRODUCTION

A well-integrated program of language and area studies for Afghanistan would be in the national interest and would fill a long-felt need of American scholarship. T h e r e are few countries in the world today about which there is such a lack of accurate knowledge in the United States as about Afghanistan. A scholar, teacher, government official, or even casual traveler who wants informative, reliable materials on Afghanistan in almost any field of knowledge, is at once struck by the dearth of materials on this little-known land. A few books from British sources usually written with military, strategic, or diplomatic bias, some descriptive ethnography amounting to little more than perceptive travelogues, and here and there a well-researched article in a journal about sum u p the sources available to the serious student. T h e r e are many reasons why Afghanistan has remained largely terra incognita. Most important perhaps is the past historical role of Afghanistan as a buffer state between Central Asian, Middle Eastern and South Asian powers. Almost pathologically jealous of its independence, Afghanistan long sought and largely succeeded in insulating its territory and its people from foreign influences. For many long years few ferangi were allowed to reside in Afghanistan; alien business was excluded; 134

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and foreign journalists and scholars were not encouraged to peer behind the Peshawar curtain. It is specially unfortunate that this period of Afghan seclusion coincided with the discovery of Asia by Western scholars, who for the most part eschewed the considerable mental and physical hardships involved in pursuing knowledge in the barren crags beyond the Khyber and quite naturally preferred to ruminate in the verdure of the Gangetic plain. Then too, it is axiomatic that scholarship breeds on scholarship and a student who for the first time undertakes research on Afghanistan and comes face to face with the blank card catalog seldom recovers from the scholastic trauma which such an experience inevitably produces. More importantly perhaps, until World War II Afghanistan was remote from our national interests. The few Americans who were even aware of Afghanistan were quite content to relegate it to the vicarious stewardship of the British Empire and to view this far-off land through the hazy romanticism of the Kipling tradition. It was only when our commitments of flesh and steel in the Middle East expanded our horizons that we began to see Afghanistan through new eyes. And when the German offensive in Russia threatened to cut off our supply route through Iran to the USSR, we finally awoke to the strategic importance of Afghanistan as an alternate avenue of approach to Central Asia. It was only then that the United States opened a resident diplomatic mission in Kabul. From that point onward, the American presence burgeoned until today Afghanistan has become the scene of a major engagement in the politicoeconomic cold war. Whatever the historical reasons, the fact remains that in no other country in South Asia is there such a disparity between our scholarly as well as national interests and the state of our knowledge. Indeed, it is probable, if not certain, that there exist better materials and more scholarly and linguistic competence for Tibetan studies in the United States than for serious

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research on Afghanistan. The opening up of Africa, long considered a mysterious continent, as an area of primary interest to Americans has found us better prepared in terms of necessary data and scholarly competence than has been the case for Afghanistan. Yet it is a demonstrable fact that, quite apart from the importance of Afghan studies, per se, the broader fields of basic and applied research on South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia are truncated and distorted if they ignore Afghanistan. For this is a land which has always looked in all three directions. It has been an incubator, a cradle, and a grave for cultures, religions, arts, monuments, and peoples who have flowed like the rivers of the Hindu Kush watershed north into the Oxus basin, west to the Iranian plateau, and east into the Gangetic plain. Today influences and pressures are moving in reverse, pressing in upon Afghanistan. Exciting chapters of history, economics, sociology, etc., are being enacted there. Yet, for the most part, these remain unstudied and unrecorded in the United States. American scholars, hypnotized by the magnitude and diversity of the problems of India and encouraged by the wealth of source materials, have, perhaps commendably or at any rate understandably, expended considerable time, money, and effort studying that important country. Even more needs to be done on India but lack of attention to Afghanistan, which is at times erroneously deemed "peripheral," will inevitably perpetuate lacunae in our knowledge about a critical country and distort the validity of Indian studies as well.

I. S T R E N G T H S AND WEAKNESSES OF C U R R E N T L Y AVAILABLE TEACHING MATERIALS

For Afghan studies it is relatively simple to summarize the adequacy of available materials by saying that there are no ade-

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quate materials in any of the recognized academic disciplines. A brief review by categories follows: 1. POLITICAL SCIENCE. Good books on this subject can be counted on the fingers of one hand with several fingers to spare. The "standard" text is Fraser Tytler's Afghanistan, written by a former British Minister in Kabul. It contains good elementary information written in historical, narrative style. It lacks depth of analysis and leaves something to be desired in objectivity, especially in treating contemporary events. Two or three other books, mostly by British authors, such as Olaf Caroe's The Pathans, could be mentioned as valuable political science sources, but they all suffer from broad-brush treatment of a vast number of complex subjects which cry out for detailed scholarly study in depth. Some valuable materials for the political science student can be found in British and American periodicals but too often they are impressionistic pieces written after a short visit to Afghanistan and smack more of journalism than of serious academic study. Press sources, while inadequate, could prove useful on current events and, assuming language competence, could be supplemented by the vernacular press as a rich source of information. Foreign Service reports and other United States government documents available in the National Archives would be invaluable for study of certain recent historical periods. Unfortunately, a great deal of the more current material is classified, but the writer can vouch that in the field of political science there is a rich lode here which could be mined by diligent scholars in future times. Lastly, there are growing indications of feverish Soviet scholarly work on Afghanistan. No doubt there is substantial grist in this mill for political scientists if Russian materials can be made available and translated for students who do not know Russian.

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2. ECONOMICS AND GEOGRAPHY. Materials in these fields are largely confined to official sources of various kinds. From the academic profession we have no standard texts in Afghan economics. Assorted materials of varying value are available again in Foreign Service reports, studies by the International Cooperation Administration, United Nations reports, International Board for Reconstruction and Development and International Monetary Fund investigations, etc. Afghanistan is one of the most interesting economic laboratories in the world today and the possibilities for serious economic research are vast. For geographers too, Afghanistan presents unique opportunities. In fact, Afghanistan is all geography. Yet, apart from a chapter in Dr. Cressey's standard work and a few papers in learned journals by scholars such as Dr. Michel, there has been little scientific geographic investigation done on this country. Afghanistan has recently been the subject of an intensive aerial photographic survey which should prove of great value to geographers. It is a sad but true reflection of the low estate of the geographer's art in Afghanistan that no detailed, reliable maps of this country are in existence. This is one field in which substantial study materials do exist. For the most part, the sources are British and this makes for lack of balance in certain aspects of historical analysis. There are a substantial number of indigenous materials which would bear careful investigation by scholars with competence in Farsi and Pushto. There are also limited Persian and Russian references as well as assorted French, German, and Italian materials. What is required is careful, detached examination of these various sources by competent historians who could extract therefrom the grain from the chaff and present a balanced and documented analysis of Afghan historical events in any given period. 3 . HISTORY.

4 . ANTHROPOLOGY. This is practically virgin territory for scholars in this important field. Some work has been done by

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Danish, German, and French anthropologists. A few Americans (among them Drs. Amoss and Dupree, and in the field of linguistics, Drs. Penzl and Chavarria-Aguilar) have spent considerable time in Afghanistan and presumably the fruits of their research will be forthcoming. But the vineyard is vast and the laborers are few. Important studies need to be conducted on the large tribal groups which still exist in Afghanistan and specially the nomadic peoples, some of whom move across borders into Pakistan, Iran, and perhaps the USSR. There are even lost tribes in this country, such as the Chahar Aimak, frequently mentioned in reports but never authenticated, identified, or isolated by any competent field observer. T h e sociologist interested in Afghanistan will be at once reduced to the need for first-hand field research because the literature on the subject is practically nonexistent. Yet, fascinating social change is taking place in that country where the traditional vertical configuration of society along tribal or family lines is being rapidly supplanted by a horizontal economic class system. 5 . CLASSICAL STUDIES. Afghanistan is an archeologist's paradise; although a French mission has operated in the country for many years, all who have investigated the subject agree that not even the surface has been scratched. Pre-Islamic ruins are everywhere. T h e entire city of Balkh, once known as the mother of cities, is somewhere near Mazar-i-Sharif, wrapped in its earthen shrouds, untouched and waiting patiently for some new Schliemann to rediscover this storied Central Asian Troy. T h e French Mission has made fascinating preliminary explorations of Indus Valley remains at Mandagak and of Zoroastrian ruins at Chesma-i-Sher. T h e Kabul Museum has one of the finest collections in the world of Greco-Buddhist art objects (mostly in storage) which cries for careful cataloging and study. Many problems which have puzzled scholars of Indian art may be solved when the

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A f g h a n storehouse is brought fully to light and carefully explored. For the classical linguist too, Afghanistan may have some exciting surprises. In remote parts of Afghanistan (and few parts are not remote) can be found vestigial forms of Persian, Mongol, and a host of other languages which in their fresh-frozen state could throw valuable light on problems of roots, derivations, and ethnic dispersal of peoples. T h e question of modern languages will be discussed in Section II of this paper. T h e whole subject of the value of Afghan studies in the classical field can be summarized by recalling what was said earlier about the crucial position of Afghanistan in the history of Central Asia, the Middle East and South Asia, as an area where cultures either gestated, met, or underwent transformation. T h u s , art, religion, language, archeology, etc., whose manifestations have been well studied in other lands could be endowed w i t h new meanings and understandings when investigated in their incunabular setting. Sir A u r e l Stein expressed similar convictions during his too short stay in Afghanistan where, unfortunately, he died and was buried before he could make the f u l l power of his genius felt. As in other fields already mentioned, classical studies in Afghanistan will require a vast amount of original research. T h e resources for the scholar are no doubt there, but they are unorganized and, in some cases, undiscovered. A few classical scholars have worked on Afghanistan, but their works are few and would, in most cases, require careful checking before their conclusions could be accepted as a springboard for further research. 6. CONTEMPORARY

HUMANITIES.

Contemporary

music,

art,

and literature do not, in general, offer much scope for study in Afghanistan. These humanities are, on the whole, impoverished and corrupted by alien imports. O n the other hand, there is a vast storehouse of bardic literature, folklore and epic

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poetry which needs recording and analysis. T h e medieval troubadour is still a living institution in Afghanistan and the music of the people, with roots in forgotten ages, handed down in oral tradition for generations, will almost certainly prove a rewarding field of study for the talented and properly prepared student. This folk tradition has all the earmarks of being both good music and good literature, and it may well illumine many fields of knowledge such as history, religion, and anthropology among others. There is also a growing body of written contemporary literature, especially in Pushto, for which materials are gradually becoming available. In addition, the tribal areas, especially the Pushtun ones, are reported to be repositories of considerable contemporary literary efforts notably in the field of romantic and heroic poetry. Material in the contemporary humanities are difficult to come by. A few Afghan literati are beginning to collect and publish materials and the vernacular journals are well larded with literary efforts of spotty value. Again, the challenge calls for much original research and considerable linguistic talent. 7 . N E G L E C T E D D I S C I P L I N E . AS explained above, all the disciplines are neglected ones when it comes to Afghan studies. Academically an effort on a broad front is required. From the standpoint of the more immediate national interest, however, a special emphasis is called for in the study of the following: a) Contemporary Islam—doctrine, political orientation, and attitudes of religious leaders; b) Social Psychology—motivation and basic attitudes of various social and economic groups; c) Language and Linguistics—Farsi and Pushto studies, including analysis and preparation of adequate teaching materials. A beginning for Pushto is being made by the University of Michigan program; d) Economics—particularly the politico-economic problems

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of "competitive coexistence," the social impact of foreign aid programs and an analysis of Afghan commercial relations with the Soviet bloc and the Free World. Here again, a modest beginning can be found in the booklet by Peter Franck (Franck The Economics of Competitive Coexistence—Afghanistan— Between East and West, National Planning Assn., Washington, D.C., 1960); e) Political Science—Strategic and diplomatic significance of Afghanistan's ceasing to be a "buffer state." Implications for South Asia and the Middle East of the end of Afghan isolation and its crucial role in the East-West struggle. An analysis of relations between Afghanistan and neighboring countries. A study of the internal power structure of Afghan domestic politics.

II. MEANS FOR INCREASING T H E USE OF VERNACULARS IN SOUTH ASIA AREA STUDIES

T h e principal vernaculars used in Afghanistan are Farsi, a variant of Iranian Persian, and Pushto. Both are official languages, but Farsi is more widely used, constituting the lingua franca of Afghanistan. T h e Afghan government is assiduously fostering Pushto, and it is becoming an increasingly meaningful language. Significant materials, particularly for political science, economics, and literature, in both these languages could be obtained from Afghanistan but considerable administrative effort would be required to maintain a consistent flow of such materials to the United States. An acquisition program using U.S.-owned local currencies and supervised by an institution such as the Library of Congress might prove feasible. These materials should probably be channeled to a few (perhaps

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one or two) academic centers having Afghan studies programs, since collecting for a large number of universities would probably prove cumbersome and difficult to implement from the Afghan side. Of course, a prerequisite to any meaningful exploitation of vernacular materials is appropriate language competence by faculty and students engaged in the program. Pushto language competence among American scholars is practically nonexistent though the University of Michigan is now making a beginning. Development of Farsi capabilities should prove somewhat easier since a considerable number of American scholars know Iranian Persian and many of these could, with little effort master Farsi which, in its written form, is practically identical with Persian. Several starts have been made on the compilation of an English-Farsi dictionary but thus far none has been carried to fruition. Recently the Asia Foundation has approved a grant which will permit the work already done on the dictionary to be brought together and completed. Teaching materials on Afghan Farsi at the elementary level have been prepared by the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State. T h u s a very modest basis already exists for faculty and students interested in utilizing vernacular Farsi sources to gain some competence in this language. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Pushto. Apart from the small Michigan effort already mentioned, Pushto is receiving scant attention in American academic or governmental programs. Yet the national interest would seem to require some attention to this language. It is spoken by some eight-million people who live in a strategic area astride the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. Pushto Academies exist both in Kabul and Peshawar. T h e governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan are making efforts to develop this language by means of broadcasts and in their educational institutions. It is safe to

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say that from the standpoint of Afghan studies, Pushto is a language of growing importance. In contrast to American indifference towards Pushto studies, the U S S R has for some time been placing increasing emphasis on this language. In so doing, the Soviets have recognized this strong tribal and nationalistic overtones associated with Pushto and have capitalized on this fact in formulating their cultural exchange program with Afghanistan. Dr. H e r b e r t Penzl of the University of Michigan, a grantee under the International Educational Exchange Program, wrote as follows in an article entitled, " A Visiting Professor in Afghanistan," concerning the Soviet scholars to Afghanistan, which was carried in the News Bulletin of the Institute of International Education for September, 1959: Quite often my Pashto-speaking friends would ask me where in the United States Pashto was being taught at the present time and how many people spoke it. Since I could not answer in a very encouraging manner, I was always reminded of the great interest in Pashto shown by scholars in the Soviet Union. I could not deny that we in America have nothing that could be compared to the government-financed research in the humanities carried on by the institutes of oriental studies in the academies of science in Tashkent, Moscow and Leningrad. T h e Afghanistan Department in the Near East Division in Moscow alone is said to have about fifteen fulltime research workers. The high-quality publications of Soviet scholars working at these oriental institutes, their dictionaries, grammars, translations, and literary studies of Pashto have not failed to impress their Afghan neighbors. Soviet scholars in their visits to Afghanistan have proved to be excellent speakers of Pashto. It seems clear that adequate financial support is required for a modest program designed to develop American capabilities in both Farsi and Pushto. Because so much time has been lost, it is going to take several years to develop the necessary ma-

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terials and to channel academic efforts along productive lines. A certain amount can be done through existing programs such as Fulbright and foundation grants but a really effective coordinated program, adequately financed, is required to stimulate knowledge and use of Afghan vernacular languages as an integral part of South Asian studies.

III. SPECIALIZED PROBLEMS

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LIBRARY RESOURCES. The compilation of an annotated bibliography categorized by subject matter on Afghanistan is a prime necessity as the starting point for adequate Afghan studies. Such a bibliography should include, to the greatest extent possible, periodical articles as well as reports and documents prepared by United States government sources, international bodies, foundations and private firms. An example of the last would be the voluminous documentation and surveys on economic matters prepared over the course of several years by the Morrison Knudsen Company in connection with their work on the Helmand Valley Project and other construction activities in Afghanistan. Library resources for Afghan studies suffer mostly from dispersal of materials and from the fact that, to the best of the writer's knowledge, no library in the United States has made a conscious effort to collect Afghan materials as such. T h e Library of Congress, of course, has a great deal of material which would be of value to a serious student of Afghan affairs. T h e Ames Library of South Asia also has an excellent basic collection on Afghanistan with heavy emphasis on AngloAfghan history and on the role of Afghanistan in Central Asia. T h e various American universities engaged in South Asian studies have in their collections many of the basic materials

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on Afghanistan as part of their general Asian acquisitions. These are necessarily fragmentary, with one library having one item and another perhaps a different item which logically should be in the same collection. Many of the important books and materials on Afghanistan exist in only a few copies, are out of print, or are otherwise hard to come by. What is needed is for a few institutions to concentrate their efforts in acquiring and maintaining a well-rounded collection of Afghan source materials. These same institutions could be designated as "chosen instruments" for additional acquisitions and particularly for vernacular materials as suggested in the early part of this paper. 2 . VISUAL AIDS AND FILMS. T h e International Cooperation Administration (ICA) has a thriving visual aids program in Afghanistan which produces materials for aid to Afghan schools and for various types of training activities. Some of these materials might be made available to selected American institutions. Since these materials, however, are prepared with a different audience in mind, it is not known how valuable they may be for general Afghan studies. Collections of film slides, suitably annotated, could be compiled by borrowing or purchasing pictures from individuals and from public relations offices of firms active in Afghanistan, such as Pan-American and Morrison Knudsen. T h e Asia Society has a project for preparing annotated film slide collections and is working on one for Afghanistan. This could form a base for more specialized collections on selected topics to be made available to academic centers where studies on Afghanistan are pursued. Movie films of quality on Afghanistan are rare, and it would be difficult and expensive to have more prepared. USIA has a few good films such as the one done during Prime Minister Daud's visit to the United States. There is also an excellent film, A RYAN A, produced commercially for USIA, which gives a good over-all view of rural

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Afghanistan. Most of the existing films, however, are of the travelogue variety and not very valuable for serious study purposes. 3. RELATION OF AREA T E A C H I N G TO T E C H N I C A L ASSISTANCE

a government, the United States has very substantial political and economic commitments in Afghanistan. This country in recent years has become a prime case history in "competitive coexistence." American and Soviet bloc diplomats, information specialists, technicians, teachers, etc., are working side by side. Their abilities, attitudes, and performance are being carefully watched not only by Afghans but also by other Asians and indeed by the entire world. Under these circumstances, it is hardly necessary to stress that the quality of personnel which America sends to this front-line position should be the best our free society can produce. Adequate area teaching and training programs can and should perform an important role in developing the "expertese" and the cultural empathy which should permeate the projection of our image abroad. AND O T H E R A P P L I E D PROGRAMS. AS

In this connection it is very significant that the Afghan government has entrusted to American hands the development of its education program. American educators in growing numbers are going to Afghanistan under United States government contracts or foundation sponsorship for the purpose of remodeling the Afghan educational system from top to bottom. This places on Americans a special trust and responsibility for shaping the minds and attitudes of future generations of Afghan leaders. American educators and the many other technicians serving our national interests in Afghanistan could profit in many ways, directly and indirectly, from a welldeveloped program of Afghan studies conducted in the United States by one or more qualified academic institutions. 4 . M E A N S FOR INCREASING T H E FACILITIES FOR FIELD SEARCH.

