[Buddha-l] Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)Petition

[Richard Hayes]

On Tue, 2008-07-15 at 17:09 -0400, Alberto Todeschini wrote:

> As for the mandatory Buddhist content, it would indeed be sad if IsIAO 
> closed down. It has strong ties to the study of Buddhism, and already 
> now a large number of Italian scholars of Buddhism (and of just about 
> everything else) has left the country.

It would indeed be sad if IsIAO closed down. Rest assured, I have signed
the petition that is circulating. Much of my own academic career (such
as it is) has been built on the foundation of pioneering work done by
Tucci and Gnoli. There was a time not so long ago when I could not have
believed that IsIAO would ever close, except for the end of the world
(which, come to think of it, may be the reason it may close now).

You'll perhaps be amused to know that years ago I had a professor who
helpfully went through a typescript I had prepared and replaced every
occurrence of Istituto with Instituto. Maybe Berlusconi can arrange to
change the spelling of the Italian word to accommodate the international
academic community. 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico