American University Yoga Group Disbands Over Complaints of Cultural Appropriation
“Having my culture represented by an almost entirely white troupe of dancers is incredibly frustrating”
The problems began when a student complained to the school’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion. What a surprise.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Campus yoga group disbands over cultural appropriation complaint
A yoga club at American University has been shuttered due to a single complaint of cultural appropriation.
The campus Bhakti Yoga Club invited a non-Indian group to perform the Indian epic “The Ramayana.” This did not sit well with American University student Maya Krishnan, who complained to the President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion.
Krishnan also wrote an op-ed in the student paper, The Eagle, titled, “Opinion: ‘India Day’ festival and Viva Kultura performance shows that AU’s administration forgets their South Asian students.”
“Having my culture represented by an almost entirely white troupe of dancers is incredibly frustrating,” Krishnan wrote.
She continued: “The sponsors of this show and the artists acted as if their actions were acceptable because they have converted to the Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism. The reality of this is that white European dancers will never know my intersectional experience as a Hindu woman, being a brown bodied person and the other aspects of systematic racism that I, as well as other South Asian people, have experienced.”
As a result, the yoga club’s adviser, president, and vice president have all resigned.
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Comments
Maya Krishnan:
What caste is she from? Seven will get you eleven that she is from the Brahmin caste. Indians of other castes believe that Brahmins discriminate against non-Brahmins.
That being said, many or most Indians have some scorn for Westerners who, like Hare Krishna people, allegedly convert to Hinduism. The Indian take is that those converts know very little of the Hindu traditions.
The Indian is racist for not offering to assist the group of Caucasian in their conversion to the Hindu religion.
Maya couldn’t be happy or proud that some folk have chosen to take a great interest in what is part of her heritage and live it? I wonder if Maya appropriates anything of other cultures?