Indian Studies

The departure of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd I. Rudolph to accept associate professorships at the University of Chicago next year will leave Harvard with no courses on the history or government of modern India. Earlier this year Rudolph explained that one reason he and his wife are leaving is that, whereas Chicago has the best South Asian program in the country, "Harvard has pretty much thrown in the towel in this field." And it certainly looks that way.

The Administration's traditional response to suggestions that additional area studies programs be established is that it takes a long time and a lot of money to set one up. Currently the University is expanding the Latin Amercan studies program; after that it is likely to focus on Africa. Although Dean Ford maintans that Harvard "certainly has no intention of freezing Indian studies out in the future," Indian studies still remain low on the priority list.

It is foolish to argue that Africa or Latin America is more or less "important" than India; and a good area studies program does take a long time to develop. But that is not the issue. The departure of the Rudolphs does not weaken modern Indian studies at Harvard; it eliminates them. And as neither the Government nor the History Department has allocated a place to India--the presence of an assistant professor and a lecturer who are specialists in this field has been basically a fortunate accident--there is no reason to expect Indian studies to reappear.

But it should not be necessary for Harvard to establish a center to treat every area of study. Since Chicago already has a fine South Asian program, it would be better, perhaps, for Harvard to concentrate on Latin America. If a student wants to specialize in South Asian studies, let him go to Chicago--and learn his Hindi there if necessary. Nevertheless, Harvard should offer some introduction to one of the most important areas of the modern world.

Dean Ford stated recently that he would prefer not to see Indian studies become a separate program. He suggested that the Committee on East Asian Studies take responsibility for India, as well as China and Japan. This would be an easy and logical solution. The Committee should actively seek at least one specialist on modern Indian affairs.