RE-

T h e first and most important step, of course, is to

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arouse academic interest in Afghanistan. T h e recent Princeton conference was an excellent first step. Once scholars become interested there are a number of vehicles already in existence which can be utilized to facilitate field research. Foundation financing of study and research grants is, of course, the obvious tried and true method. Here some education of the foundations will be in order to impress upon them that there are other countries in South Asia besides India and Pakistan worthy of financial support for scholarly study. T h e United States government's Cultural Exchange program could be more fully utilized in Afghanistan if worthwhile candidates are forthcoming. It is hoped that a Fulbright program can soon be established in Afghanistan. If and when this is done, opportunities for field work in the country will be greatly expanded. A more extensive program under N D E A should be undertaken provided some way can be found which will permit the utilization of funds for research in foreign countries. It is understood that the possibility of having United States academic institutions affiliated in some capacity with Indian universities so as to permit NDEA-financed study in India is now being explored. If this works out, the same system could be extended to Afghanistan. Lastly, the expanding educational assistance program in Afghanistan, financed by International Cooperation Administration, will undoubtedly create a need for a substantial number of American teachers. T h i s will present an excellent opportunity for scholars interested in Afghanistan to learn about the country as they teach their respective disciplines in Afghan schools. Kabul University is being built from the ground u p with United States funds and will need American teachers and advisers to supplement those already there under the Columbia and Wyoming contracts. A co-ordinating organization should exist to insure that in the recruiting of these American

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specialists, scholars with interests in South Asia and Afghanistan, in particular, receive priority consideration. 5. UTILIZING THE VISITORS FROM SOUTH A S I A . If o n e o r

two

academic centers where Afghan studies are emphasized could be established, visitors from Afghanistan could automatically be routed through such institutions. They could be encouraged to participate as lecturers or students or as visiting professors where their qualifications so warrant. A substantial number of Afghan visitors are now coming to America under a variety of exchange and leader grant programs. A t present their knowledge about conditions in Afghanistan is often not fully utilized because most of their contacts are with scholars who have no special interest or background in Afghan studies. Princeton has made a start by extending its regular course on Middle East studies to include Afghanistan and by employing Dr. Najibullah as a visiting professor. This effort should be assiduously nurtured and a few more like it undertaken so that focal points would exist to which visitors from Afghanistan could be directed for exchange of views with well-qualified Americans. 6 . T H E ROLE OF COORDINATING ORGANIZATIONS AND INTER-

A n expanded effort in Afghan studies would be greatly assisted by the establishment of a suitable coordinating organization. Among other valuable services, such an organization could: a) Spark interest in Afghan studies; b) Help persuade foundations and other sources of funds of the importance of supporting Afghan study grants; c) Coordinate the acquisition and placement of scarce books and other materials; d) Assist in the recruitment of scholars with Afghan interests for various study and research grants as well as United States government-financed positions in Afghanistan; UNIVERSITY COOPERATION.

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e) Serve as a focal point for directing qualified Afghan visitors to institutions where their knowledge would be utilized. As regards inter-university cooperation, Afghanistan has, of course, only one university located in Kabul. As already stated elsewhere, this institution is strongly influenced by American educators. Its president is an alumnus of the University of Illinois. Kabul University in years to come may achieve a status similar to that of the American University at Beirut. Both Illinois and Princeton have expressed some interest in establishing some kind of inter-university relationship. This should be actively encouraged. It is probably desirable for other American institutions to establish cooperative relations with Kabul University in special fields of interest. There seems to be a golden opportunity here for mutually beneficial relations between American academic institutions and the young university at Kabul of which Afghans are so proud. 7 . SPECIAL NEEDS OF AFGHANISTAN STUDIES. Most of the special needs for Afghan studies have been mentioned under the appropriate topics in the course of this paper. It would perhaps be worth while to emphasize again that scholars are missing a great opportunity if they continue to overlook Afghanistan in their study and research. Anyone who has looked into the matter can testify that Afghanistan is undergoing one of the most dramatic and exciting metamorphoses of any country in the world. Modernism has come to this country with a vengeance and the transformation is proceeding from a base which is several centuries behind most other so-called underdeveloped nations. This profound transformation is changing the face of the country not only physically but also, more importantly, economically, socially, and perhaps politically. Moreover, all this is happening on a small enough scale to make it relatively easy to observe, record, and analyze the impact of change. T h e problems are as complex as those of huge India but being confined in magnitude, restricted in

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space, and intensive in nature, it is easier to study them in this microcosmic framework. In addition to internal developments, Afghanistan has become a Cold War laboratory where crucial experiments on the validity of rival politico-economic philosophies and foreign aid techniques are taking place. In these circumstances there is a special need for Afghan studies, of current impact and meaningfulness, in a broad spectrum of scholarly disciplines. Such studies should be of the applied research, as contrasted to the basic research, type. For example, they should seek to study in depth and to place in proper perspective the many vexing problems which American administrators are facing in the proper execution of United States' policies in Afghanistan. For this type of study and research, there is a special and immediate need. There should be a clear recognition, however, that longer range studies and basic research in the various problems and disciplines mentioned elsewhere in this paper are also needed and should not be neglected.

IV. RECOMMENDATIONS

Specific recommendations have been put forward in the various sections of this paper and the supporting rationale can also be found there. In this final section it will therefore suffice to summarize succinctly the various steps which could or should be taken to enhance a well-conceived national program of Afghan studies. These are: 1. Awaken the scholarly community to the importance of, and need for, Afghan studies.

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2. Initiate a program for "educating" the foundations and other sources of funds on the importance and critical need for support of study and research on Afghan problems. 3. Establish a few well-chosen academic centers, within the South Asian or Middle Eastern faculties, which would undertake to place special emphasis on Afghan studies. 4. Make a concerted effort to compile comprehensive bibliographies on Afghanistan. Do not neglect government and other extra-academic sources. 5. Academic centers with special interest in Afghan studies should make special efforts to collect materials listed in the bibliographies and for this purpose would receive financial aid as well as priority treatment in current acquisitions. 6. Initiate active programs aimed at establishing competence by students and faculty in Farsi and Pushto. 7. Relate academic programs, to the greatest extent possible, to technical assistance and other applied programs now under way in Afghanistan. 8. At the same time utilize the applied programs as a vehicle for applied research by making available scholars with Afghan interests to serve in such programs. 9. Establish a coordinating mechanism to: (a) serve as a watchdog for the Afghan studies program; (b) recommend allocation of funds and materials to participating institutions; and (c) assist in recruiting scholars for field research and study grants as well as for their employment in applied programs in Afghanistan. 10. Encourage closer inter-university relations between Kabul University and American institutions having special interests in Afghan studies.

Pakistan Studies in North America Keith Callard McGill

University

I. I N T R O D U C T I O N

In the paper that follows attempts have been made to concentrate on issues that distinguish the study of Pakistan from that of neighboring areas. In many instances the needs of individual disciplines are clearly parallel regarding India and Pakistan and many of the arguments and suggestions applied to India are equally valid for Pakistan. This paper has not tried to duplicate in summary form what has been done by others.

II. SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN RELATION T O PAKISTAN

Pakistan has a population exceeding 90 millions: that is to say of the same order as that of Japan and double that of the Arab countries. Yet clearly Pakistan attracts much less interest in North America than either of these. In part this is because South Asia had largely been ignored before 1947. But it is also because Pakistan, for quite logical reasons, is often treated as an appendix to the study of India. T h e recent increase in the teaching of South Asian languages 153

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has tended to diminish still further the place of Pakistan. T h u s Urdu is usually and rightly taught in conjunction with Hindi; few students are encouraged to master the difficult script and the additional vocabulary of Urdu. Hindi seems to offer access to a wider range of interests and materials than Urdu. Only rarely is the teaching of Urdu related closely to that of Arabic and Persian and there are very few Western students who are prepared to devote the time and patience necessary to develop skill in all three. Pakistan's other main language, Bengali, is more closely related to studies based upon Sanskrit. Geographically the attention of the student of Bengali is more likely to be directed toward Calcutta than Dacca, or alternatively to view East Bengal as the cultural hinterland of Calcutta rather than as a province of Pakistan.

III. T H E P L A C E O F L A N G U A G E T R A I N I N G IN P A K I S T A N S T U D I E S

India has one national language (Hindi), a national auxiliary language (English) and a series of state languages. One may expect that Hindi will be used on an increasing scale for the general discussion of national issues. Pakistan has a problem that is less complex but harder to solve. There are three officially recognized languages—Urdu, Bengali and English. T h e conflict between the supporters of the first two has produced a deadlock alleviated only by the vague hope that Urdu and Bengali may undergo a process of syncretion to emerge as a single national language. In the interim not much has been accomplished to give the East Pakistani a real command of Urdu and the West Pakistani a mastery of Bengali. As a consequence the discussion of national issues continues to take place in English.

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Even within the two provinces there are many matters that cannot be studied through the medium solely o£ Urdu or Bengali. Very little has been done, for example, to prepare standard works in economics or law in either of these languages. And books on these topics are likely to be translations from English rather than original works. For the Western scholar Pakistan therefore presents a problem that is different in kind from that of Japan and different in degree from that of India. In almost no field does he need to know a local language in order to communicate with Pakistani scholars; and only in literature and Islamiyat would he require such skill in order to read the products of their research. Many Westerners studying Pakistan will need access to source material in non-Western languages. In economics or law there are very few such sources, while in sociology or anthropology local language competence is essential. For those working in rural areas and desiring verbal contact with the less educated, the most useful language would be Punjabi in West Pakistan, Bengali in East Pakistan. In other disciplines need for language competence would vary with the particular research project. A historian of certain periods might need Persian more than Urdu; a student of Islam in Pakistan would certainly require Arabic; a student of poetry would need Persian. In some disciplines there is a danger that the acquisition of one language in an area where several are spoken, may lead to undue localization or alternatively to a degree of bias in the evaluation of national issues. The student of Pushto can alone give full consideration to sentiment in the Frontier Province concerning the unification of West Pakistan, but unless he knows Urdu, Bengali, Sindhi and Baluchi as well, he cannot give all aspects of the issue. How much better will he be as a historian or political scientist by acquiring one of these languages? Might not the same amount of time involved have

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yielded better results if otherwise employed? No final and general answer can be given to this kind of question but nevertheless it needs to be asked. It may be argued, and with some degree of sense, that it is good for a Westerner to learn at least one non-Western language. It is very easy for us to assume that our ideas have universal validity or at least universal intelligibility. T h e capacity to deal with Asian ideas in Asian languages and the consequent knowledge of intellectual distances and differences is a salutary experience before approaching a strange intellectual system. Thus the social scientist who has learned perhaps Indonesian may understand West Pakistan better than one who has never studied any non-European language. T h e former is in touch with reality in a way that may not be possible for the latter. But again the question arises of the most useful allocation of time. In a country where interpreters and translators abound how superior is the work of a scholar who has a reasonable but not infallible command of Urdu to that of a man who knows no Urdu but selects a competent assistant? And what if his research makes it desirable to use Bengali as well as Urdu material? Much of what has been said above is unlikely to win the approval of those who wish to promote the discipline of Indian studies, analogous to Chinese or Japanese studies. It is almost impossible to be a serious scholar of any aspect of Japanese affairs without a working knowledge of Japanese. With Indian studies there is a division between those who wish to be indologists and those who wish to take India as an example of certain problems in a given discipline. But at least the outlines of indology can be discerned—based on a cultural foundation of Sanskrit literature and Hindu religion and philosophy. But where is its Pakistani counterpart? T h e answer "Islam" has to be accepted as a partial but not a sufficient explanation. Nor does it help in determining the degree of necessity for and the

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choice of language instruction to be a c q u i r e d by the Western scholar. U r d u , according to the 1951 census, was spoken by 7.2 per cent of the p o p u l a t i o n , yet it is clearly the lingua franca of West Pakistan. It is the language Ο Ο of the u r b a n c o m m u n i t i e s a n d the educated. Far m o r e is w r i t t e n a n d p u b l i s h e d in U r d u t h a n in P u n j a b i (spoken by 28.4 per cent). Bengali, while spoken by 54.6 per cent is almost u n k n o w n in West Pakistan a n d could n o t be used as an a p p r o a c h to the study of Pakistan as a whole.

Pakistan is the product of the impact of Islam on India conditioned by the fact of British occupation and control. Thus the history of Muslims in the U.P. or Hyderabad has a direct bearing on modern Pakistan; so, for that matter, does the history and nature of Hindu revivalism. Pakistan is inextricably involved in Indian history but it cannot be understood merely as an episode in Indian history. This raises once more the question of how the Westerner may seek to prepare to learn about Pakistan. There are several ways, none of which can lay claim to exclusiveness: (1) Pakistan as an outgrowth of Indian history. Muslims in the northwest; the northeast, central and southern India; Muslim-Hindu relations. (2) Pakistan as a geographical extension of Islamic culture. The nature of Islamic civilization; its character in and impact upon India. (3) The application of various academic disciplines to Pakistan problems. Economic growth; public administration; the legal system; political forces; cultural interpretation and cultural change. For certain of these lines of approach knowledge of some local language or languages is essential. All that has been said above is designed to show that for those who simply wish to study

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Pakistan in general, there can be no simple language qualification. T h e r e are three further dangers in an undue emphasis on language preparation for Western students. T h e first is the sense of frustration felt by a student who has imposed upon him the heavy burden of a difficult language which he later finds of no material use to him either in reading printed matter or in field work in Pakistan. Secondly, it is unwise to place too much emphasis on language skill as a criterion for selection and elimination of students. Ability to learn a language quickly and thoroughly is not always evidence that a student will become a good philosopher, historian or economist. Thirdly, there is the risk that heavy emphasis on language competence may result in the dominance of the professional linguist among those who specialize in Pakistani affairs.

IV. L O C A L L A N G U A G E M A T E R I A L S AND I N S T R U C T I O N

All these reservations having been expressed, it remains that North America needs to train more specialists in Pakistani languages and to have more extensive facilities for dealing with printed material in these languages. 1 Before a student is encouraged or required to learn a Pakistani language two conditions ought to be fulfilled: (1) T h e r e should be a high degree of probability that the student will need to make effective use of the language. 1 There are many suggestions to be made for additional aids to language instruction—e.g., a comprehensive modern Urdu-English dictionary—but their elaboration requires the knowledge of the professional linguist.

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(2) Enough of the language should be taught to make sure that it can be used effectively and with relative ease. In practice this might mean that language instruction would be given to fewer students but given more intensively. It should also imply that once a man has acquired a language, steps should be taken to see that it is retained. Quite apart from language instructors, it is necessary that a teacher and research worker interested in Pakistani should revisit that country at least every four or five years. Universities, foundations and government authorities should expect such visits to be included as part of a normal program of teaching and research and should make necessary budgetary and administrative arrangements. T h e teaching of Pakistani languages needs to be in close association with the teaching of related languages and disciplines related to the area. In other words, it is desirable to have Urdu taught in an institution where Arabic, Persian, Hindi and Bengali are also available. If they are to be taught, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto and Baluchi should be associated with Urdu. By "association" it is not intended to insist that a student of a language must necessarily study one or more others. But a student of Urdu should be made aware that students of Bengali may have a different emphasis to place upon the analysis of Pakistani problems. Where the languages are taught, so too should be the philosophy, history, sociology and related subjects concerning Pakistan. T h i s constitutes an argument for the concentration of Pakistani studies in a very few centers possessing the full range of facilities. It does not mean that an institution lacking full facilities would be forbidden to interest itself in Pakistan. For instance, to take Pakistan as a case study in economic growth would require little or nothing in the way of local language material. This does not lessen the desirability of the existence

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of one or two centers where Pakistan can be viewed in the aggregate. Much of what has been said about teaching applies equally to the acquisition and maintenance of local language material. Clearly the two must go hand in hand. T o purchase Bengali material without teaching Bengali or vice versa would be nonsensical. T h e acquisition of material from Pakistan is still more difficult than from India. There is no comprehensive and continuing list of book titles or of serials published in Pakistan. There are few book dealers who can be relied on to fill foreign orders systematically; still less to bring to the attention of the foreign purchaser new titles in non-Western languages. This applies as forcefully to English as well as non-English material. Even government documents are often hard to procure from Pakistan. T h e time has come for the appointment of an official or cooperative purchasing agency in East and West Pakistan. T h e services of such an agency could be provided either out of public funds or on a retainer and commission basis. T h e existence of such an agency would facilitate the establishment of a few collections in North America that would give systematic coverage to a wide range of subjects. T o enable full use to be made of these it would be desirable to adopt a standard technique of cataloguing and the wide distribution of an annotated and classified continuing index to the major collections. Such work needs to be performed systematically rather than on the ad hoc basis which has produced the existing annotated bibliographies for Pakistan. T h e improvement of library resources inside Pakistan would be a major contribution to North American scholarship. There is now no single library in the world that has a thorough and well-organized collection of Pakistani materials. In order to build these major collections, as well as lesser holdings, it is necessary to plan the training of library staff in

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the handling of materials relating to Asia, especially of those in Asian languages. It has to be recognized that such speciallytrained librarians have to be paid on a scale that reflects the additional training and skill required.

V. C O N C E N T R A T I O N AND D I S S E M I N A T I O N

T h e r e are two levels on which the study of Pakistan may be pursued, and they deserve to be considered separately even though in practice they may be closely associated. T h e first is that of the wide dissemination of our existing knowledge and the building of closer ties of reciprocal understanding. This can be done by such means as undergraduate courses and the use of Pakistani materials in teaching in the established disciplines. Almost certainly this will involve the treatment of Pakistan as a subordinate part of South Asia or the Muslim world. Also in the field of dissemination are visits to Pakistan by North Americans who are not themselves professional scholars of that country (e.g., Fulbright lecturers) and visits to North America of Pakistanis who are not original contributors specifically to Pakistani problems. All such programs should help to build a more general and a more human understanding of Pakistan. T h e flow of visitors in both directions is now substantial. It is to be considered whether it would be worth while to establish some kind of "arrival and departure" centers in North America and Pakistan. I have the impression that many American visitors are factually ill prepared for what will face them upon arrival. Again it is my impression that the in-coming Pakistani is as mal-informed about North America as his American counterpart. Persons moving in either direction

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might well spend perhaps two to five days at a center well equipped with documentary materials where others arriving or leaving are available for discussion. It is at the level of graduate studies and research that concentrated attention upon Pakistan is desirable. This is not to argue that for any person or institution Pakistan should be studied exclusively. It is worth repeating that Pakistan is inextricably related both to India and the Muslim world. T h e present difficulty is that the graduate student enrolled in a South Asian program will learn little about Islam and a student in a Middle East area program will learn little about India. I do not believe that the solution to this difficulty is the establishment of schools or sub-sections of schools of Pakistan studies. Rather it is that existing South Asia and Middle East and Islamic studies programs should ensure that they have among their staffs a due proportion whose current research interest relates directly to Pakistan. As a consequence a proportion of seminars would be exclusively Pakistan seminars preferably including staff and students from Muslim world and South Asia programs. Since it is preferable that there should be at least four or five teachers in different disciplines interested in Pakistan, it follows that only institutions with extensive programs in Middle East and South Asia studies could be regarded as satisfactory centers for concentrated teaching about Pakistan. In the natural sciences it has long been recognized that research may at times need to be dissociated from teaching programs. T h e social sciences and humanities have seldom been encouraged to follow their example. University appointments are normally geared to teaching; research is regarded as a desirable and praiseworthy spare-time activity. For those who study Pakistan such an attitude seems to be outmoded. It seems to me desirable that somewhere in North America there should be a scholar who can read and speak, for instance,

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Pushto and who is -working on problems of the Northwest Frontier. It is not nearly so important to produce a regular stream of students who have taken courses in elementary and intermediate Pushto. T h e most vital need in promoting the study of Pakistan is the establishment of six to ten research positions with additional funds for assistance and travel. Holders of these positions would teach (in moderation) if, as and when desired. If these positions were established there would really be something to disseminate. From what has been said above it should be apparent that vernacular language material is of only limited use in training students in Pakistan studies. Within certain disciplines, however, and for certain historical periods substantial literature is available in Urdu and Bengali. (1) Material in Urdu is available on a wide scale in West Pakistan in the fields of literature, philosophy, Islamiyat and politics. Much of this appears in pamphlet form and it is difficult to know exactly what has been published. It is even more difficult without examining the texts to know what is significant. Here the purchasing agency mentioned above would be relevant. Urdu material is also necessary for historical research concerning the later Mughal period. T h e location of this material requires specialized knowledge. Certainly a good deal of material available in university and other collections in India and Pakistan is worth microfilming. (2) There is very little printed material in Sindhi, Pushto, Punjabi and Baluchi apart from a certain amount of poetry. It is doubtful if it would be worth the effort of making a collection in any North American university. (3) Obviously the special problems of East Pakistan involve material in Bengali.

