In Our Own Voices - Dharma Education in North America

Inaugural Session:

Keynote speakers:

  • Professor T.S. Rukmani (Former Chair, Hindu Studies, Concordia University, Canada)
  • Professor Kapil Kapoor (Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Former Professor of English Literature and Dean, Department of Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

Panel One: The Dharma Paradigm and Ethos

Chair: Professor Rita Sherma

Presenters:

  1. Professor Balbinder Bhogal (Associate Professor of Religion, Hofstra University)
  2. Professor Jeffery D. Long (Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies and Co-Director of Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College)
  3. Professor Rita Sherma (Professor and Executive Director , Confluence School of Faith Studies, Taksha University; Vice President and Co-Founder of The Dharma Academy of North America [DANAM])

Commentator: Professor Jeffrey Ruff (Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Marshall University)

The aims of this panel are to:

  • Highlight the unique gifts and resources of the four Dharma traditions—Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh—for the world community
  • Express visions for the Dharma Paradigm(s) in ways that include and transcend the boundaries of the particular Dharma traditions
  • Delineate the relevance of Dharma traditions as important living intellectual and spiritual resource-systems for an interconnected and harmonious planet
  • Identify pragmatic ways through which we can create a new field of "Dharma Studies" that allows for research, publication, and teaching of Dharma traditions and acknowledges their divergences, commonalities and interrelatedness

Panel Two: Theories of Knowledge
(The Epistemology and Hermeneutics of Dharma Education)

Chair: Professor Gurleen Grewal

Professor and Founding Director, Center for India Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa

Presenters:

  1. Professor Anantanand Rambachan (Chair and Professor of Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies, St. Olaf College) - Hindu Perspective
  2. Professor Prabhsharandeep Singh Sandhu (Independent Scholar; Lecturer, Center for Sikh Studies, University of California, Berkeley) - Sikh Perspective
  3. Professor Rita Gross (Former Professor, Comparative Studies in Religion, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire; Ordained Buddhist Dharma Teacher [Lopon]) - Buddhist Perspective
  4. Professor Anne Vallely (Associate Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada) - Jain Perspective

Commentator: Dr. Debashish Banerji (Director, Nalanda International, Dean of Academic Affairs, University of Philosophical Research)

This session will deal with various dimensions of the topic such as:

  • Valid means of knowing in Dharma traditions and Western Culture (Epistemology)
  • Understanding the lenses through which we see and interpret all things (Hermeneutics)
  • Problematic methodologies in Western approaches to the Dharma Studies
  • Defining foundational elements from these traditions, theories of knowledge and understanding (Dharma Epistemologies & Hermeneutics), and examining ways to apply them to the concerns of our times

 

Lunch

Keynote address:

Shri Rajiv Malhotra (Founder and President, Infinity Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey)
"Distinguishing Features of the Dharma Paradigm"

 

Panel Three: Philosophy and Methodology of Dharma Education (Pedagogy)

Chair: Professor Christopher Key Chapple

Presenters:

  1. Professor Sthaneshwar Timalsina (Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, San Diego State University) - Hindu Perspective
  2. Professor Arvind-Pal Mandair (S.B.S.C Chair in Sikh Studies, University of Michigan) - Sikh Perspective
  3. Professor Duncan Ryukon Williams (Chair, School of Religion, University of Southern California) - Buddhist Perspective
  4. Professor Christopher Key Chapple (Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) - Jain Perspective

Commentator: Professor Ramdas Lamb (Associate Professor, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

This panel will address issues such as:

  • The philosophy of education
  • Methodology for teaching Dharma traditions
  • Suggested frameworks for introductory courses for Dharma Education 101 (under the broader category of World Religion 101 or World History 101 or World Civilization 101)
  • A conceptual framework for teaching Dharma traditions in interrelated ways that take into account their shared perspectives while affirming their distinctions
  • Creation of new vocabulary for the Dharma traditions (i.e. developing new terminology in heritage languages - in reference to contemporary concepts, theories and concerns)

A brief statement about the objectives of Panels 4 and 5, both of which will focus on overviews and/or strategic explorations of the field of Dharma Education:

These two panels aim to explore and survey some selected dimensions of Dharma education, which, it is hoped, will help facilitate further research and lead to the emergence of new insights that can guide and inform the further development of Dharma education.

