For those of you who want to follow these editing wars... Isa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU> To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 11:03 AM Subject: H-ASIA: Wikipedia usurped in entries on Hindu studies in the US
H-ASIA March 13, 2006
Wikipedia usurped in entries on Hindu studies in the United States *********************************************************************** Ed. note: Cross-post from RISA-L with permissionof Peter Gottschalk. In light of our earlier discussions on the Wikipedia phenomenon, this struck me as of interest and relevance. FFC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Peter Gottschalk <pgottschalk@wesleyan.edu>
Colleagues,
Wikipedia.org has been usurped to impugn specific scholars and Hindu studies in the US in general, omitting the far larger context of the work by both individuals and the scholarly community. In particular, Wikipedia's entry on Wendy Doniger defines and rejects her work almost entirely within a frame of hurt Hindu sensibilities, an entry on Jeff Kripal defines him only in regard to allegations and controversy surrounding Kali's Child, and the entry for "Hinduism in the United States" simply dismisses all scholarship for its supposed shoddiness.
Considering the unfortunately high reliance on this source of so many of our students and, perhaps, many members of the public, it would behoove those of us who would care to offer counter-perspectives. Certainly hurt sensibilities and controversial scholarship merit attention, however, they do not merit all the attention in entries supposedly about individuals. For those who don't know, Wikipedia is a very popular information database developed collaboratively by its users.
The article on Wendy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Doniger) begins with some basic background on her, listing academic affiliations and works, but without any broad perspective on her work or its general significance. The text then moves to longer criticisms that reference "critiques" and "objections" deriving only from Rajiv Malhotra and Sankrant Sanu. The external links portion shows a bit more balance, but most of the sources are negative, three being written by Malhotra and Sanu. The entry itself offers only the shortest of responses of Wendy to her critics. Many mistakes lace the list of her works.
The article on Jeff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Kripal), except for a reference to his position at Rice, defines him entirely by his work Kali's Child, omitting everything else of his scholarship. At least Jeff's response to one of his critics, Swami Tyagananda, is included, although this is countered by a criticism from Malhotra.
Meanwhile, within its entry "Hinduism in the United States" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia offers this under the subtitle "Scholarship": "Hinduism studies in American Universities has been under the spotlight recently for it's shoddy scholarship. With the increasing Hindu population in the country, gross errors & misrepresentations that may have passed through easily before are being caught and highlighted. An influential figure in the academy, Wendy Doniger, Professor of History of Religions, University of Chicago, has come under severe criticism for her work and that of her students." "Shoddy scholarship" has a link to a Sanu piece and "students" to Malhotra's "Wendy's Child Syndrome."
Answers.com, another online database, posts the Wikipedia all these entries in their entirety.
If you'd like to participate in the editing of the entry and are unfamiliar with how this works (as was I until today), you can find answers at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction
Personally, I plan on complaining to the organizers of Wikipedia that they can allow such one-sided entries about scholars (or any individuals) without any apparent effort at balance.
Wikipedia recognizes the problems with its project, which has led to erroneous and damaging claims about individuals being posted in its entries. It addresses these at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wikipedia
Peter
Peter Gottschalk Associate Professor Wesleyan University <pgottschalk@wesleyan.edu> ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/