Problems Related to Area and Language Studies on Nepal L e o E. Rose University

of

California

INTRODUCTION

There are, at present, no courses in institutions of higher learning in the United States with Nepal as the subject matter other than as a periphery area within the broader sphere of South Asian studies. A course on the government and politics of South Asia or on Indo-Tibetan art may, possibly, include a brief discussion of Nepal but in most instances this would constitute the total time devoted to this area in any single institution. T h e situation with regard to the teaching of Nepali languages is equally unforunate. The resources for teaching and research on Nepal have been and remain relatively limited, though with a few important exceptions. Prior to 1947 the Nepal government, usually with the approval and cooperation of the British authorities in India, strictly prohibited and obstructed research in most of the social sciences and humanities. This ban extended not only to Western and Indian scholars but to Nepalis as well (there was, for instance, no history of Nepal in Nepali that covered the modern period in other than the barest detail). As a result there are few published works in Western or Asian languages for any of the disciplines which can serve satisfactorily as texts for courses or resource materials for research. T h e emphasis in the first section of this paper will be placed, 164

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therefore, on an evaluation of the existing literature and research currently underway or under consideration that may in the near future fill some of the more obvious lacunae in the resource materials on Nepal.

I. EVALUATION OF WESTERN AND ASIAN LANGUAGE L I T E R A T U R E ON NEPAL

Prior to 1947 the Western language literature on Nepal was largely the work of British Government of India officials, writers and travelers. An important exception was the French Sinologist, Sylvain Levi, whose three-volume work, Le Nepal, published in 1906, is still the best general study of Nepali history and culture, though, of course, considerably out-of-date. Most of the Western language works (excluding travel accounts) were of three types—historical studies, commentaries on Nepali manuscript collections, and descriptions of the various ethnic groups in Nepal. T h e quality of most of these publications is scarcely distinguished. T h e histories all suffer from a number of obvious weaknesses. T h e resource materials on which they were based were limited both in content and scope, primarily because of the obstructionist policy followed by the Nepal authorities. As most of the authors were British officials they were inclined to a rather uncritical acceptance of official British interpretations of events, developments and personalities in situations which concerned British India's relations with Nepal. Nor were the authors trained historians prepared to examine critically the sources upon which those histories were based. T h e European and Indian scholars who undertook investigations of Nepal's manuscript collections were competent scholars but they also were forced to function under difficult

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conditions. Access was allowed only to a small segment of the manuscript archives in Nepal and usually for too brief a period to permit a careful survey of these valuable materials. Research into the ethnic composition of Nepal's population was an incidental consequence of the recruitment of Nepali "Paharias" into the "Gurkha" regiments of the British Indian Army. Several ethnological handbooks were produced in the period from 1860 to 1940 by officers in the Indian army. These were all based on studies carried out within India among recruits from Nepal and were, hence, of doubtful accuracy in several respects. They tend to reflect, for instance, the view of their societies that the recruits thought most acceptable and prestigeful to the British and Indians rather than the social system as it actually existed. Nevertheless, they do constitute a useful compilation of customs, practices and rituals in various sections of Nepal over an extended period indicating, among other things, the degree to which these ethnic groups have gradually tended toward a "Brahmanization" of their social concepts. Indian independence, the 1950-51 revolution in Nepal and the extension of the "cold war" to Asia have all tended to focus Western interest and attention on the Himalayan region to an unprecedented degree. Publications on Nepal in Western languages have increased greatly in number, though not so impressively in quality despite the improvement in research conditions. In political science the only publications of any significance have been the Human Relations Area Files handbook on Nepal's government and politics (with a limited circulation) and a number of incidental articles on Nepali political developments. T h e publications on the economic structure and developments have been equally marginal despite the presence in Nepal of several foreign and United Nations aid missions engaged in economic activities and research. Somewhat better are several of the more recent historical and anthropological studies on Nepal—the former the products of the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente

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(I.I.M.E.O.) in Rome and the latter of Japanese, Indian and British anthropologists. Prospects for future Western language research on Nepal is comparatively favorable. T h e I.I.M.E.O. is continuing its excellent work in Nepali history and culture. Indian scholars at the Indian Institute of International Studies (New Delhi) and several universities are engaged in research on various aspects of Nepali history and international relations. T h e School of Oriental and African Studies (S.O.A.S.) in London has a wellestablished and flourishing program in the fields of anthropology, sociology and linguistics. In the United States, the Himalayan Border Countries Project at the University of California has recently undertaken research projects in political science, economics, anthropology, psychology and architecture directly concerned with Nepal. Nevertheless, Nepal studies continue to offer Western scholars and students innumerable opportunities for original and pioneering research in all the social sciences and humanities. It is only in the last ten years that any significant number of publications in Nepali have been forthcoming. Prior to the 1950-51 revolution nearly all works in Nepali (except a few published in India) were either literary or religious in character, many of them translations from Sanskrit or English. T h e aftermath of the revolution has witnessed a reawakened interest in Nepal's history and culture and it is in these fields that some progress has been achieved. A number of scholars, in particular those associated with the Sanskrit College in Kathmandu, are engaged in research on Nepali manuscripts, inscriptions, government records and other previously unutilized resource materials. Several general histories in Nepali have been published, not definitive studies by any means, but by and large a great improvement over what existed previously either in Western or Asian languages. Somewhat more elementary but still of some value have been studies in the sphere of economics and political science. There have also been a number of publications of general interest to anthropologists

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(i.e., some of the social codes still followed by various ethnic groups in Nepal have been published). While the standards of academic research in all these disciplines are still regrettably low it can be presumed that they will improve rapidly in the next two decades. Today, a large proportion of the significant publications on Nepal is in Western languages; by 1975 this is not likely to be the case. Familiarity with Nepali and other Asian language resources will become more and more necessary for the Western research scholar. This means, of course, that facilities for teaching Nepali in the United States will have to be established soon if Americans are to play an important role in the development of Nepal studies. A brief discussion of resource materials on Nepal in Chinese and Japanese is required. For several centuries Nepal had had intermittent but important relations with China and these, at times, have played a vital role in Nepal's international relations as well as its internal politics. Chinese records on Nepal are remarkably detailed in some instances (for example, the official Chinese records on the 1791-92 Nepal-China war were published in 1795 and consist of 58 chuan in eight volumes) and are useful supplements to Nepali and Western language materials. In Japan, interest in Nepal is a relatively recent development. T h e Research Institute of Humanistic Studies at Kyoto University and the Fauna and Flora Research Society have sent specialists in various disciplines as observers with Japanese mountaineering expeditions to the Himalayas. Because of the area of their operation (Nepal's northern border) and because Japanese research on Nepal is primarily an extension of research carried on in T i b e t prior to the closing of that area by the Chinese Communists the Japanese scholars have concentrated on studies of the Bhotia peoples in Nepal. T h e most detailed account yet completed of the social and economic systems in these ethnic groups is the work of several Japanese Anthropologists, originally published in Japanese but later translated and published in English.

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II. BIBLIOGRAPHIC STUDIES

Several bibliographic studies of published works on Nepal are available, usually as appendices to general works on the area. However, these suffer from a number of defects that seriously lessens their usefulness as guides to resource materials. For the most part the bibliographies are limited to booklength works solely or primarily concerned with Nepal. Most lack careful annotation, a necessity in view of the unreliability and generally unscholarly character of much of the literature on Nepal. Furthermore, they have been limited to Western language publications on Nepal almost exclusively and no attempt has been made to cite and evaluate works in the various Asian languages. Under preparation is an exhaustive, annotated bibliographic study of both Western and Asian language literature on Nepal scheduled for publication in 1961— 62 by the Indian Press Digests at the University of California.

III. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

Library resources in the United States are surprisingly adequate for Western language publications on Nepal. Probably the best collections are found at the Library of Congress and at the University of California though other university libraries with good Indian collections—such as Cornell, Pennsylvania and Chicago—supplement the collections at the first two libraries to a certain extent. It is probable, under the policies followed by these and other libraries, that most current Western language publications on Nepal will be readily available in the United States. A possible exception would be English

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works of an ephemeral (but possibly valuable) character published in Nepal for these often have a very limited distribution and are not easily available outside of Kathmandu Valley. T h e library resources in Nepali and other Asian language materials in the United States are unsatisfactory. Only the Library of Congress and University of California Library have demonstrated any interest in building up a Nepali collection. The University of California Library has recently inaugurated a policy under which all publications in Nepali will be acquired and has an agent in Kathmandu for this purpose. This should assure an adequate collection of Nepali materials published after 1960 but will not solve the problem so far as earlier publications are concerned, for these often are difficult to obtain now. This points up one problem with regard to Nepali materials, many of which cannot be purchased on the market in Kathmandu six months after publication. Outside of the United States there are several libraries with important collections on Nepal. For various types of Western language literature the British Museum and the India Office Library in London, the Mus^e Guimet in Paris, the I.I.M.E.O. Library in Rome, the National Library in Calcutta and the private collection of General Kaiser Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana in Kathmandu warrant consultation. The India Office Library also has an excellent collection of Nepali books published in Nepal and India prior to 1947, probably the only place where many of these are available. For Nepali materials published since 1951 the best single collection is at the Madan Trust Library in Lalitpur, near Kathmandu. Rich archival resources pertinent to Nepali studies can be found in Nepal, India and England. The most important of these are: (1) The Archives of the Government of Nepal: Until recently each department of government was responsible for the maintenance of its own records. Often the results were chaotic and it was virtually impossible to make use of these records

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even if permission could be obtained. In 1960 Nepal and India concluded an economic assistance agreement under which India agreed to assist Nepal in the establishment of a National Archives in which all governmental records will be centralized. (2) The Government of India Archives: These are valuable sources of information and data on Nepal (particularly for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), including not only the records of the Central Government (located at the National Archives of India in New Delhi and the India Office Library in London) but also the provincial and district records for Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh located at the State Record Offices in Calcutta, Patna and Allahabad respectively. (3) The Durbar (Government) Library in Kathmandu: This library contains without doubt the best single collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in the world—an estimated thirty to forty thousand documents—as well as numerous Newari and Tibetan manuscripts. Unfortunately much of the collection has never been properly catalogued nor even scrutinized and only a few scholars—British, Indian and Nepali—have had an opportunity to make use of these documents. Recently, the Nepal government initiated efforts to improve the library. T h e scope of the collection has been expanded through the acquisition of several private manuscript collections in Nepal and, with the financial and technical assistance of India, Nepali scholars have undertaken the tedious task of cataloguing the manuscripts.

IV. T H E STUDY OF NEPALI LANGUAGES IN T H E UNITED STATES

One serious gap in the scope of Indian language training and research in the United States is the lack of an established, continuing course of instruction in Nepali or any of the other

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languages spoken in Nepal. Some of these are important not only in Nepal but in surrounding areas as well. The various "Khasiya" dialects spoken in the sub-Himalayan hill areas west of Nepal are closely related to Nepali. Moreover, there are substantial settlements of Nepalis in West Bengal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Burma which use one or more of the languages spoken in Nepal. The language situation in Nepal is nearly as complex as that in India—reflecting the diverse origin of the various ethnic groups that have migrated to Nepal during its long history. No scientific analysis of these languages has been made as yet but there are, apparently, at least a score of languages distinct enough to be mutually unintelligible. In eastern Nepal several languages associated with the Kiratis are spoken, including Limbu, Khambu, Hayu, Yakha and Dhimal. The Bhotia population along the northern border use several local Tibetan dialects. The Magars, Gurungs, Sunwars and Murmis in the central and western hill areas and the Newars in Kathmandu Valley have their own language. In the far western hill area a dialect closely related to Kumauni is the regional language while in the terai in the south Bhojpuri, Mithili and Bengali are widely spoken. The 1951-54 Nepal census reports would seem to indicate that Nepali has already progressed much further than Hindi toward becoming a truly national language and is rapidly becoming the lingua franca throughout Nepal. Nevertheless, there are still several regions and ethnic groups in which a majority of the population does not understand or speak Nepali. Courses of instruction in Nepali can be found only in a few institutions outside of Nepal. The Universities of Calcutta, Patna and Banaras in India and the SOAS in London are probably the only institutions teaching Nepali as a part of their regular curriculum. Probably the greatest obstacle to the introduction of Nepali language courses in the United States is the lack of satisfactory Nepali-English grammars, readers and die-

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tionaries. The few publications on these subjects in print were either the work of missionary groups (mostly in Darjeeling) or of the British Indian army and, for various reasons, are unsatisfactory for academic language programs. The S.O.A.S. has undertaken part of the task of preparing more adequate texts for Nepali language courses. Nevertheless, there is a definite need for South Asian linguists in the United States to supplement and complement the work of the S.O.A.S. in this field. While a number of Nepali-English dictionaries do exist— some prepared by competent Western scholars—they are all unsatisfactory in several respects. These dictionaries were prepared before 1947 when Nepal still maintained a strict isolationist policy. Hence, work on the dictionaries had to be conducted in India utilizing Nepali informants resident in India. The informants tended to speak a very "Hindi-ized" or "Sanskritized" Nepali with a vocabulary that varied considerably from that used in Nepal where many terms of Tibeto-Burman or other linguistic origin have been absorbed into the language and are used interchangeably with Sanskrit-derived terms for the same object. T h e Nepali-English dictionaries, then, failed to reflect this situation. Unforunately, the Nepali-Nepali dictionaries themselves are far from satisfactory. T h e lexicon of the dictionary prepared under the auspices of the Nepal Bhasa Prakasini Samiti (a government-appointed body established in 1924 to aid in the standardization of Nepali and the preparation of Nepali teaching materials) is "pure" rather than "Sanskritized" Nepali but is too short to be considered definitive. Recently, however, the Nepal government announced the publication of a new 60,000 word Nepali-Nepali dictionary that may go a long way towards improving this situation. All things considered—and with Newari as a notable exception—the future of most of the regional and ethnic languages in Nepal would appear to be questionable. Indeed, many of them may well be submerged in the gradual expansion of Nepali, particularly in view of the trend toward the imposition

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of Nepali as the medium of instruction throughout the country. Little or no research on these languages has been undertaken outside of Nepal—again with Newari as the exception. In view of the importance of several of these regional and ethnic languages to historical, ethnic and linguistic developments in South Asia, much greater attention should be paid to them, and quickly. This is a field where most of the work may have to be done by Western linguists specializing in South Asian or Tibeto-Burman languages for it seems unlikely that Nepali linguists will have the interest, encouragement or resources to undertake most of the basic research required.

V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NEPAL AREA AND LANGUAGE STUDIES IN T H E UNITED STATES

T h e problem with regard to Nepal area and language studies in the United States is not so much how to expand and improve them as it is how to get them started. This is particularly true of Nepali language programs, which are non-existent at present, for these are the necessary and obvious foundations to research programs in the various disciplines. In these circumstances, then, first priority should be given to the establishment of a Nepali language program at a university with a strong South Asian program. T h e author would suggest that: (1) Primary emphasis should be placed on the preparation of Nepali-English readers and grammars for different levels of competence though this may best be in conjunction with a teaching program as well. (2) If necessary (that is, if this is not taken up by institutions in India, England or Nepal), consideration should be given to

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the preparation of Nepali-English and Newari-English dictionaries. (3) Close cooperation should be maintained with institutions abroad—such as the S.O.A.S., I.I.M.E.O. and universities in India—with Nepali language programs in order to avoid as much as possible unnecessary duplication of efforts in the preparation of teaching materials. (4) Contacts should be established with organizations in Nepal, such as the Nepal Bhasa Prakasini Samiti (Nepali) and the Nepal Bhasa Parishad (Newari), to guarantee that full advantage is taken of the work being done in the preparation of teaching materials by these groups. In view of the serious lack of financial resources in Nepal, some consideration might well be given to the possibility of extending financial assistance to these Nepali organizations if this should be deemed appropriate. (5) A teaching program in languages of Nepal other than Nepali and Newari would seem unfeasible in the near future. However, research proposals from American linguists interested in conducting research on the regional and ethnic languages in Nepal should be given favorable consideration by governmental bodies and private foundations. Potential resource facilities for research into various aspects of Nepali life, society and culture are numerous but are difficult to exploit under present conditions. Several possibilities exist for facilitating access to these resource materials and are worthy of serious consideration by American scholars and institutions, both governmental and private, interested in the area. (1) Financial and technical assistance should be extended to Nepal if requested by the government of Nepal, in such projects as: (a) the establishment of a National Archives in Nepal

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(b) the cataloguing of the manuscript collections at the Durbar Library in Kathmandu (c) establishment of a national library (2) Library exchange programs should be encouraged under which Western language publications would be exchanged for Nepali language publications on various topics. (3) Archival materials on Nepal in India and England should be microfilmed and copies made available to interested institutions in the United States and Nepal. The American government, through its Operation Mission in Nepal, has already expressed its intention to assist in the establishment and expansion of Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. American educational institutions can also cooperate with the various departments in this university to their mutual advantage. Tribhuvan University authorities have unofficially indicated their interest in cooperating with American scholars in such fields as political science, history, economics, anthropology, sociology and archaeology. If properly and carefully organized, joint research projects in which American and Nepali scholars in these disciplines combine their talents and resources may result in positive contributions that could not be attained separately. Programs under which Nepali academicians would be brought to the United States for both teaching and research purposes could prove mutually advantageous. Unfortunately, Nepali scholars are under a distinct disadvantage when competing with Indian scholars under such programs as the "InterUniversity Visiting Scholar Program" as even the most competent Nepali scholars are seldom well known outside their own country. Consideration should be given to these circumstances when selections are being made.

Ceylon and South Asia Studies in the United States W . Howard Wriggins Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress Ceylon is a country with important potentiality for serious social research. Its size and other characteristics make it a useful case study of a South Asian polity for teaching purposes. T o discuss the whole field of knowledge for one country, no matter how small that country may be, is, of course, impossible. My interests have focused largely on the problems of social and economic change, religious reformation, and on foreign policy as all these interact with the processes and institutions of politics. The following comments derive from this general perspective, and limitations in the discussion of certain fields inescapably result from my own area of special interest. Section I is in the nature of an agenda for research, section II alludes to the vernacular problem now more sharply posed to Western scholars, III suggests general works useful for teaching about Ceylon in area courses and IV poses some questions of policy relevance to the United States. The questions raised below underline my conviction that problems in any one area of a social system lead one inescapably to ask questions about other parts of the system. Inter-disciplinary work runs the risk of losing rigor, and can become intellectually soft, as those of us who criticize area programs as a cure-all reiterate. In such a small system as Ceylon's, however, comprehension of the richness of social processes is lost if we limit ourselves to the traditional separate disciplines which have been in many ways adequate for the study of the more specialized highly structured Western societies. 177

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I. A P A R T I A L R E S E A R C H A G E N D A

( 1 ) POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDIES. Political science studies of Cey-

lon have not been highly developed. Sir Ivor Jennings made a notable contribution in the days preceding and immediately following independence by designing the Ceylon constitution, describing for scholars the inside process of obtaining independence and the functioning of the political system as he saw it during his stay on the island. His descriptions tended to focus largely on the leading individuals, the parties they created, and the constitutional structures, although his interpretative essays on economic growth and problems of politics were suggestive. I.D.S. Weerawardene contributed analyses of elections from the point of view of issues, formal organization and results. I attempted a less traditional perspective, seeking to move into the interest group field, particularly into areas of Sinhalese nationalism, religious revival and class and ethnic groups as these have come to play an increasingly significant role in recent political affairs. I tried to seek out some of the connections between the rather more tradition-bound political patterns in the countryside and the urbanized, more Westernized political process of the cities. These had not been discussed in much detail before. As was to be expected, the entire study raised many more questions than it answered. Areas for future research in political science abound. For example: (a) How have specific interest groups drawn together, articulated their demands, organized to exert pressures and how have they attempted to maintain influence once an election is passed? (b) Parties have shown a notably fluid and fragmentary tendency. Personalism as a basis for party organization is prevalent. T h e N.L.S.P., for instance, has been the most successful at overcoming this limitation. How has it done so?

