What are the East Indies?
Indonesia, not India. I abhor the term East Indian, as it is a meaningless neologism. Asian Indian is a little more sensible, but why put in that qualification? Indian = native of India. That reminds me, the 2000 census of America has a new category, “Asian Indian”. Are the non-Indian “South Asians” going to choose this category? Not likely. The third reason to oppose “South Asia” is the presumption of commonality — an intellectual laziness if you will. There are all these mailing lists, South Asian Journalists Association, South Asian Literature, South Asian Women’s Net etc. Why couldn’t these be “Indian” this or that? Because, they say, it will encourage participation by the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc. This may be true, but that should be the concern of the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, etc. Indians are bending over backwards to create a comfortable environment for these other people. Why, I don’t know. Why can’t they have their own Pakistani Literature (such as it is) newsgroup? We
