Does Shivalinga ‘mean’ phallus? A theoretical dispute
Question: “In the context of puja, does Shivalinga denote or connote anything other than Shiva, in particular “phallus”? A Wendy says “Yes”, a Balu says “No”. For some person, not…
Read moreDenying experience in intra-cultural communication—S.N. Balagangadhara
1. Let us begin with one of the minimal conditions for inter-cultural (verbal) communication. And that is: people should be able to have conversations with each other. It is legitimate…
Read moreWhy ‘Westology’ ala Indology doomed to fail?
1.1. The inherent logic of such an enterprise forces one, as it were, to build alternate theories to the existing, ‘western’ theories. Instead of explaining this statement in the abstract,…
Read moreHow to go about developing an alternative to the so-called social sciences? — S.N. Balagangadhara
I would like you to consider the following four kinds of answers, each pitched at a different level of generality and at a different level of description. One could provide…
Read moreNegative portrayals of non-Western Cultures like Indian: Secularization of Christianity – S.N. Balagangadhara
I want to raise three issues: (a) how to analyze what Rajiv portrays about Wendy and her children in the field of religious studies; (b) depending on that, what an…
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