American Understanding of India (A Symposium)

The Conference on American Understanding of India was convened during the Year of India' in the United States, 1985/86. Indian and American scholars versed in a broad range of disciplines were invited to the Library of Congress in October 1986 to discuss and evaluate the penetration of Indian ideas and artifacts into the consciousness of Americans and contributions Americans and Indian immigrants have made to our understanding of South Asia.

Progress towards publication was interrupted by the paralytic disablement and subsequent retirement of the editor. Despite the inevitable temporal gap, some of the presenters think it useful that the conference papers be made available to a wider audience. It must be understood that the ideas and assessments expressed are attributable to their authors only as of the period of the conference and may not reflect their views today.

Louis A. Jacob was Head of the Southern Asia Section of the Library of Congress in 1985/86 when he organized the symposium on 'American Understanding of India'. He retired in 1993. Jacob began his career as South Asia librarian at the University of California at Berkeley in 1959. In 1968 he was named Head of the Oriental Department in the Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania and Assistant Professor, Department of South Asian Studies. He joined the Library of Congress in 1972.

The Symposium on American Understanding of India took place at the Library of Congress during 23-25 October 1986. Sixteen scholars from the United States and India representing a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences were invited to present papers. Two, Robert Crane and M.N. Srinivas, had been contributors to the beginnings of post-Independence scholarship on contemporary India. Others, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Burton Stein, Karl Potter, Joseph Elder, N. Gerald Barrier, A.K. Ramanujan and Charles White were in the generation of academic program builders in this country. Still others, Wendy O'Flaherty, Barbara Metcalf, Daniel Neuman, Barbara Stoler Miller and George Hart represent a new generation of mature American scholars researching and teaching Indian subjects.

The occasion for the symposium was the year and one-half Festival of India, 1985-86. Jointly sponsored by the governments of the United States and India, the Festival was a celebration of Indian culture for an American audience; an effort to enhance the image of India in American eyes. Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco mounted major exhibits. Performances of classical Indian dance and music were presented at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center and on university campuses and other stages throughout the country. Film festivals and craft shows toured extensively, and educational programs, academic conferences and symposia focused on numerous aspects of Indian life and Indian-American relationships. The annual summer folklife festival on the Mall in Washington, D.C. became an Indian fairground for a few days before and after 4 July, as Indian craftsmen and performers, brought to the Museum of Natural History for an extensive display called "Aditi: a festival of the living arts of India," transferred their activities out of doors.

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