I once found myself in conversation with a dude who called himself Indian American and Hindu. He was one of those MBA-types. (Hazards of living in New York.) When he politely asked me what I did (he was visibly uninterested), I casually talked about how my work addresses the...

American imperialist agenda that undergirds the education system (because I’m Indu and that’s casual talk for me) and how that very specifically impacts India and Hinduism, in curriculum and in “real life”.

His response?

“Someone’s gotta be the imperialist nation. I’d rather it be the one I’m living in and benefit from it. Why would you try to fight that?”

(I’m paraphrasing.)

I mean, at least he was being transparent?

But also...what does it mean to be “Indian” American if that’s your attitude about U S policy towards India? Go gettem, tiger?

Did I mention that it was a brief conversation?

It also makes me think how deeply our profession, and the specific education logic & work culture that frame and support it, can often shape a set of commitments that determine how we read the world, our purpose in it, and the actions, behaviors, and responses we take and have.

I see this all the time, when people from the business world want to “solve” education using business logic. Same with tech folk. STEMBA, my friend @VamseeJuluri calls them.

But education is a different phenomenon altogether. Humanities are entirely different.

Anti-Hindu folk know this and use this.

They see that so many Hindus are daytime neoliberal STEMBA aspirants and keyboard warriors by night. What is a “good one” or “name-shame” in the face of powerful, compelling frameworks of thinking about the world?

Nothing. Or worse.

And no, it’s not just about “narrative”.

What does this mean for the next generations of Dharmic society?

This is always on my mind.