Hinduphobia in academia

Hinduphobia in academic circles is a narrative discourse which "typically portrays Hinduism exclusively as an oppressive and regressive tradition, inextricably bound up with social institutions like caste and patriarchy. In this discourse, positive and progressive aspects of Hindu traditions—such as those which question or oppose caste prejudice or male chauvinism—are either ignored or attributed to outside, non-Hindu influences".

=Quotes=


 * Far more seriously, both in America and in India, scholars suspected of pro-Hindu sympathies are blocked in their access to academe, and their work gets studiously ignored. For India, a tip of the blanket over this hushed-up phenomenon was lifted by Dr. A. Devahuti: Bias in Indian Historiography (1980). It is seriously in need of an update, but I am given to understand that one is forthcoming. For America, a start was made by Rajiv Malhotra with his books Invading the Sacred (2007) and Academic Hinduphobia (2016)... At any rate, one does not have to follow Hindutva, or even be a Hindu or an Indian, to observe that American India-watchers utter a strong anti-Hindu prejudice in their publications.
 * Elst, K. Hindu Dharma and the Culture Wars (2019)


 * [Hinduphobia in academia] "is not simply a critique of Hinduism" but "a deeply embedded and very often unexamined set of assumptions pervading some, though not all, academic writing on Hinduism...hinduphobic discourse... follows a circular logic, in which the conclusion has already been built into the premises: that, whatever the problem or issue in question, Hindus and Hinduism are at fault.."
 * Indologist Jeffrey Long


 * There is at the moment a very powerful, sustained, and unrelenting cultural and intellectual attack on Hinduism in the media and in the academy.
 * Professor of Media Studies Vamsee Juluri


 * [in academia] "the most vile and baseless writing too is deemed acceptable against Hindus".
 * Vamsee Juluri He has also criticized the replacement of the word "Indian" or "Hindu" with "South Asian" in school textbooks as "extreme" and "unjustified".


 * [hinduphobia is fueled by a number of factors including] "academic bias still rooted in colonial-era misportrayals".
 * The Hindu American Foundation claims that


 * Hinduism studies has produced ridiculous caricatures that could easily be turned into a Bollywood movie or a TV serial.
 * Rajiv Malhotra