California's Textbook Battle In 11 GIFs

Justice takes great strides in California as the state successfully resists pressure from Hindu nationalist lobby groups to rewrite history. But more work ahead!

What's Up

California's State Board of Education (SBE) is revising 6th and 7th grade history and social science textbooks. The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), an advisory body to the SBE, asked for public input recently.

The South Asian Histories for All coalition showed up in full force to stop Hindu nationalist lobby groups from morphing, and erasing inconvenient truths from our history textbooks. We were more than 100 strong in Sacramento--an interfaith, inter-caste group representing 24 organizations across California and the US working for equitable, fact-based improvements to the curriculum.

We applaud the IQC for voting for progressive edits originally suggested by the South Asia Faculty Group (SAFG), comprised of highly qualified scholars.

The Hindu American nationalist lobby groups include Hindu Education Foundation, Uberoi Foundation, Hindu American Foundation, Scholars For People, and others. Their recommended edits replace uncomfortable facts about Indian history with self-aggrandizing falsehoods.

These groups don't speak for all Hindus—they're pushing for a Hindu-centric revisionist history that advocates for Hindu supremacy over other religious and social communities.

Below is a list of 5 groups of edits where the IQC has successfully resisted the Hindu lobby's pressure, followed by 3 issues that require the IQC's reconsideration.

1. "Dalit" Reinstated!

As of May 19, following powerful testimonies from Dalit Americans, Sikh Americans, and rigorous scholarship from the Dalit Bahujan faculty group, the IQC moved to reinstate the word "Dalit" into the curriculum and affirmed the caste system's roots in Hinduism! The Hindu American Foundation was forced to publicly retract its original edit #1354 to remove the term "Dalit" from the curriculum.

Caste is one of the oldest and largest systems of oppression in the world with its religious origins in Hinduism. It breaks Hindu society into four main hereditary, hierarchical sections with Dalits comprising the bottom strata. Dalits were formerly known as the “Untouchables” because upper-caste Hindus deemed them spiritually defiling.

Dalit was a term born out of resistance to caste apartheid and used to denote struggle and assertion. To deny Dalits their identity and self-chosen name would be like referring to African Americans using derogatory terms like “n*****” or “slave".

2. IQC: Caste Is Not Class!

The Hindu American Foundation and the Uberoi Foundation recommended edits that obfuscate caste with softer socio-economic terminology. The IQC has thankfully rejected them.

Turning caste into class is a blatant falsification. The caste system does not allow for upward or sideways mobility between its rigid hierarchies. Caste is determined based on birth and the core of its implementation is this idea of spiritual impurity.

To erase caste is to erase the most significant historical structure that has determined the destinies of hundreds of millions of people under caste apartheid. As Huma Dar writes, “history is not meant to soothe feelings, it is written so we might learn from its mistakes and very crucially: mistakes that are yet to be appropriately addressed.”

3. Sikh Identity Upheld!

In yet another victory for our coalition, South Asian Histories For All, the IQC voted to support the Sikh religion's founding principle of resistance to caste and Brahmanism.

The Hindu nationalist lobby had gone as far as trying to rewrite the origin story of the Sikh religion. They erased the fact that Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism was a social reformer who challenged the authority of Brahmins and the caste order.

To erase Guru Nanak’s repudiation of caste is to erase one of the core reasons for the founding of the Sikh religion.

4. References To Patriarchy Retained!

Another problematic group of edits proposed by the Hindu nationalist lobby group erase references to patriarchy—the fact that women had less power than men—in ancient South Asia. While we wish patriarchy did not exist in the subcontinent the reality is that our history is littered with examples of sexist practices.

A short list of practices includes Sati, the practice of forcing widows to immolate themselves at their husbands’ pyres, dowry, dowry deaths, the use of rape against minority communities, ostracization of widows, separation of women during their menstrual cycles, female foeticide, committing lower caste women into prostitution and the violations faced by gender nonconforming persons and sexual minorities. Many women still face these problems today!

Thankfully, the IQC has not accepted any of the edits proposed by the Hindu nationalist groups to erase or downplay South Asia's patriarchal history.

5. Edits That Unfairly Denigrate Mughal Rule Rejected!

The Hindu nationalist lobby groups suggested edits that erase Mughal ruler, Akbar's attempts to blend Islamic and Hindu beliefs and architectural and artistic forms. They replace this fact with references to Hindu ruler Shivaji who in their language “offered resistance to the hegemony and persecution of the Mughal rulers.”

The truth is that Mughal rulers were mainly aided by Hindu soldiers and Hindu Rajput kings in their fighting. The truth is that Shivaji’s army consisted of a significant number of Muslims.

History is so much more complicated than the black and white world projected by the Hindu nationalist groups who intend to propagate Islamophobic narratives that “other” Islam to make it easier for them to play victims and further justify their hate mongering.

South Asian Histories For All is glad that the IQC has not accepted these edits.

6. South Asia Somehow Becomes India

The South Asia Faculty Group proposed more precise terms like “South Asia” and “Indian Ocean region” in 24 out of a total of 93 instances where “India” appears in the 6th and 7th grade chapters of the curriculum. The Hindu nationalist lobby groups took great offense.

The issue with using “India” to refer to ancient South Asia is that it conflates the current nation of India with the historical subcontinental region, which encompasses numerous other modern day nations besides India. This attempt at co-opting other countries in South Asia under the umbrella term of India negates the identity and autonomy of other countries in the region.

In edit 2454, the Hindu nationalist lobby groups protest the scholars’ recommendation to replace India with South Asia in the context of the Indus River region. Referring to a region that is primarily located in the modern day states of Pakistan and Afghanistan as India is nonsensical.

But, to our great disappointment, as of May 19, the IQC has decided to use the term "ancient India" to refer to ancient South Asia, negating the histories and legacies of over 420 million people in the region.

7. Caste Is In Fact Hierarchical

The Hindu Nationalist Lobby seemed bent on confusing caste with an arcane, purely theoretical form of social classification in a bid to deny caste's roots in Hinduism, and its hierarchical nature.

Lacking sufficient area expertise, IQC members spent a significant amount of time at the May 19th meeting wondering if castes are self governing and autonomous.

Castes are not self governing. Caste is repressively hierarchical, determined by birth, with no freedom for individuals within it to move between the different castes. For, in the words of Dalit American artist and activist, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, "There is no way that one would self-govern yourself into oppression."

8. Islamophobia

The Hindu nationalist lobby groups erase and downplay Islamic contributions to South Asian history in their edits. It is particularly alarming to see that Hindu supremacist groups are the only ones advising the IQC regarding the depiction of Islam in California textbooks.

The South Asian Histories For All coalition hopes that the IQC will also consider recommendations from scholars of Islam going forward to ensure a nonpartisan telling of history.

Next Steps

California's State Board of Education still has to approve the IQC's recommendations later this year before the curriculum is finalized. Until that happens the South Asian Histories For All coalition will not rest.

We will continue to fight for the edits recommended by the South Asia Faculty Group. We will continue to advocate for the term India not to co-opt the entirety of South Asia. We will continue to resist Islamophobic edits and misrepresentations of the caste system by the Hindu nationalist lobby groups.

Studying history is a tool to grapple with the present, and acquire a fuller understanding of current realities. By teaching children about our difficult and uncomfortable periods, they not only learn about the contradictions in our histories, but they will also learn from the resilience of the communities that resisted and survive today. These are valuable lessons for children to learn to be more empathetic and nuanced citizens of society.