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(c) Why is it so difficult for individuals of nearly equal political status to collaborate together for joint effort? Is this connected to the cultural trait which seems to put the individual who agrees with another in an inferior position to him? Is there not a built-in imperative to demonstrate one's equality with another by disagreeing with him? (d) There appears to be some of the same tendency Lucien Pye noted in Burma, where men in politics can articulate most extreme statements in public, which arouse immense passion, and apparently feel no sense of responsibility for the social or political consequences. How do individuals become so separated from the political consequences of what they do? (e) Local politics has been studied practically not at all. This is in part a reflection of the low status attributed to rural matters by Ceylonese and of the difficulties foreigners have with the languages. There are town and village elections, and intricate political processes surrounding rural appointments, the location of roads, schools or other amenities. I know of no articles or monographs on such subjects. (f) A key linkage in the political system is that which ties village or town politics to the national political scene. Who are the intermediaries, the political brokers who rally local support behind national candidates in exchange for certain types of political returns? What are the dynamics of this process? (g) T h e problem of changing elites has received little attention. It is already clear that the highly Westernized political leaders are being displaced by those who are closer to indigenous cultural and other values. A less severe change in this direction is occurring in the public service. Men with less sophisticated education, more closely identified with regional and vernacular interests are coming to the fore. How much farther will this process be likely to go? What can be expected during the next twenty years in this respect? Which groups are gaining in influence? What is the base of their new influence? Is it new

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type of business skills, cultural skills, organizational skills, principally? (h) A good deal about the dynamics of social change in different types of societies might be learned by a careful examination of the ways new elite individuals enter into those channels which give them new opportunities to influence, their changing formation as they move from rural backgrounds to greater activity in public affairs. Indeed, one of the most fascinating of all transitions might be to trace the development of individuals from traditional acceptance of ascribed standing to greater activism as they acquire a desire to change their standing and opportunity. (i) T h e increased use of vernacular languages poses a fascinating problem which is appearing in many other countries, too. In Ceylon it will affect the functioning of the Parliament, of the public service, the whole legal system and higher education. How will increased use of vernaculars affect each of these elements of the Ceylonese institutional structure? Will it impede or in the end make more effective the public administration? W h a t will contribute now to developing an educated elite capable of articulating for all communities in Ceylon a sense of a common nationhood? These highly charged problems remain to be examined with rigor and objectivity. ( 2 ) E C O N O M I C S A N D G E O G R A P H Y . I am not trained in geography, and perhaps, therefore, I have the impression that with the works of Cook and Farmer, the geographical discipline is relatively well covered. I have been particularly well impressed with Farmer's discussion of agriculture as he relates it to climate, topography and social ways, even though sociologists might argue that his sociology is elementary. T h e economics field, however, seems to me to cry out for empirical study. For example, apart from the small work by Sarkar and Tambiah, on the Disintegrating Village, I am unaware of any studies of fundamental economic problems that

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are the result of hard field study. In fact, it is fair to say that as a general rule, empirical field studies of all kinds are lacking, although Bryce Ryan, Murray Strauss and T . L. Green in the fields of anthropological, sociological and attitude studies are exceptions. (a) Changing human relations in industrializing sectors. A good deal of literature on economic development has been spun out without a hard look at the human and motivational aspects of Ceylon production. I have in mind particuarly what I suppose are the areas of economic sociology. T h e r e is a desire to industrialize the island, but I know of no empirical studies of the human problems of Ceylonese peasants or day laborers becoming industrial hands. T h e r e are a host of examples to study in detail. Why, for example, is labor turn-over very high in some firms and low in others? T h e foreman is often said to be the crucial mediator between management and the workers, but it is my impression that the foreman's role is defined in different ways in firms that are otherwise rather similar. What special problems does a T a m i l or Sinhalese peasant or city man have in keeping to the regular demands of factory production? Studies of single firms would not be so fruitful as the careful comparison of different firms. (b) Trade unions—roles, modes of organization, economic bargaining instruments and means of organizing power. It seems likely that the trade unions have played a generally disruptive role. I have seen no scholarly studies of trade union problems. Trade unions are part political and part economic organizations. T h e y deserve very careful study. H o w do union organizers win supporters? H o w is discipline maintained? Is it correct that more trade union leaders are now coming from the union ranks than before and that party political figures are less prominent? What are the implications of such a changing recruitment pattern for the economic and political roles of the unions? What have been the wages and hours bargaining and legislative functions of unions? D o we have an understanding

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of the values and aspirations of a broad spectrum of union leaders so that we can understand their wants and use some influence to see that their legitimate interests receive fair consideration? D o they despair of receiving fair treatment from the present political system? Have they a sense of the common interest both management and labor share in adequate productivity to meet market needs? Very little has been done at this level of analysis. (c) Public administration. These are a few suggestions to indicate the great need for empirical studies on the whole range of human, organizational and bargaining processes which surround industrial development. Economics and public administration are intimately intertwined as government plays an important role in efforts to develop the economy. Everyone complains of "outdated Treasury regulations" and insufficient managerial drive and imagination on the part of g o v e r n m e n t — and business—administrators. H o w can the public administration become more effective in communicating agricultural innovation, in accumulating economic resources and then inducing efficient investment in indispensable directions? H o w will the shift to vernacular languages affect the functioning of the service—its long term efficiency, its career opportunities to members of different communities, the even-handed distribution of services? For all these matters of the public service, I am convinced that careful empirical work by public administration specialists, extension-service types and applied anthropologists w i t h experience east of Suez could contribute a great deal. I stress the importance of experience outside the United States, because these are complex matters in themselves and these functions are carried out in a social setting very different from our own. American experience and concepts are not likely to b e immediately applicable. O n e of the major hurdles will be to convince the adminstrators and the management people that such empirical studies

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would produce insights that were superior to the hunch and individual feel which has been used up till now. Of course, successful business firms and labor unions are in competition with others less competent and full access to the experience of both types of institutions might be difficult. (d) Connection between economic development and politics. Economic development and politics are intertwined, too, although we have few systematic efforts to spell out the interconnections in any one country. Ceylon demonstrates that lack of political stability and acumulation of power in the hands of an effective group of political leaders limits the extent to which bold and determined economic policies toward change and innovation can be promoted from above. Its trade union disorders and growing communal tensions contribute to inadequate economic performance at the same time that they may be a reflection of pessimism about the future of economic growth under present political arrangements. The study of political economy deserves to be revived and a microcosmic politicoeconomic system like Ceylon's might be a good place for empirical study of the interaction between economics and politics. (3)

SOCIOLOGY A N D

ANTHROPOLOGY.

(a) Achievement orientation and the will to innovate. The whole problem of entrepreneurial qualities and achievement orientation brings us closer to the core of sociological interest. As elsewhere, most entrepreneurs seem to have come from certain minority caste and religious groups. Ceylon might be a useful field in which to explore these now familiar hypotheses, because historical, social and political factors could perhaps be more clearly perceived in their interaction. I would like to know why it is that the Karava community, for example, seems to be more dynamic, entrepreneurial and vigorous than the majority Goyigama. Is it merely the majority position of the latter? Are there different child-rearing patterns? Is there a built-in resentment in the Karava as the children grow up

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which can be sublimated i n t o sharper career ambitions? Is it merely that the child is consciously taught by its parents to try harder? Similar comparison

between

T a m i l s and

Sinhalese

would add to the theory of personality development as w e l l as give insight into the problems of inducing greater economic and organizational vigor that keeps closer pace with the rise in aspirations. ( b ) Studies

of social change.

A s Bryce R y a n has suggested,

Ceylon is a useful laboratory of social change. H e focused on changes in caste, and these continue to evolve. Urbanization in the C o l o m b o area has been rapid, and many villages are n o w w i t h i n daily commuting distance. H o w is this affecting village life? W h a t new values are being brought to the village? T h i s may change individuals more than their social context or the reverse. H o w are the disparities handled? Ceylon's h o m i c i d e and suicide rates are very high. H o w is it that in a Buddhist country, where there is so much emphasis on peaceableness and gentleness, there is so much private violence? Farmer has given useful descriptions of the l i f e o n the government-run agricultural colonies. W h y have extension services been relatively unsuccessful in inducing new paddy technique or the efficient use of water in these colonies? Families w h o have been settled in the colony have been abruptly moved f r o m the village context. Detailed study of their social ways and their special problems w o u l d give insight into the traditional social context

which

they miss. Such studies might dramatically demonstrate types of problems which occur when families are transplanted f r o m traditional villages to new settlements. (c) Influence

structure

in the countryside.

T h e social influ-

ence structure in the countryside has not been fully understood by scholarly observers. Of course, the typical patterns vary f r o m Jaffna T a m i l , coastal T a m i l , low-country Sinhalese, up-country Sinhalese, and depend upon

the economic

activity

of

the

area. H e r e rural sociology and politics combine, f o r it is the base of the rural social influence structure which w i l l be of

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increasing importance to national political development if the political system remains representative in fact. ( 4 ) CLASSICAL STUDIES. It is probable that there is much still to be discovered concerning Ceylon's classical past. It appears to have had a rayonnement of considerable importance at certain periods in its past, and recent works by Ariyapala and Rahula, though they appear to cover their fields with considerable care, also suggest there may be veins still to be worked. My impression, however, is that the Ceylonese classical past is very much less rich than that of its Indian neighbor. But this is not my area of competence. ( 5 ) BUDDHIST STUDIES. On the score of Buddhist studies, however, a great deal remains to be done. Richard Gard is on the right track, I believe. (a) An incipient reformation. I see it largely as a problem of contemporary men embraced by a traditionalist religious background, having to participate in a transition society becoming more like the mid-twentieth century, secular, cashnexus society. There is a serious schism between the perfectionist ethic of the religious tradition and the hard choices the individual layman must make each day of his life. This was not so true in village life, where the traditional ethic fitted rather closely to the layman's circumstances. The perfectionist ideal is now so far from what can in fact be done in daily life in the more modern areas that the religiously committed layman must live in two very different worlds. How do individual Buddhists deal with this situation? Is there an incipient effort to bring the classical precepts to bear more concretely on the layman's daily life today? Does the Sangha study such problems in its academies? Do bhikkhus actively assist the laymen in coping with these social-ethical problems or do they still concentrate more on their own life of example?

(b) Sangha organization. T h e modern organization of the Sangha has not been adequately described in English. Do we

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understand the nature of the schisms—besides caste, landownership, and the difference between those who live in insulated distance in the up-country compared to those in the lowlands who are daily challenged by modernity? Are there additional doctrinal differences? What is the connection between landowning and the up-country sects? Do present ways of choosing leading theros appear to be legitimate? How are individuals identified who deserve to wear the yellow robe? (c) Buddhism and the modernizing nation. On a more subjective level, how can traditional Buddhist thought be brought to induce a sense of community and living fellowship with others who are not of the same creed or ethnic community? Is Buddhism as antithetical to vigorous activity on behalf of economic development as is often alleged?

II. T H E V E R N A C U L A R P R O B L E M FOR WESTERN SCHOLARS

In recent years Ceylon's push toward the use of the vernacular has been perhaps the more urgent because it was longer delayed than in India. It seems probable that the composition of the population and the representative political system which has brought language rights to the fore together will induce a further decline of English in official affairs. We can therefore expect that parliamentary debates will be less accessible to students who do not know the vernaculars. Much more serious for the scholar of contemporary problems, the English language newspapers will become less and less representative of the politically significant trends in the country and government documents may be less completely available in English. T h i s latter source will be particularly missed, since Ceylon's government documents are well developed and rep-

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resent a mine of information for the student and scholar. The main visiting commissions from Great Britain have periodically examined the island and have left us a fascinating series to document the changes in Ceylon itself. Special Ceylonese or visiting commissions have looked into rice production, rubber production, Kandyan village difficulties, language reform and a host of other problems. The area student will find these of great interest. But we can expect less of them in English for the future, and serious students with a long run commitment to one country will have to come to terms with the vernaculars. Tamil is tempting, because it leads into the more capacious South Indian tradition which has a literary and intellectual vigor still to be demonstrated in Sinhalese. But a knowledge of Tamil will greatly mislead in Ceylon and only Sinhalese will do, unless there is a reversion to English, which seems doubtful. The problems of inducing greater study of Sinhalese in our institutions are best left to the linguistic specialists. For students interested primarily in some central discipline like political science, economics, sociology or anthropology, who wish to apply their special perspectives to Ceylon, the fact that only eight million speak Sinhalese is a major deterrent to tackling that language. I have no ready answer to this difficulty. But I hope someone will find one, since Ceylon is a very rich field for all types of scholarly endeavor. In the meantime, of course, a great deal of very good work can still be done in English. And if satisfactory collaborative arrangements could be worked out, experienced American scholars working with Sinhalese and Tamil young scholars could learn together a great deal. Americans could develop their disciplines as they apply to one emerging nation while the local scholars would gain an appreciation of the importance of studying their own country's many problems and of the utility of pick and shovel field work. Empirical studies would bring a realism to their own commentaries on contemporary Ceylon which presently is often lacking.

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III. T E A C H I N G A B O U T CEYLON IN A R E A COURSES

Ceylon can usefully be included in area courses for a variety of problems. (1) It is a classic example of the "colonial" economy, very efficient in export sectors where comparative advantage has been high but where fluctuations in world market conditions have made for instability. And present marketing prospects and resource endowment seem to set limits for the future. Jennings, the IBRD, Burton Stein's monograph, Farmer's study on peasant colonization and a section of my book would be helpful. There are good government reports on the rubber, rice and coconut industries which a documentary depository library should have. (2) It is also a fascinating laboratory of communalism, majority-minority relationships and the effort to create a modern nation. Earlier high hopes have not yet been fulfilled and the success of national unity remains in doubt. Jennings' books have some useful materials, and my own might be helpful. (3) T h e growth of governmental institutions has been more closely documented. A reading of the reports of the Colebrook Commission (1833), the Donoughmore Commission (1928) and the Soulbury Commission (1945) reflect the changes on the island and in British colonial thinking, while showing creative constitutional minds at their best. Jennings, of course, has written the classic analyses of constitutional developments during the past twenty years. (4) Less well documented is the cultural and religious aspect. (5) Sociologically, Bryce Ryan's works and Murray Strauss's articles will be of interest on caste, aspects of village life, etc.

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Farmer on rural sociology—as a geographer sees it—has very helpful sections. (6) For general histories of the island, Sydney Bailey's one volume Ceylon1 is useful and for the teacher has a handy select bibliography. For a detailed history, Sir Emerson T e n n e n t ' s two volume work published in 1859 is a pleasure. 2 Colvin R . de Silva has a balanced two-volume study of the 1795-1833 period 3 while Dr. G. C. Mendis's Ceylon under the British4 deals with the full British period from 1795 until Independence after World W a r II in the compass of 190 pages. Wriggins, Ceylon: Dilemmas of a New Nation5 deals with many aspects of Ceylon's public life since Independence. Myron Weiner's chapter in Almond and Coleman uses much of Almond's analytical scheme as it applies to Ceylon.®

IV. C O N C L U S I O N

T o conclude, I raise with some hesitation certain problems of American foreign policy. (1) As elite changes proceed, the more cosmopolitan are thrust aside and vernacular values acquire greater importance. Does this not call for a rethinking of our manning of diplo1 Sydney Bailey, Ceylon (London, Hutchinson's University Library, 1952). 2 Sir J. Emerson Tennent, Ceylon: An Account of the Island—Physical, Historical and Topographical, 2 vols. (London, Longman's Green, 2nd ed. 1859). 5 Colvin R. de Silva, Ceylon Under the British Occupation VCTE-VRCC, 2 vols. (Colombo Apothecaries, 1953). * G. C. Mendis, Ceylon Under the British, 3rd ed. (Colombo Apothecaries, 1952). 6 W. Howard Wriggins, Ceylon, Dilemmas of a New Nation (Princeton University Press, 1960). β G. Almond and R. Coleman, The Politics of Developing Areas (Princeton University Press, 1960).

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matic missions? Hitherto in the area there has been a dominating elite which was highly Westernized and with whom our diplomatic representatives could develop relatively easy and close rapport. This group's influence has been sharply reduced since the first eight or ten years of independence. T h e diplomatic generalist, at home throughout the world, will not be able to penetrate much below the surface. T h i s is not merely a matter of language skills, but of the whole range of cultural sensitivities, knowledge of indigenous organizations, and personality traits which are not part of the cosmopolitan world of diplomacy as we have known it. Can we foresee what aspirations will mean most to leaders some years hence and define our policy objectives and actions to maximize the compatibility of our and their interests? Traditional diplomatic ways, adequate for relationships with Europe, will no longer suffice. (2) So long as the political systems remain representative, there will be an increasing activation of rural areas into national politics. Local political processes are likely to play a more important role in defining national politics. This gives policy importance to a better understanding of local politics. (3) So long as interest groups are the principal instruments for articulating and aggregating demands that affect national policy, these need to be studied with a good deal more care if policy-makers are really to understand politics and policy making. We need to know more than we now know about those groups which are gaining influence or are likely to be the seed beds for future elites. Their future roles are bound to differ from their past. Trade unions, ethnic groups, business groups, religious groups and many others play their part. Scholarly interest and theoretical concern give these groups importance in themselves. They need to be better understood if American policy is to be wisely related to their needs and interest.

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(4) American policy toward emerging countries is presently predicated upon certain assumptions regarding the relation between economic growth and political viability. Urgently on our agenda should be an examination of these hypotheses in concrete political circumstances. (5) Finally, the fundamental political problem of all politics remains. Ceylon must organize sufficient political power to ensure administrative efficiency while broadening the base of support to ensure policy effectiveness and adequate accountability of the leaders. United States interests are involved in Ceylon's finding arrangements to consolidate an appropriate balance of these considerations so that its political life can be vigorous, effective and independent of outside domination of all kinds. Research endeavors contributing to an understanding of these problems serve a useful purpose for the United States—and for Ceylon.

