Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu Sunday Magazine

The Smithsonian Institution is rediscovering India's vast contributions to civilisational achievement. In January it announced a grand celebration of Mughal art. More recently, it has tapped into the rich tapestry of the contributions of Indian migrants to America. The exhibition, titled “Homespun,” is “a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi's message to Indians to spin their own cloth and wear clothes made in India, instead of using textiles from Britain,” according to Smithsonian officials.


Few other immigrant communities in the U.S. have played such a vital role in fostering that civilisational link between the original motherland and their adopted homeland as the nearly three million Indian-Americans living in the U.S. today, and “HomeSpun is the Smithsonian's opportunity to convey their history, contributions, challenges, and signal their place within the nation.”

The curator of this first-of-its-kind display is Pawan Dhingra, who was earlier an Associate Professor of Sociology and Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Featuring a vast range of exhibits, public programmes and a cutting-edge website “It will establish a permanent presence within the Smithsonian complex,” those behind the exhibit said.