Panel Four: Overview of the Field of Dharma Education

Chair: Professor Arvind Sharma

Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University, Canada

Presenters:

  1. Professor Purushottama Bilimoria (Professor, Indian and Western Philosophy, Melbourne University, Australia; Visiting Professor, University of California, Berkeley; Associate Professor, Taksha University)
  2. Dr. Shrinivas Tilak (Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal, in History of Religions and Independent Scholar)
  3. Professor Kundan Singh (Adjunct Faculty, California Institute for Integral Studies and at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology)
  4. Dr. Sulekh C. Jain (Founder, "International School for Jain Studies"; Former President, JAINA)
  5. Professor N.V. Raghuram (International Yoga Professor, Vivekananda Yoga University, Bangalore)

This panel will offer an overview of the field of Dharma education including the following themes:

  • An outline of existing and emerging professional journals, book series and publication houses related to the four Dharma traditions in particular and Indian Philosophy and Indic Civilizational Studies in general, as well as, future possibilities and strategic directions
  • A framework for visiting foreign scholars and academicians with appropriate infrastructure for further research and teaching and mutual learning in Dharma Studies
  • Experiences of the Jain community in promoting Jain higher education

Panel Five: Strategic Planning and Coordination in Promoting Dharma Education and Studies

Chair: Professor Subhash Kak

Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

Presenters

  1. Professor Damodar Sardesai (Professor Emeritus and former Head of Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles)
  2. Dr. Mihir Meghani (Co-Founder, Hindu American Foundation; Emergency Medicine Physician in Northern California)
  3. Professor Madhu Madhavan (Professor Emeritus, Political Science, San Diego State University)
  4. Dr. Manohar Shinde (Former Clinical Faculty in Child and Adult Psychiatry and Pschyoanalysis, UCLA, USC and Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis)

This panel will address concerns and issues such as:

  • Conceptualizing the pros and cons of community-supported funding of endowed chairs in Dharma Religious Studies and also in other fields of Indic Civilizational Studies, with special reference to such chairs in state universities
  • The merits of funding scholars to conduct important research in critically chosen strategic areas aimed at shifting the nature of discourse in the field; identifying scholars and topics relevant to the broader civilizational field, and to the needs of the Diasporic Dharma communities
  • Models for "Visit India" study programs for American university students in Dharma and Indic Studies; experiences from the past and future directions
  • A framework for creation of a network of foundations and endowments to fund institution-building to promote Dharma and India-related studies and education
  • An overview of internet resources for Dharma education and strategic recommendations for the future

Panel Six: Dharma Education from Primary to High School Level
(Past experiences, Current Scenario and Future Directions)

Chair: Professor Shiva Bajpai

Professor Emeritus of History and Former Director of Asian Studies, California State University, Northridge

Presenters:

  1. Acharya Arumuganathaswami (A monk of the Saiva Siddhanta Yoga Order, Kauai, Hawaii; Managing Editor, "Hinduism Today")
  2. Shri Khanderao Kand (Enterprenuer in San Francisco area, Founder of Global Indian Technology Professionals Association; played active role during California textbook issue)
  3. Shri Vishal Agarwal (Independent Scholar in Hindu Dharma and Ancient Indian History; Working in the field of Bio Medical devices)
  4. Shri Karthik Venkat Ramani (Heritage community activist)
  5. Shri Swaminathan Venkataraman (Board Member, Hindu American Foundation)

Sub-topics that may be addressed:

  • Challenges and opportunities for the community to make its voice heard and its perspective known to the authorities and its publishers on the content of the Dharma traditions and Indian culture, as taught in the American education system
  • A strategic overview of the current state of affairs regarding school textbook issue, nature of the issue, problems and challenges, with special reference to the lessons for the future from the California textbook experience
  • An overview of the experiences in Virginia, Texas and Florida and other states, in addressing textbook issues, and strategies for the future
  • Lessons to be learned from the systematic and sustained efforts by Islamic and other religious communities to shape the content of textbooks about their traditions
  • Currently available supplemental educational material, its strengths and weaknesses and future needs
  • Proposals for integrated syllabus to cover the entire spectrum of Dharma traditions
  • A framework for internet resources for Dharma education material that is readily accessible to teachers, students and parents
  • A strategic understanding of the mechanism of production, distribution, retailing, marketing, etc. of the information / knowledge on Dharma traditions; short-term and long-term strategies to impact the production and distribution of knowledge
  • Methods of large-scale community education, raising awareness, resource mobilization and effective response capability in the future handling of the textbook issue
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