American Research Library Resources and Needs for Support of Studies of South Asia H o r a c e I. P o l e m a n Orientalia Division, Library of Congress In its Bulletin No. 28, May, 1939, the American Council of Learned Societies published the first survey of "Facilities for Indie Studies in America." T h e survey included statements on library collections. At that time any library possessing 3,500 or more titles for the area of South Asia was considered to have significant holdings for research purposes. Academic interests then were largely philological. T h e widening and deepening of these interests over the past two decades require any college library to have at least 3,000 titles for the area before it could meet the normal demands of undergraduate students, while a research library should have at its command not less than 25,000 titles for the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. In 1939 eight libraries qualified for research on South Asia, although in all except two the emphasis was on philology and the ancient and classical civilization. T h e two exceptions were the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, the latter being preeminent in many respects. In 1949 a "quickie" survey of library resources on South Asia was made. It did not attempt to elicit the details given in the 1939 publication, nor was it published. Fifty-four libraries were sent questionnaires. In contrast with the 1939 situation, sixteen libraries qualified as having holdings sufficient for research in a variety of disciplines, although serious gaps existed in most. Only thirteen of sixteen, however, were emphasizing the procurement of current publications. 192

American Research Library Resources

193

Impressions gathered by this survey were that the number of libraries securing, and interested in securing, materials on the area had increased considerably; that the majority of the libraries were not interested in the non-Western language publications from the area; that the need for bibliographical information was great; and that budgetary limitations were severe. A survey of instruction made at the same time revealed the fact that many more institutions offered courses on the area than had an active library program for the area. In 1955 Patrick Wilson was commissioned by the University of California at Berkeley (Institute of International Studies) to make a survey of South Asia collections in nine leading research libraries. This survey also did not go into any extensive detail, but rather resulted in fairly accurate impressionistic statements. A lack of sufficient funds for purchase still plagued most of the libraries. Cataloging difficulties were increasing particularly in libraries where there was an approach to totality. T o o many university libraries were plagued by a lack of a systematic policy of acquisition, with the whims of the faculty predominating. Procurement problems were many, stemming mostly from currency controls, disorganization of the book trade in South Asia, and lack of bibliographic information. An almost total lack of systematic and coordinated acquisition policies was a menace to the individual library and to the national resources. What was true in 1955 is to a great extent still true. More money is available for procurement at the NDEA language centers, but the other plagues still exist. In November, 1957 the Librarian of Congress and the Committee on South Asia of the Association for Asian Studies sponsored a conference at the Library of Congress to study problems of acquisition, cataloging, and bibliographic needs with respect to American library resources on South Asia. T h i s conference and subsequent studies by the Committee

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on American Library Resources on Southern Asia of the Association for Asian Studies determined the bibliographic needs. Patrick Wilson in his working paper presented at the conference summarized as follows: "In the way of selective bibliographical aids, a considerable void is apparent. We have seen that for large parts of Southern Asia, in particular India, Pakistan, and Ceylon, there are no 'basic' lists of standard, reliable works—a lack which reference librarians feel keenly. There are no adequate guides to bibliographical sources, lacking which research workers and librarians alike tend to be lost in a bibliographical jungle. There is no selective guide to current publications, and no selective list of valuable periodicals, both of which are needed for intelligent selection by almost all libraries except the smallest. Lastly, there is no up-to-date description of American library resources on Southern Asia to guide librarians and research workers seeking significant collections of material of particular sorts." The lack of a realistic program for the systematic acquisition of materials from the countries of South Asia was again stressed, The lack of bibliographical controls for both retrospective and current publications, the lack of knowledge of the variety of vernaculars and alphabets, and the lack of funds both for purchase of a representative selection of the 18,000 titles published annually in India alone and for the cataloging of material presenting unusual problems of form of entry and transliteration were emphasized. Andrew D. Osborn, then of the Harvard University Library, stated with respect to these problems that, "This century is increasingly being called by historians 'the age of color,' and the peoples of Southern Asia are among the most important of the underdeveloped countries of the world for the United States to study and understand. Accordingly, it is of strategic importance that our resources for Southern Asia be built up retroactively and currently; so the difficulties entailed in organizing a sound and systematic program should be faced squarely."

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Herman H. Fussier, Librarian of the University of Chicago, wisely remarked: "While it sounds trite, it is worth noting that existing resources of all kinds, e.g., books, procurement channels, cataloging information, interlibrary loans, union bibliography, etc., should always be given first consideration, before a new layer of services and resources is developed." He concluded that, "more cooperative acquisition programs may be especially fruitful in the procurement and accessibility of South Asian publication. Therefore it is critically important to identify the kinds of materials wanted by American scholars first and then determine what, if any, cooperative schemes are applicable. All reasonable steps should be taken to insure that the country's existing resources on South Asia are as fully known and are as readily available as possible." The Conference concluded its sessions with a discussion of problems of cataloging. It was determined that the Library of Congress and the American Library Association were providing the library world with transliteration tables and rules for cataloging South Asian vernacular materials. T h e staggering obstacles in the way of cataloging was the almost complete dearth of catalogers equipped to deal with the unusual number of languages involved. In 1960, Melville J . Ruggles of the Council on Library Resources prepared for the Ford Foundation a report entitled Library Support for Area Study Programs: A Preliminary Inquiry. While this was more or less general, it was based largely on a study of the situation with respect to Asia. Conclusions of the Ruggles study and of the 1957 Conference coincided on the following points: (1) There is a basic need for a detailed survey of existing resources. (2) There is need for coordinated planning to improve these resources through the procurement of retrospective and current materials.

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(3) Control of the materials must be put into operation through the training of adequate personnel. (4) Government and foundation support will be necessary, since library budgets, either singly or collectively, cannot sustain the costs. (5) T h e inadequacy of national resources constitute a threat to national security. High lights of the Ruggles report are: " T h e principal, indeed the overwhelming, conclusion of this preliminary inquiry is that only a very few persons in our universities have adequate knowledge about the nature or magnitude of the problem of library support for the area study programs of their own institutions, and nobobdy at all has such knowledge about the national, inter-institutional problem of such library support. " T h e experience of officials of the Office of Education in administering N D E A is, as this is written, only six months old. At this point they have found that requests from institutions of higher learning for library support of area study programs (for both publications and personnel) have been approximately one fourth of the total requests for the entire conduct of the 'centers.' T h e s e officials state, however, that they have not yet encountered a rational or concrete justification for the amounts requested for library support. More often than not they find it necessary to urge the library to raise its ante far above the originally submitted figure. T h i s probably reflects, in part, inexperience on the part of librarians in dealing with a new and unexpected source of funds. A more fundamental and more serious reason, however, is that neither librarians nor administrators of research in many institutions have the remotest idea of how much money they need for adequate library support of an adequate area study program. T h e s e facts are further demonstration that dispensers of funds—whether academic, foundation, or government—need much more logical and precise

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guidance than is now available about what is needed, how much and why, for support of library resources for area study programs. "We must have an accurate estimate of existing resources of needed publications and a clear definition of the problems involved in acquiring and handling them before any meaningful or worthwhile programs or projects can be drawn up. " T h e study of library support for each area should discover, at the very least, the following: 1. Present resources in the principal American research libraries; 2. T h e rate of growth of these resources in each institution; 3. A scientific evaluation of the research value (i.e., quality) of each of the significant collections; 4. T h e gaps in coverage of each; 5. T h e major subject strengths of each (including special collections); 6. T h e annual cost of building these collections, broken down by various categories such as selection, acquisition, cataloging, reference, etc.; 7. Problems of staffing the library to handle the collections; 8. The principal problems involved in: a. Selection b. Acquisition c. Cataloging d. Reference e. Inter-library loan f. Inter-library cooperation, national and international; 9. Library-faculty relationships; 10. Planning, both by institution and nationally; 11. Budget and finance." In April, 1960 W. Norman Brown, president of the Association for Asian Studies appointed an ad hoc committee of that association to prepare a "blue print" of library needs with budg-

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ets with respect to Southern Asia and the Far East. Representatives of the two committees of the association which are concerned with these areas met in November, 1960 under the chairmanship of John W. Hall to discuss the assignment and to plan its execution. This ad hoc committee assessed the findings of the Committee on American Library Resources on Southern Asia of the Association for Asian Studies and instructed the chairman of the committee to prepare a list of needs and projects for the consideration of foundations, etc. The ad hoc committee felt that the Council on Library Resources or a new council may be desirable for building an umbrella over library problems for Asia and Africa. Surveys, acquisitions, microfilming, bibliographies, cataloging, and union catalogs were the main topics of consideration. There are four appendices to this paper. Appendix 1 is a list of desired projects. Appendix 2 briefly lists the accomplishments to date of the Committee on American Library Resources on Southern Asia of the Association for Asian Studies. The work which this committee has accomplished on planning for P.L. 480 library projects has been considerable and has influenced the proposals of the Library of Congress to the Congress. However, since P. L. 480 with respect to library work is in a state of deplorable indecision, it seems unwise at present to depend on this as a source of funds. Appendix 3 is a comment on the NDEA effort, which may betray less than is implicit in the reasons for the present conference. Appendix 4 lists the minimum number and cost of trade publications which should be secured annually by any research library aiming at comprehensive coverage from the countries of South Asia. An additional $4,000 per year would be required to purchase government publications. The computation for India was made by a selective analysis of the first volume of the

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Indian National Bibliography. It should be remembered that publications on the area published outside of the area should be added. I have not hit upon a method for accurately computing this figure.

APPENDIX 1 Projects Proposed for South Asia by the AAS Committee American Library Resources on Southern Asia

on

1. Establishment of procurement center in India to cover India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Ceylon. It may be assumed that the American research centers would pay for the books, binding, and shipment. If the program proved satisfactory, it is possible that the recipient institutions would take over the entire cost within three or four years. If P. L. 480 should be activated, the entire budget could be taken over by that operation. 2. Resuscitation of the Southern Asia Accessions List. If a procurement center is set up in India, the monographic portion of the List could be prepared in the field with supplemental budgets added. T h e very important periodical portion would have to be handled otherwise, as stated in Number 12 of this list of projects. It is considered, however, that it will take at least three years before any other operation can take over. The immediate resuscitation of the List is therefore imperative. 3. Pilot projects for the development of a national bibliography in Pakistan. 4. Survey of library resources in the United States and Canada.

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5. Basic bibliography on India and Pakistan. T h e bibliography would consist of 5,000 entries, arranged by subject, with an author index. It would be selectively annotated, and each item would be marked with a symbol indicating its appropriateness for the liberal arts college, the university undergraduate library, and the graduate library. T h e bibliography will contain the list of reference works in the widest sense necessary for any basic research library on India and Pakistan. 6. Training of librarians in the use of South Asia languages and/or the training of linguists in library science. T h e cataloging and control of books in the vernaculars can never be accomplished without an enormous effort to produce librarians with language competences. Two-year fellowships should be made available at the rate of at least ten per year over a period of three years. Thirty people so trained in one or two of the languages of South Asia, so that they collectively cover all of the languages, should be able to cope with the situation. T h e fellowships would have to pay $6,000 per year, since the principal source of grantees would be young librarians who are already gainfully employed. T h i s group of catalogers and bibliographers would launch and continue the control of vernacular materials. Their replacement over the years should not pose a problem, since in the not too distant future these languages will be taught to many students in colleges and possibly high schools. 7. Basic bibliography on Ceylon. 8. Comprehensive subject bibliographies on India and Pakistan. Twelve subjects (anthropology, history, and government and politics have been adequately covered).

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9. Basic bibliographies of modern vernacular publications of India and Pakistan, including translations and histories of literatures. Assamese Bengali Bihari Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Malayalam Oriya Punjabi Tamil Telugu Urdu Sindhi

200 items 1,500 300 600 1,000 300 100 300 100 400 700 600 1,000 250

This project could be accomplished in India with P. L. 480 funds, if they become available. If they do not, it would be better perhaps to defer the project until the Sahitya Akademi publishes its comprehensive bibliographies of twentiethcentury vernacular publications. T h e cost of the project could then be considerably reduced. 10. Bibliography of twentieth-century official documents of India. No good bibliographic control of these exists. Exploration in England and India would be a necessary preliminary step to determine the scope and then the procedures and budget for the project. 11. "Index Indicus." It is proposed that this be done at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. 12. Indexing of current periodicals primarily concerned with the areas of South Asia. A survey of what is desirable in

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terms of needs and present indexing services is a necessary preliminary step. T h e project could be continuously accomplished in India with P. L. 480 funds, if they become available. 13. Editing and microfilming or publishing of complete subject catalog of the India Office Library. 14. Microfilming of current newspapers of South Asia in both Western languages and the vernaculars. T h e Library of Congress now receives from South and Southeast Asia an adequate coverage, for research, of Western languages and vernacular papers, amounting to approximately 200,000 pages per year. It is proposed that these papers be microfilmed in India month by month, and that the negatives be air mailed for deposit at the Library of Congress. This operation would insure the files against gaps, would accomplish preservation and the saving of space and would give the widest possible usage through the sale of inexpensive positives to all libraries desiring them. This project could be accomplished with P. L. 480 funds. 15. Microfilming of archives in India. National Archives in New Delhi has expressed an interest in a cooperative project for the microfilming of Indian archives on the widest basis possible. Although the government of India has already started the project, it is seriously cramped by lack of film. Two cameras are available for the work. T h e negatives would be deposited in National Archives, and positives could also be made for the Library of Congress. An additional negative could also be made from the positive for deposit at the Library of Congress. T h e work could proceed at the rate of 528,000 frames per year. Possibly a five-year project could on a selective basis secure all that is required for research in this country. This project could be accomplished with P. L. 480 funds, except for the purchase of film.

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16. Microfilming of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Indian newspapers and serials, lacking in this country. There is almost no coverage for such in the United States. A survey of existing resources in England, Europe and India is a necessary preliminary step in order to determine the scope of the project. The microfilming of newspaper files in the India Office Library now being made by Micro Methods Limited may be acquired by the Library of Congress. 17. Microfilming of Sanskrit, Prakrit, and modern vernacular manuscripts in India for purposes of preservation and research. Arrangements would have to be made with the government of India. Possibly the best location for the project would be the University of Madras, where the most complete records of manuscript collections are maintained. This project could be accomplished with P. L. 480 funds, except for the purchase of films. 18. Reprinting of out-of-print reference works on South Asia. Approximately 500 volumes of basic reference works averaging 350 pages per volume are completely out-of-print, but essential in any university or college library. 19. Catalog of Tibetan xylographs and manscripts in America. There are some 2,500 Tibetan xylographs and manuscript pieces in American public and private depositories, exclusive of the editions of the Kanjur and Tanjur. A survey of these has been completed. Almost half have received some cataloging but would require more detailed analysis. Copies of the survey may be secured from the Orientalia Division of the Library of Congress. 20. Printed union catalog of Indie texts and translations in American libraries. In 1935 A Union List of Printed Indie Texts and Translations in American Libraries, compiled by Μ. B. Emeneau was

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published by the American Oriental Society. This volume listed 4,200 unique titles in Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit. It is estimated that not more than twice this number of unique titles now exist in American libraries in addition to a larger number of locations for the original 4,200 titles. T h i s work needs to be brought up-to-date. It would have to be limited to Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit. A young Sanskritist could do the compilation and cataloging where necessary. Exclusion of modern vernacular material is at present necessary, since much of it is uncataloged and covers a number of languages not within the competence of one person. In fact, personnel to complete a vernacular portion could not at present be found. As the modern vernacular material is cataloged cards for it will be filled in the separate union catalog of such material at the Library of Congress, so that a similar project for this material may never be necessary. No such union catalog either exists or is contemplated for Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit texts. 21. Supplement to Η . I. Poleman's Census of Indie Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, published by the American Oriental Society in 1938. This work requires a supplement. A survey has been made to determine the locations and additions since this publication appeared. Approximately 1,500 items have been acquired since 1937, when the above compilation was completed. 22. Listing of recordings of South Asia music in American institutions. A survey would first be necessary to determine locations and the number of items. At least 5,000 recordings are known to exist. 23. Publication of periodical, selective guide to current publications as an aid in book procurement for college and secondary school libraries. T h i s could be done by such an organization as the Asia So-

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ciety on a small budget. The Orentalia Division of the Library of Congress could supply the list of titles. 24. Index to the Southern Asia Accessions List The nine published volumes, consisting of about 40,000 items require a subject and author index of about 100,000 entries. The Southern Asia Accessions List consists of volumes 1-9, began publication in 1951, and ceased publication with the December issue of 1960. It covered publications received by the Library of Congress published within the decade preceding the year of issue, beginning, however, with 1945 imprints. It also listed selected articles from the principal journals dealing with South Asia. T h e nine volumes contain the most comprehensive bibliographical coverage of imprints and periodical articles for the post-war period through 1960. Additional Projects Proposed in the other Working Papers Proposals for library aids to the language and area centers in the other working papers sometimes coincided with those listed in the previous section. However, the following, some of which were mentioned in more than one paper, are worthy additions. 1. A guide to the Parliamentary papers. "Invaluable material on items ranging from local government to administration are buried in those volumes. A guide should not only include an index, but an annotated description of the major papers on various subjects." 2. A bibliography of who's who, autobiographies and biographies published in any of the Indian languages and in English. 3. A bibliography of important documents published by the central and state governments of India and Pakistan since independence. (This might precede the preparation of the bibliography described in item 10 in the preceding section.) 4. A guide to India's legal materials. "Existing bibliographi-

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cal resources in this field are sparse and inadequate. It would be desirable to have a thorough compilation o£ existing materials, including all official law sources, unofficial reports, secondary (text and commentary) literature, government reports, periodical literature and research devices (digests, etc.). This should be done separately for each country in the area. (Since pre-1947 materials for India and Pakistan are identical, the latter could be covered by a special supplement to the Indian compilation. Ceylon would not seem to require such treatment at this time.) Periodic supplements should be added." 5. Annotated bibliography on Afghanistan. "Such a bibliography should include, to the greatest extent possible, periodical articles as well as reports and documents prepared by U.S. Government sources, international bodies, foundations and private firms." 6. Microfilming of archives with reference to Nepal in Delhi, Kathmandu, Calcutta, Patna, Allahabad, and England. 7. Cataloging and microfilming of manuscript collections in Kathmandu. 8. Assistance to government agencies in India in the retrieval and preservation of private records and manuscripts. 9. Exhaustive bibliographies of district gazetteers, census materials, settlement reports, unpublished doctoral dissertations, descriptive articles in the Censuses of India. 10. Completion of Gilbert's bibliography on caste.

APPENDIX 2 Review of Accomplishments American Library Resources

to Date of the Committee on on Southern Asia of the AAS

T h e committee has prepared a Farmington Plan for South and Southeast Asia. T h e Southeast Asia portion has been

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adopted by ARL and the assignments have been made. The South Asia portion has been held in abeyance pending P. L. 480 developments. In accordance with a recommendation of the Conference on American Library Resources on Southern Asia, convened by the Committee at the Library of Congress in November 1958, the chairman of the committee negotiated the transfer of $75,000 from the Department of State to the Library of Congress for the procurement under P. L. 480 of three sets of official documents of the central and state governments of India for deposit at the University of California (Berkeley), Midwest Inter-Library Center, and the University of Pennsylvania over a period of years, beginning with 1959 publications. T h e chairman of the committee was authorized to conduct and publish a survey of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs in the United States and Canada with committee funds. T h e survey has been completed and reproduced. Copies may be secured from the Orientalia Division of the Library of Congress. T h e committee negotiated the publication of the eight working papers presented at the above-mentioned conference in the Journal of the Oriental Institute, M. S. University of Baroda, Baroda, India. Seven papers have been published and the eighth will appear in the next issue. T h e following recommendations of the conference were implemented without committee action: Preparation and publication of a "bibliography of bibliographies" article. Preparation and publication of a bibliography of recent publications on the area as an aid in book procurement for colleges and secondary schools. T h e development and maintenance of national union catalogs of the vernacular publications of South Asia at the Library of Congress.

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APPENDIX 3

NDEA

Background

Under Title VI of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 as of the first week in January, 1960 a total of $26,700 was apportioned to three institutions for the purchase of books relating to South Asian cultures. Of this amount $4,000 was for Southeast Asia and $9,700 for South Asia. Since the institutions must match these sums out of their own appropriations, these figures should be doubled. These sums should be just adequate for the few institutions involved to secure the basic materials necessary for their purposes, if they can discover adequate channels of procurement. Funds were also available to hire eight people to process and service the materials. Although this seems like an adequate number, it must be remembered that a total of two people at one institution could not possibly handle all of the languages which conceivably would be represented in an acquisitions program. Any comprehensive plan for the processing of books in the fourteen constitutional languages of India alone requires far more planning and investment than is at present contemplated anywhere. It must also be remembered that at least 25 institutions of higher learning have programs of more or less intensity on South and Southeast Asia. In no way are they equipped to procure and process materials from the area of South Asia. Even if funds were available for hiring, catalogers would not be available; nor would procurement on a sufficient scale be possible without permanent field operations. With respect to other operations in support of area studies, such as the preparation of bibliographies, the NDEA office has displayed little interest. Less than a year ago the office declared it would not support inter-institutional, cooperative, national projects—such as union catalogs, bibliographies, central reposi-

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tories, professional societies, etc. It is not likely that it will ever retreat very far from this position. T o sum up, it does not seem likely that N D E A will meet the acquisition or cataloging needs of research institutions with respect to South Asia.

