Re: Prof. Gombrich retires; number of Pali specialists in Europe ever closer to zero?

Dr. Cousins,

Your reply is most interesting.  However, this is a subject about which I
feel compelled to be boring.

> I don't think the situation is any worse in the UK at the moment than
> it was in the 1960s, although there has been a disappointing lack of
> growth. There is a lot of worry about the future.

(1) However, my point stands that the situation is worse than it was six
months ago, and that the evaporation of the one (and perhaps only) major
academic chair held by a Palicist in England is a significant "worsening" of
"the situation".  The question as to whether things are not much worse than
40 years ago is, strictly speaking, spurious to this point. (2) The
comparison to the 1960s becomes rather absurd if we extend the scope of
"Western scholarship" beyond the British Isles (and, I note, my original
comment was not limited to the U.K.) --one can hardly say that (e.g.)
Russia/USSR, Denmark, or Scandanavia are in nearly so strong a position in
Prakrit/Pali (or Indology generally) as they were 40 years ago.  And, of
course, Warder's little island of Indology in Toronto (the largest
department of Indology outside of India in the 1970s) imploded in the 1980s.

I do indeed believe that the situation is worse; and I say this with the
detached indifference of one with no plans to make them any better.

  From Thailand, hoping never to return to Western academia,
E.M.

--
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