WASHINGTION, D.C., US, May 21, 2016 (Times of India by Chidanand Rajghatta): India has survived in California school textbooks. Nothing calamitous was going happen to the country itself, but a pedagogical and academic battle over use of the term “India” over “South Asia” has been resolved to the satisfaction of overseas Indian nationalistic groups and Indophiles.
At the heart of the battle was a tussle between the nationalist groups and a few academics over using the term “South Asia” in place of India in certain contexts in school textbooks in California. Some leftist historians had petitioned for a change, maintaining among other views, that “India” was a post-colonial entity, and the term “South Asia” would be better suited while teaching ancient history of the region.
Eventually, many of the edits petitioned by the South Asia Faculty Group, including a demand to delete “Hinduism” and replace it with “religion of ancient India,” were rejected. “For years, the American perception of Hinduism and India has been overly simplistic and inaccurate, in part due to the content of California textbooks,” said Samir Kalra, senior director for the Hindu American Foundation, which joined nationalist groups in challenging efforts to “South Asianise” the region’s history. “There are nearly a million Indian and Hindu Americans who call California home, so it’s important for them to see their cultural and religious heritage represented with accuracy and parity.”