APPENDIX 4

INDIA Number of titles and annual cost per set of vernacular publications Vernaculars Assamese Bengali Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Malayalam Marathi Oriya Panjabi Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit Tamil Telugu Urdu TOTALS

(No figures available) 700 (No figures available) 1,000 80 (No figures available) 300 300 200 60 140 215 280 120 3,395

$ 550.00 800.00 35.00 75.00 200.00 75.00 40.00 250.00 105.00 105.00 90.00 12,325.00

(Although no figures are available for Assamese, Gujarati, and Kashmiri, it is estimated that the totals for each would be:) Assamese Gujarati Kashmiri

30 300 20

30.00 200.00 20.00

TOTALS

350

$ 250.00

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Language

Publications No. of titles

Agri culture Anthropology Bibliography and Library Science Fine Arts Education General History, including Biography Description and Travel and Geography Law Medicine Philology, including Belle Lettres Philosophy and Religion Sciences Social Sciences Technology TOTALS

30 5 10 40 40 20

Cost

$

35.00 10.00 20.00 105.00 25.00 50.00

150 220 20 100 160 20 500 25

210.00 360.00 30.00 60.00 120.00 35.00 400.00 15.00

1,340

§1,475.00

(Music is included with Fine Arts. No publications on Military and Naval Science.) It is estimated that $700 annually would cover the cost of essential trade publications of Pakistan and Ceylon

Visual Resources for South Asian Studies and South Asian Studies in Undergraduate Liberal Education W a r d Morehouse* The Asia Society

I. VISUAL RESOURCES F O R SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES While visual resources are in the main of lesser importance than library materials to the development of advanced training and research in South Asian studies, they do have some areas of particular usefulness for both training and research in such fields as language study, anthropology, and art history, and whatever potentialities they do have are only beginning to be exploited. Such resources additionally have significant possibilities in introductory instruction at the undergraduate and other levels of the formal educational process, in programs of general adult education, and in the orientation of persons for overseas assignments in technical assistance and other fields of activity. In the latter category of situations, the greatest value • I do not profess academic competence in any aspect of the field of South Asian studies, and assertions of substance should be weighed against this limitation. While statements of fact and opinion are necessarily my own responsibility, I am indebted for helpful suggestions to my colleagues in the Asia Society, individual faculty members associated with several of principal American university centers of South Asian studies, and Lawrence L. Van Mourick, Jr., of the International Communications Foundation, who made a survey of needs for audio-visual materials dealing with South Asia under a National Defense Education Act contract in the fall of 1959. 211

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of visual resources is in helping to bridge the gap between distinctively contrasting civilizations and to create for beginning students and individuals otherwise uninitiated to the area a "feel" for peoples with differently patterned traditions and contemporary institutions, rather than in conveying substantive information which is in general better done through other media, most notably the printed word. 1 In the paragraphs following, an effort has been made to identify the principal problems affecting the production and distribution of visual resources and major unmet needs for such resources in the field of South Asian studies in the United States. For purposes of editorial convenience, the discussion has been organized around two different types of media—slides and filmstrips, and documentary and feature films and educational television—although these categories are often arbitrary and rarely mutually exclusive in terms of substantive topics which might be treated visually. Slides

and

Filmstrips

Existing resources of still picture transparencies are spotty in coverage, uneven in technical quality, and held in significant measure by the individuals who took the pictures originally. In numerical terms, however, there is probably more photographic material on the countries of South Asia than is generally realized. A survey of slide resources on Asia—undertaken by the Asia Society in 1957 and based on an admittedly incomplete response drawn from members of the Association for Asian Studies, persons who had been in Asia on various United States government exchange programs and International Cooperation Administration university contract projects, and a 1 Robert Redfield, in his contribution to a University of Chicago conference on India in liberal education, stressed the importance of studying the multidimensional character of other civilizations ("Thinking about a Civilization," in Milton Singer, ed., Introducing India in Liberal Education, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1957, pp. 3-15). A sense of visual reality is clearly an integral part of such an approach.

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sampling of American institutions and organizations interested in Asia—reported collections on all areas of Asia totalling some half a million individual slides. T h e country of Asia on which respondents to the survey questionnaire most frequently indicated having slides, furthermore, was India, although the other South Asian countries were, as might be expected, much less frequently cited. Much of this material, having been taken by amateur photographers, is of corresponding quality, and often the subject matter is sufficiently particularized to be really useful only to the individual who took the pictures. On the other hand, photographic resources of this character, especially when taken by individuals who know something about the area and are able to make discerning judgments between what is representative and what is visually eye-catching but atypical, are frequently of greater substantive value than work done by professionals which, while superior in purely technical terms, sometimes accumulates the gloss of unreality associated with Hollywood films. T h e problem for the future, of course, is combining the capacity for substantive judgment with technical competence in photography in developing new visual resources, but for scholars presently teaching in the field of South Asian studies and trying to work with existing materials, the former quality is the more crucial when they are confronted with alternative materials of predominantly one character or the other. Aside from slides held by individuals, there is relatively little now available for general distribution, although more than could be appropriately cited here. Much of what there is, furthermore, appears to be concentrated in the fields of religion and art. T h e three sets of color slides on Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism prepared by Kenneth Morgan as supplements to his three books on the same subjects, for example, may be rented or purchased through the Visual Education Service of the Yale Divinity School (409 Prospect St., New Haven 11, Conn.). II-

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lustrative of the point made in the preceding paragraph is the contrast between the Morgan sets of slides and the filmstrips on various world religions produced and distributed by Life (9 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N.Y.). In the art history field, Dr. Block Color Productions (1309 N. Genesee Ave., Hollywood 46, Calif.), a firm generally well regarded by art historians for the quality of its work, distributes a set of approximately 60 slides on the art of India, and an enterprise of similar reputation in Boston, Barney Burstein (19 Charles St.), also sells slides on Indian art. Another example which might be cited is the World Art Series of UNESCO, which includes two sets geographically pertinent, one on paintings from the Ajanta Caves and one on the art of Gandhara and Central Asia; these sets are available in the United States from the UNESCO Publications Center (801 T h i r d Ave., New York 22, N.Y.). Of particular interest to the field of South Asian studies is a series of sound, color filmstrips being developed by the Department of Near Eastern Languages at the University of California (Berkeley) and the International Communications Foundation under a National Defense Education Act contract as drill material for an introductory course in Hindi. T h i s series, which will include one or two general documentary films on North India as well, will be used experimentally during the 1961 summer session at Berkeley and is scheduled for release in December, 1961. T h e foundation (9033 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, Calif.) is also producing color filmstrips with recorded narration for schools on Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and subsequently India, as well as audio-visual kits, which include, in addition to the filmstrips, artifacts, sets of large color prints for display or individual student use, and introductory literature for school children, on some of these countries. T h e r e are a number of other sources, mostly commercial, for filmstrips on the countries and peoples of South Asia, but the subject matter in general has exceedingly little relevance for advanced students

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and the quality is often less than inspiring.2 One additional source which might be noted simply because it is less likely to be known in the United States is the Commonwealth Institute (South Kensington, London, S.W. 7, England) which circulates filmstrips and slides on a variety of topics relating to the Commonwealth countries of South Asia among English schools. The suggestions advanced in the paragraphs following are not intended to exhaust the range of possibilities for further development of slide and filmstrip resources in the field of South Asian studies at the university level. One of the most obvious possibilities for the future is to expand the series of sound filmstrips on Hindi, if that series proves to be genuinely useful, to the other languages of South Asia. Clearly, priorities would have to be established, but presumably the same considerations affecting priorities in the preparation of grammars, books of readings, and other language teaching materials would apply in this instance. Some of the expense involved might be met with counterpart currencies available under Public Law 480, while the dollar costs would fall within the scope of the National Defense Education Act, which is the source of financing for the series now being prepared on Hindi. One of the limitations in trying to fashion slide collections for courses on the area based on existing photographic materials is that there is so much loss of technical quality in reproducing color slides; this is less crucial in some fields than in others such as art history where color fidelity is such a vital factor. Among recent developments in color photography, moreover, are new reproduction techniques which make it possible to produce an unlimited number of copies of slides from color negatives without any loss of photographic quality but which can be used, in the main, only with newly photographed material. T h e availability of these techniques makes use of exist2 The basic reference source to 35mm. filmstrips produced in the United States is the Filmstrip Guide, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1958 (with annual supplements).

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ing slide materials all the less appealing, and as a consequence, the temptation is correspondingly greater to think of a Carnegie American art-type of project as the answer to needs in the South Asian field.3 Such a project, involving the systematic collection of newly photographed and carefully annotated material on various aspects of South Asian peoples and cultures, would be expensive but remains the ideal, not only for university centers of South Asian studies but also for institutions offering only undergraduate instruction in the field. (Indeed, filmstrips, which are more widely used than slides in schools, of a quality far superior to what is presently available could be produced for elementary and secondary school use from selected materials included in such a collection.) But it is also possible to make more modest approaches to the slide problem if the obstacles to financing and organizing a Carnegie-type project prove insurmountable. One of the least contrived would be to have three or four persons at as many different institutions teaching in the field and known to have substantial personal collections pool their own holdings and those of their colleagues willing to contribute to such an undertaking; institutional collections and photographic archives, such as that at Cornell, could also be drawn upon in this process. From these assembled resources, the three or four individuals involved would spend a week or ten days selecting a basic collection of several hundred slides which might be used in an introductory course on South Asia. After the initial selection process, these individuals would return to their institutions to 3 The Carnegie project, undertaken by a group of professional photographers working under the direction of a group of American art historians, resulted in a systematic and carefully annotated survey on slides. Entitled "The Arts of the United States," the collection consists of 4,000 35mm. color slides, broken down into two sets of 2300 and 1500 items each. A number of these sets were presented by the Carnegie Corporation outright to college and university art departments, and the purchase of additional sets by certain other institutions was partially subsidized. Sets or individual slides are also for sale by the commercial firm which produced the slides, Sandak, Inc. (39 VV. 53rd St., New York 19, N.Y.). For a description of the project, see " T h e Arts of the United States," Carnegie Corporation of New York Quarterly, January, 1959, pp. 1-4.

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annotate those slides which belonged to them or their colleagues and seek comments on the tentative selection. T h e group would then meet again for a three- or four-day period to systematize the annotations and refine the selection. T h e resulting collection, in addition to being useful in introductory courses, might form the nucleus of more substantial collections at those university centers which have not yet made an effort to accumulate slide materials systematically or which find that what they do have is very uneven in coverage. Presumably the project described in the preceding paragraph would concentrate on colored slides largely taken by individual scholars in the field. A variant of this approach, which would be even more modest in cost, would involve selecting not only from such slide material but also from published photographs, maps, and the like, a collection of several hundred black and white slides which can be reproduced very economically ($10 to $15 for up to 500) on a strip film and then cut and mounted by the individual user. (There are some copyright problems involved in the use of published material, but they do not appear to be insurmountable.) Such a project is being undertaken in the East Asian field by a group of college teachers working under the direction of the curator of a fellowship program in East Asian studies at Harvard, and a corresponding enterprise in the South Asian field might be initiated at one of the other universities with an internship program in Asian studies for college teachers.4 Approaches of the character outlined in the two preceding paragraphs, being more modest in scope, are naturally going to yield correspondingly more modest results than a Carnegie-type project of systematically developed and newly photographed slide material. While the cost of this kind of project would be substantial, the amounts required do not seem large in relation 4 Walter Spink gives some practical suggestions on developing slide collections for courses in the South Asian studies field in "Indian Art in the Teaching of Indian Civilization," Introducing India in Liberal Education, op. cit., pp. 170-74.

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to other applications of public monies, insofar as government funds might become available. Films and Educational

Television

W i t h respect to existing documentary film resources, India is by far the most adequately covered, although what is available varies enormously in substantive and technical quality and in currency. T h e situation in regard to the other countries of South Asia is unfortunate, with the degree of inadequacy of film resources ranging in descending order from Ceylon through Pakistan and Afghanistan to Nepal, on which there is virtually nothing available for American audiences. T h e r e is, nonetheless, a good deal more existing material on film than many persons realize, and while unsatisfactory quality limits the usefulness of much of it, for more advanced students imperfections can often be overcome through more extended guidance and interpretation by the faculty member concerned. But the value of whatever is available for educational purposes clearly depends on an adequate distribution system, and here a number of unsatisfactory circumstances appear to exist. T h e private, commercial and university distributors are in the main efficient enough, but with the enormous increase of interest in documentary films on Asia at all levels of the educational process, single circulating prints of films, particularly some of those of modest rental fee recommended by the Asia Society's selected film list and correspondingly publicized, are often fully booked for long periods and rarely available at the precise time most desirable for the individual requesting the film. T h i s circumstance, which could be easily remedied by placing in circulation more prints of a relatively few films, is pale by comparison in its inadequacies with the situation which exists in the distribution of documentary films by South Asian governments in the United States. T h e following comment by the faculty member of an American university center of South

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Asian studies points up in vivid terms the frustrations and disappointments involved: . . . Our experience has been maddening with both the Indian and Pakistani embassies and consulates this year. Their catalogues are not complete or accurate and do not give adequate descriptions of the films. Their management is impossible to deal with—for two months we could not get a response on films requested from India, and from Pakistan we generally get no response. Confirmed films are not sent occasionally, and wrong films are sent. Worse than that, I am under the impression that little imagination or effort is applied at the other end, in South Asian countries, in getting the best existing films from among governmentally sponsored documentaries into foreign circulation.

Documentaries currently available on South Asia are too numerous to attempt any listing here, and individuals interested in exploring systematically what exists on particular topics or countries should consult the reference sources cited in the notes. A readily available selected list of films on Asia distributed in the United States, which includes only a small proportion of existing films and which is designed more for the needs of non-specialists than for advanced students and specialists, is the previously mentioned one issued by the Asia Society (112 E. 64th St., New York 21, N.Y.); this list, which has been widely distributed to schools, colleges, and community organizations in this country and may be secured on request from the Society, is periodically revised, with mimeographed supplements being issued in the intervals between revision.8 5 Films on Asia: Selected List, New York: Asia Society, 1959 (with May, 1960 supplement). Other useful references include Francis Bolen, Films on Art, Paris: UNESCO, 1953, and Winifred Holmes, Orient: A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian Culture, London: British Film Institute, 1959; the latter includes both feature films and documentaries. T h e basic reference source for educational films produced in the United States is Educational Film Guide, New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1958 (with annual supplements). T h e Guide does not include United States government documen-

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While no listing of individual films is appropriate in the present context, there are a few specific instances of films in process or prospect worthy of mention because they will help to fill gaps in documentaries now available. T h e Pakistan government, for example, is reportedly considering the production of a series of documentaries on that country for foreign circulation. T h e possibility of American distribution of a series of ten generally excellent films on Indian village life, the performing arts, and other topics, which were produced by the petroleum concern, Burmah-Shell, and which have not heretofore been available in the United States, is now being explored. Of timely character is another Indian documentary on Tagore being directed by Satyajit Ray; the film is now in progress and will be released in this country in connection with the centenary of Tagore's birth. T h e small library of Ceylon government information films in the embassy in Washington has recently been revitalized by the addition of several films distinctly superior in quality. While Afghanistan and Nepal and adjacent Himalayan areas remain a problem, two documentaries in process which may help to alleviate the inadequacy of film materials on these areas are an introductory film on Afghanistan, which is being produced by James Ivory under the sponsorship of the Asia Society, and a Japanese account of their recent Himalayan mountaineering expedition, which is now being given English subtitles in Hong Kong presumably for subsequent release in this country. In addition to documentary films on South Asia, which are conscious attempts to record various aspects of the area, feature films with their incidental efforts to reflect the life and times of taries or foreign films distributed here; the former are released for purchase through United World Films and are listed in that firm's catalogue. In addition, the U.S. Office of Education, under a NDEA Title VII contract with Indiana University, is sponsoring the preparation of a bibliography of sources of information about audio-visual materials; the bibliography is scheduled for publication in the spring of 1961 by the American Library Association under the title, Guides to Newer Educational Media-—Films, Filmstrips, Phonorecords, Radio, Slides, and Television, by Margaret I. Rufsvold and Carolyn Guss.

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221

the peoples of South Asia are an important visual resource for academic programs. Visions of the potentialities of feature films for educational use, are enhanced by the circumstance that India is one of the world's largest producers of feature films and by the reception given to Satyajit Ray's classic trilogy on the art theater circuit in the United States and the consequent reduction of two films in the trilogy (with the third scheduled for imminent release in this form) to 16 mm., for wider circulation to schools and colleges. "Pather Panchali" and its two companion films may, however, be the exceptions that prove the rule, for formidable problems inhibit the more ready availability of Indian feature films in general, unless they have clear prospects for successful runs as commercial releases in this country (which relatively few do). A substantial initial investment in cutting and editing to American conceptions of proper length and providing English subtitles or sound track, is required before a film can be released commercially, and while both of these steps might not be absolutely essential for controlled educational use, the problem of negotiating American distribution rights from the Indian producer would have to be resolved, and there would be the additional expense of reducing the film from 35 mm. to 16mm. (Customs duties are not a formidable problem under any circumstances, amounting only to a penny per foot or about $40 for a feature film of average length.)® Even the possibility of intervention by South Asian governments in facilitating the importation of feature films for purely educational circulation appears unlikely. In such an undertakβ Duties on feature films brought into the United States purely for educational purposes may be eliminated when this country which has already ratified the UNESCO-sponsored Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials (the Florence Agreement), passes the enabling legislation to bring it into effect. T h e Agreement grants duty-free entry to books, newspapers, periodicals, printed music and works of art, as well as to newsreels, educational films, recordings, and several other items, when the recipient institution or organization intends to use these materials for educational or related purposes and has been approved by the appropriate authorities.

