Adi Prakash

ethnographer, journo, documentary @Wayseller | PhDing at @ColoradoAnthro | @MedillSchool, @TISSpeak alum | Himalaya, South Asia | views and dissent, both my own

[David Josef Volodzko @davidvolodzko]

"Defaming whole country?" I literally wrote, "I love India. It is and always will be one of my favorite places in the world" and she accuses me of defaming India for addressing the plight of women in the country.

I also wrote, after someone who read my post made nasty remarks about India:

"Respectfully, you should be ashamed of yourself, sir. Yes, the situation for women is egregious. But let’s walk and chew gum for a step. The culture is one of the most richly beautiful and philosophically insightful of any I have ever seen. And I’ve seen most of them. Few cultures offer such bewildering depth or captivating beauty. It’s almost no wonder that enlightenment itself was conceptually conceived in these lands. And the food? And the music? And the nature? And, best of all, the people. Problems exist. I’m the last person you have to tell because I’m a strident critic of India’s flaws. As I am of Gaza, Korea, Israel, China, the US, Peru, and other places that I love. The places I do not love, I care less if they improve. Yes, problems exist. But so do the charms, and if you don’t know them, you don’t know India. In fact, I will tell you something more. I have already shared some of the awful stories of sexual assault in India, but of the many women I have met and come to know as friends in India, all of whom had such experiences in one way or another, not one ever concluded that India was a shithole worth nothing. To the great credit of these wise women, they saw the horror more directly than you or I, and the beauty. None became bigots. None walked away despising Indian people on the whole. None determined to snort at their entire culture. And thank god, because it would have been their loss, not India’s. The issues regarding treatment of women are only the tip of the iceberg, to be frank. There’s a lot of ugly to discuss of India. This contradiction seems to be confusing many people in my replies. Welcome to India. But although some countries are perhaps as beautiful, none are more so."

And yet @sharmarekha says I am "defaming" the whole country.

This is what you get from NCW types. I am not Indian, so take my view for whatever it is worth, but my Indian friends do not seem to have much respect, if any, for NCW and one reason for this is because it has a deplorable habit of blaming women when they are attacked, raped or even murdered. NCW makes India less safe for women when it does these things.

Sharma herself has faced criticism for failure to respond to complaints filed by women's rights groups over credible allegations of women being publicly stripped naked, beaten by mobs and raped in public.

And yet here she is with the gall to accuse me of defaming India. Ms. Sharma, it is you who defame India by presiding over a group called the National Commission for Women and doing nothing about the issue noted above, and then criticizing people like me for drawing attention to this important matter.

I love India. I don't have enough heart to hold all the love I have for India, nor enough words to express it. But do you?

[KTR @KTRBRS]

Disgraceful & absolutely unacceptable !

I demand the @USAmbIndia to take up the matter with US Government authorities and deliver justice to the family of young Jaahnavi Kandula

I request EA Minister @DrSJaishankar Ji to take up the matter with his counterpart & demand a independent investigation into the matter

It is tragic that the life of a a youngster with soaring ambitions has been cut short but what’s more tragic is the callous disregard for justice to the victim

[Adi Prakash @Wayseller]

Disgusting response. Kevin Dave needs to be treated as the criminal he is.

[World Affairs @1_World_affairs]

⚠️
US 🇺🇸 Cop who killed Indian 🇮🇳 student Jahnavi Kandula won't face criminal charges due to 'lack of evidence' 🤯.

Audio from police bodycam contains an officer laughing about an victim, who was killed when hit by a police car

American judiciary 🫡

[Olivia Doak @oliviatdoak]

Two #CUBoulder doctoral students, @Wayseller and @Urmi_1990, allege they faced racial discrimination within the university's anthropology department.

Read what they and CU Boulder have to say here: https://t.co/2M3IMPic8q

[Urmi @Urmi_1990]

Lol. It's almost funny at this point that the very thing we've been crying ourselves hoarse about (that what happened with us WAS racism)...has been proven by TROLLS. @CUBoulder/ white powers - if you needed more proof (coz obvs two South Asians telling you doesn't hold), here: https://t.co/S2FG9PJYM1

[Bloodhound Zags @imthegodofblood]

@Urmi_1990 @Wayseller I'm so sorry you had to experience this Urmi. As a graduate of CU's ANTH undergraduate program, I am deeply disgusted by their behavior and I echo your sentiments of racism in the department, particularly with how many microaggressions I received daily. I pray this resolves soon.

[Dr Merritt • byeratchel & boisterous @BlackPhDE]

@IcareYesIdo @Urmi_1990 @Wayseller @CUBoulder Funny, that's the part about this that I find the least surprising. I started off as an Anthro major and was quickly so disgusted with the dept that I switched majors after two years. Then again, my current field is just as bad, if not worse. I'm also at CU so can attest to this

[Dr Merritt • byeratchel & boisterous @BlackPhDE]

@IcareYesIdo @Urmi_1990 @Wayseller @CUBoulder Lol I'm not white but one of the few Black faculty and have to teach in the anthro building because of building renovations, so have seen them firsthand 🤷🏾‍♀️

[Zero⁷ 🪨🪷 is a fish 白雪糖面 @0Zero_oreZ0]

All too familiar

[DJ i hate henry kissinger @bjork_yorke]

i worked in the Office of Student Conduct my first few years at CU and to see it be used in this way against students of colour adds a whole new lens to my experience as a student employee there. this is insane (and so sorry this happened to y'all)

[Anuja Chandramouli @anujamouli]

Demon 79, from Black Mirror S6 set in 70s Eng has a scene where an Asian woman is told not to have pungent food (biryani) at work by an employer &asked to bring a ham sandwich. She is also made to eat in the basement.
This scenario played out in 2023. For real. Racism alert!

[Asmita Nandy @NandyAsmita]

This is so disgusting. Just another example of literate bigots!

[Vatsala @singhvatsala]

Instead of taking action against a racist staff member who prevented an Indian student from reheating their “pungent and smelly” food, the chair at @CUBoulder assigns a separate kitchen because the Indian food “smell lingers”. How is it not racist and exclusionary!

[Wri Tweets (@[email protected]) @Wri_Dutta]

Where diversity, inclusion and equity are so well spoken and celebrated, such horrendous events are difficult to apprehend by readers, leave alone the recipients.
#DEI matters in action not just words.

[Urmi @Urmi_1990]

We'd like to see this system change, so it can result in a better, fairer, more equitable world for us all. Right now, we remain gaslit, suppressed, and anguished.
@ColoradoAnthro @AmericanAnthro @culanth @news4anthros

[Urmi @Urmi_1990]

Throughout, I have been careful to blot/ blur out all names because I do not want a twitter witch hunt, but instead, accountability and a public correction of their wrongs. The department's harmful microaggressions have perpetuated systemic racism against us & diminished us.

[Urmi @Urmi_1990]

And finally, here is the letter of support that fellow graduate students in Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote on our behalf, decrying the behaviour Adi and I have been facing:

[Urmi @Urmi_1990]

Here is the email I wrote to the Chair, that I also marked to the entire Anthropology department: