Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 19:49:12 -0600
From: rahul-AT-peaches.ph.utexas.edu (Rahul Mahajan)
Subject: Re: RAHUL: CLUTCHING YOUR PEARLS


>Rahul wrote:
>
>> while the racism of Indians against blacks is obviously of no great import to
>>>anyone, the unbelievable prejudices of Hindus against Muslims and of caste
>>>Hindusagainst untouchables dwarf anything you see over here.
>
> Rahul, I must disagree.  The racism of Indians can be of  great import.
>I was speaking to  my advisor the other day, a professor of
>African-American studies. He related to me the story of one his students.
>Fathered by an African-American, she was forced into adoption by her Indian
>mother's parents who did not want the family name sullied.  She has never
>met either of her biological parents.  She spent  her early life in
>orphanages, and she now wants nothing to do with Indians, most of whom are
>probably all too happy to oblige.
>
>Also, despite the white flight in which Indian professionals have been
>honorary participants,  it is not as if they live on different planet,
>keeping their prejudices all to themselves.
>
>Now despite all its controversial stances on the nature of the Indian
>bourgeoisie, the mode of production and Naxalite ideology, etc. Jan
>Myrdal's 1986 *India Waits* remains one of the most erudite and explosive
>accounts of the class conflicts in the subcontinent.
>
>There was however a critical review of his father's (Gunnar) massive study
>of Asian poverty which repays study: Paul Mattick, "Gunnar Myrdal's
>Dilemma" in Science and Society, vol XXXII, no 4, Fall 1968.  The essay
>includes a very illuminating discussion of Marx's theory of the world
>market.  Jan Myrdal's work is obviously of a different nature than his
>father's, but perhaps he confronts the same dilemma.

Rakesh, I wasn't saying that to exculpate Indian racists, just to point out
the principal contradictions. Yes, it's true that, as Indians get more
integrated in the United States, their racism against blacks will come to
have the same significance as that of whites. It's already happening to a
great extent, with people like D'Souza running around. Even so, Indians in
the US can at best be honorary white people; they're too small in number to
be an independent power. On the other hand, bigotry in India is reaching
nightmare proportions.

You made a cryptic remark about the subalterns failing to adequately
theorize caste and class bigotry in India, or something like that. I'd like
to hear a bit more about what you mean.

Rahul




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