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ing, these governments would be placed in the uncomfortable position of trying to secure, presumably gratis, rights to commercial property of their citizens who are likely to feel that if there is any interest in their property in the United States, regardless of the non-commercial character of that interest, there should be monetary recompense forthcoming. Future efforts are clearly needed to improve the film situation in the field of South Asian studies. More documentaries for educational use, not only on South Asian countries other than India which are so badly represented at present but also on aspects of Indian life and tradition now completely or inadequately covered, should be produced. Appended to this paper in the hope that it will provoke further discussion is a list of possible topics for documentary films and other visual materials prepared by the International Communications Foundation in connection with its survey of visual resources relating to South Asia in 1959 and based on discussions with a number of faculty members of American university centers of South Asian studies. Production of films in Asia, especially when it involves sending American photographers or directors abroad, is expensive, but perhaps, if the subject of a particular film could be clearly related to an academic need, some of the production cost might be met through counterpart funds under Public Law 480. Before this can occur, the bureaucratic mentality which presently afflicts the administration of the appropriate section of the law will have to be dispelled; hopefully the new management in the Department of State will be more congenial to this kind of enterprise. Another United States government channel meriting continuing exploration is the United States Information Agency which is a very substantial sponsor of the production of documentary films on foreign areas. Much of what is sponsored by USIA, being designed for foreign audiences, is not particularly pertinent for educational use in this country, but some of it is and a few USIA films are of very superior quality. T h e agency is inhibited in making films available for American

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distribution by the Congressional injunction, legislatively expressed in the Dworshak amendment, against any foreign operation of the United States government "propagandizing" the American people in order to perpetuate its own existence or enlarge its appropriations, and this circumstance makes the extraction of films for circulation in this country a sticky and protracted process, although not entirely impossible. Whether the recent public pronouncement of the new USIA director that Americans should know more about the kind of story USIA is telling abroad will affect the present problem in a helpful way remains to be seen. Both the selection of documentary films of South Asian governments for circulation in the United States and their distribution here require improvement. The first step is to urge upon the diplomatic establishments of these countries and their information ministries at home the need for improving the situation in both respects; if that fails, other alternatives, including the possibility of establishing distribution centers or using existing ones in the universities may have to be explored. But the fact that other governments—such as Japan, which lets out its distribution under contract to a private American firm, or Malaya, which operates a modest but good film library in its embassy in Washington—do manage the problem satisfactorily indicates that it is not inherently insoluble. With regard to selection of films, an effort should be made to establish the principle that the information sections of the embassies and consulates here will, on request (perhaps by petition from some recognized academic body such as the Association for Asian Studies' Committee on South Asia), seek from the central depositories in their home countries prints of government documentary films suitable for educational use in this country and not presently available. T o give this principle meaning will, of course, involve knowing what is in the central depositories worth requesting; perhaps again the Committee on South Asia might play a useful role by coordinating

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among its members and other scholars in the field screening missions in connection with trips to the area for research and other purposes. (An official of the Indian Information Services, indeed, has already given his informal assurances that films requested by a responsible body such as the Association \vill be secured from the central depository of government documentaries in India and that screening sessions for American scholars visiting his country can also be arranged, provided he is given sufficient advance notice.) T h e problem of adequate numbers of prints of privately produced films for distribution through commercial and university film libraries will no doubt resolve itself in time as a consequence of the somewhat imperfectly operating but inexorable law of supply and demand. In the meantime and in recognition of the exceedingly rapid growth of interest in the field of South Asian studies at all levels of the formal educational process in this country, a modest fund to help defray the cost of extra prints of films and assure their better regional distribution across the country (perhaps through matching grants to university audio-visual centers) make an obvious contribution to the resolution of the problem. Feature films produced in the area present a more stubborn situation. It is difficult to see how, in view of the initial expense involved in editing, subtitling in English and/or reducing from 35mm. to 16mm. reduction alone costs $250-$300 per copy for black and white films if at least five prints are made and considerably more for color), feature films can be made available for educational circulation unless they are of the quality and character which makes it possible for them to enjoy a commercial run on the art theater circuit first. From the point of view of the commercial distributor of foreign feature films, the critical factor is likely acceptance by American audiences. British, French, and Italian actors and directors and their films are far more widely known and readily accepted (or at least the distributors think they will be) by the theater-going public than Indian features which are virtually unknown quantities

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here. T h e experience of Japanese films suggests that these circumstances may become a little less inhibiting through repeated exposure and consequent cultivation of American audiences; to some of the more adaptable creations of the Indian cinema, but according to the distributor who has imported several Japanese features, as well as Satyajit Ray's trilogy, Japanese features are still considerably more hazardous ventures than European films for the art theater circuit and must be judged much more critically and carefully as a result. 7 Educational television is less relevant to the field of South Asian studies as a resource for academic training programs than it is a potential demand on the time and energies of individual scholars in the field who may be asked to contribute to presentations on South Asia through this medium. But whatever its future relationship to the South Asian studies field may be, its existing application to the area is almost totally unexploited. T h e catalogue of educational television programs circulated for non-broadcast use in schools and colleges indicates, aside from eight programs on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, which are part of a series on the "Religions of Mankind" by Professor Huston Smith of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, nothing on South Asia as such and only a few programs which deal with the area in a larger context and which are mostly on contemporary international affairs and therefore of perishable content. 8 7 As a transplanted Middle-Westerner who still regards New York as more of a den of iniquity than the center of the cultural universe, it pains me to record this same distributor's further assertion that the critical reception of a foreign feature film in New York City makes or breaks its prospects for a successful commercial run elsewhere in the country. If the resources could be found to finance such an activity, it is possible that the Museum of Modern Art Film Library might play a helpful role in securing prints of feature films which had completed their commercial runs in india; the Museum's Film Library has for a number of years been developing an archive of feature films, both foreign and domestic. Presumably under certain circumstances Indian films included in this archive could be made available for screening at other educational and cultural institutions, although the costs of projection would be substantial since these films would be on 35 mm. & Educational Television Motion Pictures: 1960 Catalogue, Bloomington: N E T Film Service, Audio-Visual Center, Indiana University.

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Although it would be a costly undertaking, what is needed ultimately in the educational television field—and preferably sooner rather than later—is a series of 20-30 or more programs on the development of Indian civilization and the contemporary institutions and problems of South Asia, modeled after an introductory undergraduate survey course of similar scope. Such a series would have wide usefulness as the basis for an in-service course for high school teachers, whose needs for academic background on the area are critical and growing more pressing as schools adopt curricular changes giving more emphasis to the world beyond Europe; it would also provide the nucleus, with appropriate adaptation, for an orientation course for personnel undertaking governmental, educational, and business assignments in South Asia. The organizers of "Continental Classroom," which televises nationally courses for teachers on physics, chemistry, and other topics over a commercial network, and the National Educational Television and Radio Center, which supplies non-commercial stations throughout the country with program material, have both expressed interest at one time or another in undertaking several series of this character on different non-Western areas, but sources for the rather substantial financing required are not yet apparent.

II. SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES IN UNDERGRADUATE LIBERAL EDUCATION

The relevance of the future growth of South Asian studies to undergraduate liberal education has dimensions in both substance and time. The substantive dimension arises from the circumstances that South Asia is an area of world importance in its historical development and one which not only has produced accomplishments in various areas of human

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knowledge and endeavor of very great intrinsic value and significance but also has contributed richly to our largely Western tradition. The timely dimension is a reflection of the fact that the liberal arts curriculum in this country is now in the process of opening out beyond its preoccupation with the Western tradition and its contemporary condition to include attention to the peoples and cultures of non-Western societies. All of this comes at a time when the scholarly community in South Asian studies is afflicted with growing pains as it attempts to strengthen and extend university centers of advanced training and research and nurture a vigorous tradition of American scholarship in this field. Were it not for the timely factor mentioned in the preceding paragraph, concerted efforts to extend South Asian studies at the undergraduate level might better be deferred until graduate level facilities were more fully developed. But, quite apart from the obvious importance to graduate programs in South Asian studies of flourishing interest and opportunity in the field at the undergraduate level as the means of recruiting students and placing graduates entering academic careers, is the consideration that other fields of foreign studies in more advanced stages of development are pre-empting the concern of undergraduate institutions seeking to add a non-Western dimension to their liberal arts curricula. This brief comment on the relationship of South Asian studies to liberal education will only permit identification of a few of the needs affecting the future growth of South Asian studies in the colleges, but perhaps further examination and analysis of these and related needs will occur at various points during the conference discussion.® Central to the problem is the expansion of college teaching resources, and here a variety 9 T h e University of Chicago volume previously cited, Introducing India in Liberal Education, contains a series of papers which discuss problems and possibilities of substance and method in undergraduate instruction. There is also a growing body of literature describing the endeavors of individual institutions in strengthening Asian studies at the undergraduate level, much of it available from the Asia Society (112 E. 64th St., New York 21, N.Y.), which will send a list of what it has of these materials for distribution on request to the Society's Educational Director.

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of devices directed at strengthening the area competences of individuals already trained in a discipline merit exploration— for example, post-doctoral internships and foreign area fellowships for both language and non-language study, intensive summer seminars for college teachers, both in the United States and in the area, and the like. Efforts should also be made to expand opportunities for undergraduate students seriously interested in the field—perhaps through the establishment of one or more centers for advanced undergraduate study in the area supported with counterpart and National Defense Education Act funds, the provision of "undergraduate assistantships" at NDEA language and area centers, and other means. And, of course, college libraries are badly in need of help through a general grant program to buy basic books in the field; another possibility in the library field is the use of counterpart funds to accession certain basic government documents, books, and journals published in the area and pertinent for undergraduate teaching collections.

APPENDIX

Substantive

Topics Suitable for Audio-Visually

Presentation

The following list of topics is given here as presented in the the report of the "Survey to Determine the Needs for, and the Best Methods of, Developing Audio-Visual Materials for American Orientation to the Area Cultures of South Asia," which was prepared by the International Communications Foundation under a National Defense Education Act contract in December, 1959. It is included here, not as a definitive state-

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ment of possibilities but rather as a series of suggestions to form the basis for further discussion and refinement at the conference. General

Area

Introduction

T h e extreme diversity of virtually everything in South Asia from geography to the people themselves make pictorial demonstration a valuable tool. T h e subjects suggested were: 1. A series of films that pictorially show what would be seen on long drives that traverse the subcontinent in several spots. T h e films would show types of people, their environment, the basic characteristics of the land, flora, fauna, types of transport, historic and religious sights, etc., as they change from area to area. 2. A study of the people and environment in mountain areas such as Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Kashmir, etc. History T h e general consensus on this and most other subjects was that depth studies of certain significant periods would be such more useful on an advanced level than an attempt to survey the 5,000 years of South Asian history. Three periods were recommended as being particularly suitable for photographic illustration. 1. Indus Valley Civilization—It was felt that dramatically presented pictorial representations of the remaining material culture combined with artistic re-creations of the Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro ruins could present the atmosphere and culture of this ancient civilization in a concise and effective manner. 2. T h e Mogul Period—The culture of this period is graphically preserved in Northern India in the form of outstanding examples of architecture and miniature art.

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Color photography of these objects could be woven into an accurate and vivid background for a scholarly interpretation of the time. 3. Modern Indian History—Newsreel and documentary motion picture footage selections combined with appropriate graphic representations and an authoritative narration would utilize the full instructional potential of the motion picture media on this subject. Rural

Life

T h e vast majority of the Indian population lives in a village environment, thus giving this subject great importance. T h e ways of life and aspects of material culture are so vastly different from that within the frame of reference of the average American student that pictorial representation is essential if an accurate impression is to be imparted. Aspects of the culture vary so widely that it would be an endless task to record each ethnic area in the manner used in the Cornell project. It was recommended that the motion picture on one village done by the Hitchcocks be used as a representative example of one such situation and that further pictorial emphasis be given to widespread aspects of village life which are significant in terms of the modern nation. A brief listing of some of the subjects which were felt to be most adaptable to expression through the film essay approach follows: 1. Rural influence on the contemporary urban man. 2. Community development programs. 3. Current changes in the traditional village society. 4. T h e effect of national catastrophies on rural families and current efforts to improve conditions. 5. T o demonstrate the great diversity of rural ways of life, other subjects which touch on village scenes should each be depicted in a different ethnic situation.

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Urban Life T h e urban community in South Asia is particularly important as it represents the dynamic and influential minority which forms and administers national policy. T h e cities outwardly appear to be more similar to the urban centers of other nations than to the traditional rural societies which surround them. T h e subjects recommended under this category, therefore, center around important underlying factors not apparent to the average American and those few situations which would be entirely outside the frame of reference of American students. T h e most frequently mentioned categories were: 1. Basic cultural factors that have influenced the life of urban individuals with whom Americans come in contact. 2. T h e revival of traditional cultural values to stimulate nationalism. 3. T h e stratification of urban society and current changes. 4. T h e problem of the unemployed intellectual. 5. Bazaar activity. 6. Relations within the urban family and its place in the community to include child care and changing family patterns. Tribal

Cultures

Opinions as to whether tribal cultures should be covered by audio-visual media varied. T h e subject has considerable anthropological significance; however, any emphasis on this subject in a short series of films which might receive distribution outside of controlled classroom situations could present tribal life out of its true context. South Asia's many aboriginal tribes certainly are among the most colorful and interesting pictorial subjects, but great care must be taken in a survey course not to emphasize factors that are of little significance in terms of the modern nation.

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Communication

T h e traditional means of communications and their present use to influence current economic and political situations were recommended as being particularly suitable for audiovisual presentation. These media include poetry recitals, folk plays and recitals, religious ceremonies and plays, and many other examples. Language

Cultural subjects recommended that had direct relation to language were: 1. T h e traditional Guru language training techniques. 2. T h e problem of language division. 3. Demonstration of various greetings and gestures. 4. Riots and other verbally inspired activities. Caste

T h i s subject is certainly important, b u t there was considerable doubt expressed as to the advisability of approaching it directly as a film to describe "caste." T h i s is a particularly sensitive point with the Indian government and many individuals. T h e consensus recommended that caste be dealt with as it naturally occurs in the coverage of almost every other subject dealing with people. Religion

Most scholars recommended that rather comprehensive studies be made of Hinduism and Islam, but opinions as to which of the minor religions rated such coverage varied. It was usually recommended that coverage of cult performances, rituals, buildings, life of the priests, legends of the Gods, and social organization be included. Some of the rituals and ceremonies thought to be of prime interest and adaptability to audio-visual presentation were:

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1. Devali 4. Durga Puja 2. Ram Lila 5. Hindu-Brahman rituals 3. Ras Lila 6. Various Melas 7. Baptism, birth, marriage, and funerals Political

Science

It was felt by many that newsreel footage, recorded and filmed speeches, and news events combined with original descriptive photography could present the following subjects in a useful manner: 1. T h e National Congress Movement. 2. Composition and function of the National Parliament. 3. Composition and function of the state and local governments. 4. Village governments and their participation in national politics. 5. T h e election process in the world's largest democracy. 6. Courts and legal procedures on all levels. 7. T h e position of the nation in world politics. Economics Recommended subjects were: 1. Employment problems. 2. Industrial production and factory conditions. 3. Changes taking place in family economic practices. Art T h e many art forms of South Asia can only be adequately presented through audio-visual media. T h e major subjects recommended for coverage were: 1. A survey of the plastic arts, possibly in several parts. 2. Music of South Asia. 3. Major types of formal dance and a survey of folk dance forms.

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4. Portrayal of a section of a traditional Sanskrit play. 5. Coverage of traveling entertainment and shows. Other

Subjects

Recreation—A survey of the major forms of recreation, sports, and games was recommended as a significant pictorial subject. Health Conditions and Medical Practices—Several advisers cautioned that this subject should be approached with great discretion due to the strict adherence in many quarters to Vedic medicine and the normal tendency to portray it as inferior to modern techniques. T h e assassination of the Prime Minister of Ceylon recently was given as a case in point. Education—A survey of the present activities of the government in rural and urban education and the problems encountered was recommended.

The Role of Coordinating Agencies and of Inter-University Cooperation in Strengthening South Asian Studies R o b e r t I. C r a n e Duke University During the past decade a great deal has been done to develop and intensify South Asian studies in America. T h e universities, the Association for Asian Studies, the major foundations and the United States government have combined to bring this about. However, several knotty problems continue to face all who are involved in the strengthening of such studies. One of the problems faced is the concern of this paper. It may be put as follows: T o what extent and in what respects can interuniversity cooperation, reinforced by the efforts of appropriate coordinating agencies, contribute to the national improvement of sound and balanced South Asian studies? If we can agree that there are tasks of this nature which require a concerted effort for solution by cooperative means, we may in turn ask what kinds of agencies will be appropriate and needed. T h e current inadequate means for coordination and cooperation affect the further development of South Asian studies negatively in several ways. T h e following summary is intended to suggest rather than to exhaust the list of negative effects. (1) NEEDLESS DUPLICATION OF TRAINING EFFORTS. While there is a critical minimum of kinds of training which should be available at each South Asian studies center, it would seem wise to avoid needless duplication of efforts, especially in subjects on which training resources are necessarily scarce. Basic work on South Asia must be available at each center of advanced learning, but highly specialized work need not be 235

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so duplicated. A balance should be struck between the various programs and centers in terms of the major teaching and research commitments of each. Thus, Hindi, as an example, might be available at each center, while Malayalam might well be developed at but one. If one major center concentrates on studies of the Maharashtra, no other center need put great emphasis on the same region. T h e essence of the proposition being made is that we should seek to move toward a rational division of labor in the interest of a sound national development of advanced work on South Asia. (2) NEEDLESS DUPLICATION IN LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT. Such duplication is equally unwise and unproductive, especially since retrospective buying of basic research materials on a given topic or region by a variety of claimants may well prove to be difficult if not impossible. While a good, basic library on South Asia will be needed at each center, highly specialized topical or regional libraries do not need to be duplicated in several places. Considerable coordination of procurement policy is called for to avoid a ruinous competition for complete holdings on all possible subjects, but such coordination should prove sound for all concerned. T h e effectiveness of this kind of cooperation can be enhanced by the development of mutual facilities for sharing of research materials on some special inter-library loan basis among the various centers. Vigorous efforts seem called for in such cooperation. Cooperation in procurement and in flexible inter-library loan and exchange arrangements will, in fact, benefit all concerned even though no single center will be able to monopolize scarce resources. T h e essence of this proposition is that cooperative measures minimize the need to strive for selfsufficiency. ( 3 ) AN ANARCHIC SCRAMBLE

FOR FOUNDATION

M E N T SUPPORTED FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS.

AND

GOVERN-

Rational utilization

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of government and foundation supported fellowship programs would seem to call for cooperation and coordination. Each program and center will, of course, need access to financial aids as inducements to study, but intense competition for scholarship funds can harm the interests of sound national development. Without adequate guidelines it is difficult for grantor agencies to make valid and equitable judgments, either on the proper scope of any program of fellowships or on wise allocations. By mutual consultation and cooperation, the various programs and centers can aid in enhancing the total funds available for fellowships because the donor agencies can and would have greater confidence in the rationality of utilization of funds granted in response to a coherent and well-thought-out national assessment of the need. Enhancement of fellowship resources on the basis of a sensible cooperation, which can best guarantee rational utilization, will benefit South Asian studies and all of the programs and centers concerned, even though no single center would be able to "write its own ticket" without regard for the national picture. In this context it goes without saying, of course, that an equitable and representative agency will be needed to coordinate national fellowship needs for all concerned. No single program or center could be expected to cooperate in such a plan unless assured of the integrity and equity of the mechanism. T h e matter of student fellowships has another aspect which requires cooperative attention. If one center puts emphasis on training in language and art and another center emphasizes language and politics, it would seem shortsighted to urge a student, whose major interest is in art, into the center whose program concentrates on politics. Put another way, the inevitable competition for students and for funds with which to support students should be decided by the quality of work offered by each center in those topics in which each student

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happens to be specially interested, and not by an anarchic scramble for fellowships as such. Rational guidance of students to appropriate programs, in terms of their own areas of interest, should include cooperation among the various programs and centers in exchanging advanced students for particular training programs. Normally such exchange of students would take place after completion of the M.A. or its equivalent. ( 4 ) T H E ABSENCE OF MINIMAL PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS.

It

seems increasingly clear that cooperation is called for with regard to the difficult matter of minimal professional standards for South Asian specialization. Though at first glance this may appear to be a singularly forbidding field for cooperation, the interests of South Asian studies seem to require it. Just as the established disciplines have worked out minimal qualifications for acceptable advanced degrees, so too can South Asian studies. 1 While such professional standards will not be automatically acceptable or enforceable, the provision of sound and agTeed-upon criteria can and should work in a beneficent fashion for all concerned and should give the profession a set of guidelines toward which to work. T h e prime objective of this suggestion is to strengthen the quality of all training programs and to improve and clarify the criteria upon which sound academic and professional judgments can be based. This is needed in the national interest and is at the same time clearly in the best interest of the academic profession and of specialists in the field. Whether Gresham ever enunciated the "law" so long associated with his name or not, the fact is that serious damage can be done to the field and to its future as a legitimate and appropriate branch of academic work if criteria for sound evaluation of training are not arrived at. 1 For an interesting discussion of the problem of professional standards, see the recent report by William J . Goode, "Encroachment, Charlatanism, and the Emerging Profession," American Sociological Review, 25, 6, 902ff.

