A yoga club at American University has gone inactive after a complaint of cultural appropriation.
The campus Bhakti Yoga Club invited a non-Indian group to perform the Indian epic “The Ramayana.” This did not sit well with American University student Maya Krishnan, who complained to the President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion.
Krishnan also wrote an op-ed in the student paper, the Eagle, titled, “Opinion: ‘India Day’ festival and Viva Kultura performance shows that AU’s administration forgets their South Asian students.”
In the op-ed, Krishnan wrote, “Having my culture represented by an almost entirely white troupe of dancers is incredibly frustrating.”
She continued: “The sponsors of this show and the artists acted as if their actions were acceptable because they have converted to the Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism. The reality of this is that white European dancers will never know my intersectional experience as a Hindu woman, being a brown bodied person and the other aspects of systematic racism that I, as well as other South Asian people, have experienced.”
After the op-ed was published, the group’s student president and vice president chose to resign. Without a student executive board to work with, the group was officially put on inactive status and the faculty adviser also ended their involvement.
The group had approximately 25 to 30 members consistently attending, and some former members are trying to restart the club.
Alexander James is a contributor to Red Alert Politics and a freelance journalist.
CORRECTION: A prior edition of this story said the group had been shut down. It is on inactive status for now and may return in the future. The original piece also included content from an article published by ISKCON News that has since been retracted.
