June 3, 2003
Mr. M. Brannon Parker
2441 S Kihei Rd B105
Kihei, Hawai'i 96753
Dear Mr. Parker:
Thank you for informing me of your
opposition to the appointment of Professor Romila Thapar to a Kluge Chair
at the Library of Congress. Thank you also for directing my attention to
the Internet petition that opposes her appointment.
Mr. James H. Billington, the Librarian
of Congress, envisioned a center within the library as a place where the
"world's leading thinkers make greater use of the world's greatest collection
of human knowledge." In October 2000, Mr. John W. Kluge, the President
of Metromedia, donated $60 million to support such an endeavor, and subsequent
plans called for the establishment of five senior Kluge Chairs to correspond
broadly to groupings among the library's vast collections.
In an April 17, 2003 news release,
the Library of Congress announced Professor Thapar's appointment as the
first holder of the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South,
and noted that she would be spending ten months pursing "Historical Consciousness
in Early India" as her area of research. The library also noted that
in her published works, Professor Thapar had pioneered "both the study
of early Indian texts as history and the integration of the critical use
of archaeology with written sources."
In a February 1999 interview, Professor
Thapar stated that "when one talks about history, one talks about it at
two levels." She indicated that one level is information, which has
to be accurate, and the other is interpretation of that information, "which
is where different schools of history come into play." Clearly, different
schools of history are at play with regard to the professor's appointment.
However, given the Kluge Center's
purpose and the professor's overall credentials, I believe her appointment
appears appropriate. That said, whatever work of history results
from her current research, she, like all professional historians, will
be required to cite her sources and defend her interpretation of those
sources. By the same token, those who assert that Professor Thapar
has "expounded [an] ignorant view of India's unique history and civilization"
must cite her works and her sources and explain either why her works are
mistaken or why her sources are inadequate, or both.
In the end, my view is that this
appointment, while controversial, will contribute, in both Professor Thapar's
work and in the scholarly criticism to which it will be subjected, to broader
discussion of a vital area in world history. I am hopeful that, in
that vein, her work will be true to the overall purpose of the Library
of Congress.
With aloha,
ED CASE
United States Congressman
Hawai'i, Second District