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This is not a proposal to delegate decisions on criteria and on standards to some czar, but rather a plea for an on-going, cooperative effort by all of the major programs and centers to create and maintain standards, requirements, evaluative mechanisms and proper criteria for sound and effective judgments. T h e field can ill afford anarchy in these respects if it is to prosper. Each academic field has had to face this problem in order to survive. (5)

LACK OF COORDINATION IN LEVELS AND KINDS OF TEACHING

At present ΠΟ one can say what is "proficiency" in a South Asian language. Moreover, "proficiency" may well vary from discipline to discipline. In the interests of quality attainment, effort needs be made to work toward coordination of levels and kinds of teaching materials. T h e field is still too new for a common awareness of problems of instruction to have gone very far. It would seem, a priori, unwise to proliferate sets of teaching materials that are not comparable at the various centers. A sensible division of labor—on an agreed-upon basis—in the preparation of basic training materials would seem imperative. This effort will call for sustained cooperation in the common interest but will avoid a great deal of needless waste of individual effort. Such cooperation should include rational diffusion of acceptable training materials. MATERIALS, PARTICULARLY IN LANGUAGE COURSES.

(6)

THE

PRESENT LACK

OF

COORDINATION

OR

COOPERATION

T h e exchange of information and the creation of cooperative media are required in the interest of maximization of effective research efforts by all concerned. T h e reference at this point is not to library procurement, which has been touched upon above, but to research work by scholars. T h e present scene is one of needless anarchy. Each individual is engaged in his or her own research, both here and in the United Kingdom, and in India and Pakistan; no one really knows who else may be working on W I T H REGARD ΤΟ RESEARCH ON SOUTH ASIA.

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the same topic. Frequently we do not even know what dissertations may have been done in the same field, and it is only by chance that a given research scholar hears that another scholar has accumulated a basic research collection on a given topic. T h e r e are, of course, clear limits to which we can go in rationalizing so individual an enterprise as scholarly research, but there are also limits to which we can go in the current atomistic and anarchic approach to the research which needs to be done on South Asia. T h e main point here is that we need far better information on what has been done and what is being done by scholars in the field. Each scholar will benefit from the availability of this kind of information, both because he can avoid doing something Avhich has already been done and because it can bring to his attention gaps which require research as well as previous efforts, current facilities and extant studies which can help him in the work he wants to do. An up-to-date, accurate and relatively comprehensive roster of dissertations accepted in India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, would be an invaluable example of the kind of informational aid to research here proposed. Similarly, field research notes by scholars who have recently worked on a given topic in South Asia or in the United Kingdom, would be of genuine help to others planning to do research abroad. No mechanical device will foster mutually fruitful cooperation and exchange of information in respect to scholarly research. W h a t is needed first is a sound and by no means cumbersome vehicle for sharing information on research work and on resources which can be made available to interested parties. Building upon such a basis, it should be possible to move toward actual cooperation in research in those cases in which cooperation would be to the mutual advantage of those involved. These are the kinds of problems for which cooperation and

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agreed-upon division of labor seem needed. If these problems merit a cooperative effort, the question arises as to what kinds of agencies should be created to help interested scholars do the job. T h e rest of this paper concerns proposals for mechanisms which might be used. It is intentionally put in the plural because it seems unlikely that a single agency could or should be asked to undertake the fulfillment of all of these needs. T h e following should be viewed solely as proposals and suggestions, subject to modification after mature consideration. It should also be noted that for some of the needs suggested above, incipient agencies already exist. T h e problem is that the existing agencies are at present ill equipped to undertake the responsibilities herein envisaged. In such cases, what is suggested is a modification of an existing agency so as to equip it to perform the needed function properly and with due safeguards. Fundamentally what is needed is a format, or formats, for the appropriate expression of the considered views of the various programs and centers of South Asian studies and for their cooperation to solve mutual problems. It should be emphasized that these suggestions do not envisage creation of any agency which is independent of or superior to the constituent programs and centers. N o center can be expected to abandon its autonomy, nor is that required in the interest of effective cooperation. T h e r e exist several agencies which could, if modified to represent more effectively the various programs and centers of South Asian studies, undertake to provide the necessary coordination for some of the problems specified above. These same agencies could become the vehicles for a more highly developed cooperation. It is entirely possible, however, that one or more new agencies will be required to cope with all of the problems cited. T h e existing agencies include the following: the Association of Asian Studies, Inc., the Committee on South Asia of the A.A.S., the Committee on South Asian Languages

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of the A.A.S., the Committee on Library Resources for Southern Asia of the A.A.S., the Committee on South Asian History of the A.H.A. Let us begin by asking which of these agencies could handle each of the six major problems which have been indicated. (1) The problem of needless duplication of training efforts, particularly of specialized training emphasis, would seem to be an appropriate subject for the attention of the Committee on South Asia of the A.A.S. T h e committee has, since its inception, sought to include representatives from all of the major South Asian programs in the nation. While it has, and seeks, no power over the various centers and programs, it can be the logical meeting place for their representatives and for other scholars of South Asia. The members of the committee, selected on a rotating basis, can jointly take a broader view of the rational development of the field and can work out proposals for a sensible division of labor. As a committee of the A.A.S., the South Asia Committee is under the supervision of the board of directors of the former, and this supervision consciously attempts to ensure balance, perspective and a larger "national" viewpoint in the deliberations of the South Asia Committee. The A.A.S. has recently taken steps to increase the ability of its board to oversee the work of its many committees so as to ensure their scholarly competence and integrity. T h e board would resist any tendency within a committee, such as the South Asia Committee, to lose perspective or to favor one constituent as against another. Within the committee, cooperative consultation can take place as frequently as may be necessary for the purposes of exchange of views and the achievement of a mutually acceptable division of labor. While the committee can in no way cause a center or a program to agree to any aspect of a proposed division of labor or other cooperative arrangement designed to minimize needless duplication of efforts, the committee can

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serve as the vehicle for discussions which can, by mutual agreement, make such a division of labor possible. (2) The problem of needless duplication of effort in library procurement should be amenable to cooperative settlement under the aegis of the Committee on South Asia but through the consultative action of the Southern Asia Library Committee of the A.A.S. The latter committee commands the technical skills for advice and assistance to the various programs in the development of a sound and rational mode of procurement. Like other A.A.S. committees, the Southern Asia Library Committee is supervised by the board and is also related to the Ad Hoc Committee on Library Development of the A.A.S., which has the specific task of formulating a rational and scholarly proposal for Asian library resource development. Recommendations made by the Southern Asia Library Committee could be reviewed by the Ad Hoc Committee, by the board of the A.A.S. and by the South Asia Committee. T h e latter, as has been noted, represents all interested centers and programs as well as independent South Asian specialists. (3) T h e problem of allocation and utilization of fellowship funds is admittedly thorny. It is here suggested that the Committee on South Asia should explore the problem and the extent to which cooperation could be achieved among the various programs and centers. T h e A.A.S., which represents national scholarly opinion on Asia, could through its board review any recommendations arrived at by the South Asia Committee. These recommendations could then be forwarded to each program and center for approval, emendation or rejection. Review by the A.A.S. Board can be helpful to all concerned because government and the foundations have indicated their willingness to give serious attention to the considered opinions of the A.A.S. A.A.S. review helps to ensure equity in any decisions arrived at and helps to place what might otherwise tend

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to be a parochial viewpoint firmly in the larger national context of Asian scholarly development. This proposal does not suggest that the A.A.S. or its Committee on South Asia should decide upon the allocation of fellowship funds as between the various programs and centers. T h e A.A.S. has no desire, or power, or to so. What is suggested is that the A.A.S. and its Committee on South Asia can serve as vehicles for mutual agreement on the rational use of fellowship resources and can provide a scholarly overview of national needs. It is also suggested that agreements mutually achieved by all interested centers and programs concerning the level of need and capability for proper utilization which exists, when accomplished within the larger, review context of the A.A.S., can provide donor agencies a rational advisory service which is now lacking in the midst of a welter of particularistic judgments advanced by individuals and by the various programs. It is argued that the public interest as well as the real interests of South Asian studies will tend to be better served by such a procedure because a cooperative formulation of the need for fellowship support in a national context can be much more persuasive than alternative formulations. At the same time it seems clear that each program or center will have to continue to provide its own justification for any fellowship support it seeks. There is another important aspect on the matter of students for which the South Asia Committee should be able to play a valuable role. That is in the guidance of students to the program best suited to their interests and needs and in the creation of a rational mechanism for the exchange of students between centers as individual students develop specializations in South Asian studies. Each program or center will, of course, continue to advertise its offerings and attract students as best it can. T h e committee, meanwhile, can serve as a neutral and cooperative clearing house for objective information (of a descriptive rather

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than of an evaluative nature) on the offerings and emphasis characteristic to each program and center. Under this suggestion prospective students could make their early inquiries about all of the available programs to the committee. T o this end the committee might prepare a standard reporting form which would be completed and returned by each program and center. On the basis of these forms an informational directory of programs could be issued for the benefit of all prospective students. Such a directory would, of course, be of interest to others than students. T h e committee could also act as an information exchange between programs so as to facilitate the movement of students from one program to another in terms of special scholarly interests. T h e student who wants to stress Indian art would not, given such facilities, end u p witlessly at a program noted for its emphasis on Hindu law b u t with little or no work on Indian art. T h e committee could also serve, informally, as a clearing house for information on students who might wish to move from one program to another for less creditable motives. It would seem to be to the enlightened self-interest of all concerned to see to it that graduate students are properly placed in terms of their major interests and to see to it that proper students are so placed. If it be objected that the South Asia Committee cannot or should not play this role, my rejoinder would be that the role needs to be filled—on a consultive and cooperative basis—and that the various programs will find it judicious to create a consultative committee for this purpose if they are not prepared to use the existing South Asia Committee. My own view would be that it would be better to ask the South Asia Committee to undertake the task by creation of a special sub-committee on student exchange and guidance. (4) An important task faced by the South Asian field is the setting of minimal professional standards. As each new disci-

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pline or field of study has emerged it has faced the need to set such standards for training. If this is not done the whole field suffers. All agencies engaged in training South Asia specialists have a common interest in proper professional standards. Improperly trained persons claiming status as specialists can do the field serious damage in the professional and public view. No one benefits when these things happen. If the field is to mature to full academic and professional status, measures to ensure proper standards are required. This does not mean that a guild organization should be created; it does mean that a representative and responsible professional body concerned with maintenance of standards should be constituted. It is suggested that the Committee on South Asia, perhaps in consultation with the Committee on South Asian History of the A.H.A., should constitute a special subcommittee on professional standards which could explore the problem and make recommendations. T h e sub-committee could consist of delegates from every program of graduate training on South Asia in the United States and Canada. T h e sub-committee would, of course, have only consultative and advisory powers, but as such could speak for the field by laying down suggested criteria for professional training. With the backing and support of all of the major training programs such a sub-committee could help us to avoid major future headaches. T h e effective placement of properly trained specialists would, of course, be benefited by the existence of such a body, both directly and indirectly. T h e existence of a sub-committee on professional standards would serve to minimize the danger of improperly equipped persons entering the field at the expense of those who had been trained effectively. T h i s is particularly important in a new and expanding field. At the present time prospective employers have real difficulty evaluating j o b applicants. This is true because the field is so new and because proper criteria of professional preparation are virtually unknown to those who are not intimately involved in the field. A

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few years ago this was not a problem because almost all of the entrants into the field had been trained by one or two esteemed scholars, and the leading practitioners in the field knew all of the young people in the field personally. This is no longer the case and will be even less so five years from today. T h e existence of the proposed sub-committee on professional standards would have another value for the field. T h e established disciplines—such as economics and sociology—can judge a South Asia specialist only on the basis of his performance or training in their discipline. But the traditional disciplines must judge in terms of criteria which may have relatively little relevance for a man's capacity as a South Asia specialist. This fact creates genuine and needless problems for entrants into the field who require to be recognized both as competent disciplinarians and as trained specialists on the area. An effective committee on standards can facilitate the acceptance of trained specialists by the various academic disciplines. If South Asian studies do not cooperate to set minimal standards, the established disciplines will ignore our just claims and pass over those whom we would professionally judge to be competent. (5) A somewhat related problem is that of teaching materials, especially language training materials. This is a technical matter and one which requires careful study. Rigid, ex-cathedra pronouncements are by no means wanted, but cooperation in the mutual development and general acceptance of such training materials is required if our efforts are to prosper. This is especially true because language training needs for persons in the various disciplines are not subject to a single, homogeneous solution. What is needed is the sharing of professional opinions, needs, skills and information for the common advancement of the field. As this is, first and foremost, a matter of appropriate language training equipment and materials, it is recommended that the Committee on South Asian Languages assume responsibility for active coordination of levels and

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kinds of teaching materials for the major South Asian languages and for the various disciplines. In order to ensure balance and perspective vis-ä-vis the needs of the field and of the various disciplines, the recommendations of the South Asia Language Committee should be subject to discussion and review by the Committee on South Asia. T o this end it may be expedient for the two committees to form a new, joint sub-committee on language training materials which can effectively merge the views of trained language teachers with those of disciplinary faculty in the field of South Asian studies. (6) T h e last major area of effort is that of provision of coordination, cooperation and information on scholarly research here and abroad. While the Committee on South Asia and the South Asia Newsletter can play an important role in this matter, a larger agency is needed. With foundation assistance two steps can be taken to facilitate international interchange of information on South Asian research. T o begin with, leading foreign specialists on South Asia can become Foreign Corresponding Members of the A.A.S., and thus become corresponding members of the Committee on South Asia. These foreign corresponding members can provide United States scholars with valuable information on research activities and research resources in their own countries of origin. In addition, foundation support can make possible the creation of an International Coordinating Committee on South Asia, with representatives from India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This committee could meet every second year to plan and coordinate the cooperative interchange of scholarly and research information. Between its meetings the International Committee could publish a newsletter devoted to information on South Asia research programs, studies, facilities and publications in the constituent countries. T h e Newsletter could publicize the existence of archival and

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special research collections and could facilitate the development of scholarly endeavors in cooperative and joint research. As a valuable by-product the International Committee could, through its newsletter, inform interested scholars of the availability of archival and library materials on South Asia which were offered for sale in various places. The newsletter could also serve as a central clearing house for basic information on international travel by scholars concerned with South Asia. By this means specialists in any one nation would be informed in advance of prospective visits by scholars from other countries and could arrange to contact such visitors. Another by-product of the existence of the committee and of its newsletter would be provision of adequate information on dissertations completed and in progress. Presumably once this committee were in existence it could act—upon occasion—to form or stimulate major international conferences on particular academic topics related to South Asian studies. The basic purpose of the International Committee would, however, be to exchange information on scholarly research relating to South Asia in all of the constituent countries. T h e International Committee would, presumably, cooperate with agencies such as the Committee on South Asian History of the A.H.A., which is engaged in operation of a visiting scholar program. By means such as those suggested above, the major emerging needs of the field of South Asian studies should be served. In closing it should be stated that none of these recommendations are intended to set up an agency with more than cooperative, consultative and advisory powers. It is fully recognized that the various scholars, programs and centers are independent and "sovereign." The hope is that the various centers will recognize the need to cooperate for the common welfare and for the mutual advancement of the field. No single agency can or should coerce any college, university, or South Asia program.

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T h a t fact, however, need not prevent cooperation and consultation regarding common problems among equals and on a voluntary basis. If the specific mechanisms suggested here to cope with the major problems enumerated do not meet with the approval of the interested programs and parties, the solution is not to abandon the proposals, but rather to create agencies which can do the jobs which need doing—with proper safeguards—in place of those which have been suggested. If the objections should be that the existing agencies are not sufficiently representative to undertake these tasks, the answer would seem to be to make the agencies more representative rather than to drop the subject. T h e field of South Asian studies needs adequate facilities to cope with these kinds of problems and by goodwill we should be able to arrive at satisfactory mechanisms. Finally, if it be argued that the tasks are too complex to resolve, the answer would be that this set of proposals does not seek to minimize the complexity of some of the tasks at hand. T h e creation or revision of a committee does not mean that a problem has been solved. Solutions may require a year or two of serious effort and in some cases the problem will continue to face us so long as the field exists. T h a t hardly argues for dropping the attempt to come to grips with the matters at hand. Complex tasks require patience, goodwill, industry and the awareness that the progress of the field benefits all participants therein.

Utilizing the Visitors from South Asia B u r t o n Stein University of Minnesota South Asian visitors to the United States, including both students and scholars, have been a part of South Asian language and area studies programs for some years. South Asian students have been used to advantage as informants who, working under the supervision of American linguists, have helped to train American students in the languages of South Asia. Recently, young Indian linguists have come to several American centers in order to contribute to language training, including the establishment of languages not previously taught, while working for advanced degrees in linguistics. At some of our South Asian study centers, senior South Asian scholars have made significant contributions as in the Rockefeller Foundation supported program under the American Historical Association which has provided Indian historians at several American centers or through direct grants from private foundations to the centers in order to support individual South Asian scholars. Beyond question, the utilization of South Asian visitors had had a felicitous effect upon South Asian studies in the United States thus far; however, more can and should be done, and some changes are desirable. This paper attempts to evaluate the opportunity presented to South Asian study centers by the utilization of visitors from South Asia, the problems which appear to be associated with the present utilization of visitors, and, finally, some recommendations for improving the utilization of visitors to South Asian language and area studies programs in the United States. This discussion is tentative because, so far as I have been able to determine, there has been no serious study of this matter. There have been recent studies which deal insightfully with the prob251

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lems of foreign students in the United States,1 and one of our co-conferees, Richard Lambert, has as much knowledge about the attitudes and problems of South Asian students in the United States as anyone. However, it is not with the "learning Brahmins" but with the "learned Brahmins" that this paper is concerned. It is the qualified South Asian scholar who appears to be the visitor capable of making an important contribution to our present language and area programs. At the present time there is a study group, the Committee on Language and Area Centers (Chairman: President E. W. Lyon of Pomona College), which was established by the American Council on Education to produce an inventory of language and area centers among which will be South Asian centers. This committee will not report until later this year, and its findings should be instructive regarding the impact and use of South Asian visitors. I have been indebted to another report, kindly provided by Dr. Arthur S. Adams of the American Council on Education, entitled, "Foreign Visitors on the American Campus," by Reuben Lorenz, which was completed a few months ago for the Committee on Foreign Participant Training Programs of the Commission on Education and International Affairs (American Council on Education).

I. T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y

In the year 1958-59, the number of all foreign faculty in the United States and associated with American universities and colleges was 1,937. This was the first year that the number of 11 have been helped, for example, by the draft report of the "Seminar on the Utilization of Research in Programs for Foreign Students" at Waidenwoods, Michigan, August, I960, under the sponsorship of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers and the Danforth Foundation [ed. Josef A. Mestenhauser, University of Minnesota].

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foreign faculty in the United States exceeded the number of American faculty members abroad. Of these foreign scholars on American campuses, in 1958-59, 156 were from India, 15 were from Pakistan, and 5 were from Ceylon. In 1960, the total of all foreign faculty in the United States had increased to 2,539, as against the 1,777 American scholars who served abroad in that year, of which 241 were from India, 121 from Pakistan, and 7 from Ceylon. T h e increasing number of foreign faculty associated with American universities, and particularly those from South Asia, presents obvious opportunities to those of us concerned with language and area studies training. However, the nature of the opportunity appears to differ according to the interests and competences of the visiting South Asian faculty. Table 1 shows the distribution of the South Asian faculty in the United States since 1954 according to their major fields of interest. The relatively small number of South Asian visitors whose major fields of interest were social science or humanities must be considered an important limitation upon the opportunity to utilize South Asian visitors in our present language and area programs. A further limitation upon their potential usefulness is the very small number of visitors whose major field of interest and competence is language and literature. In 1956—57 there were 49 foreign faculty members visiting American institutions who had competence in language and literature; none was from South Asia. In 1959, of the 55 language and literature scholars from foreign countries, only three were from India and one from Pakistan. In 1960, while the overall total of language and literature scholars had increased to 72 and of these there was an increase in Asian scholars, the number of Indian scholars remained at three, and there was neither a Pakistani nor a Ceylonese scholar.2 Thus, of the total number of scholars from 2 T h e Committee on International Exchange of Persons, Conference Board of Associated Research Councils, Visiting Scholars in the United States, 195960 (December, 1959) and 1960 (September, 1960).

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