East is East and West is West: the Twain will not meet unconditionally

Samenvatting

K. van der Veen is criticized. The tensions between the two national groups within the team are better explained on the basis of the power difference between them. Here, van der Veen is criticized for not addressing himself seriously to the issue of academic colonialism as well as for his unrealistic description of the Dutch team behavior, based on western ideals rather than practices. In Reply: Ontmoeting en communicate [Meeting and Communication] K. W. van der Veen answers that the above criticism is an example of provincialism, of the conviction of the absolute superiority of the rules of western democracy. The object of the original article was to show important differences in the way the Dutch & the Indians interpreted the unequal situation in which they found themselves. There was not enough space to distinguish adequately between norms of behavior & actual practice. E. Brunt-de Wit is criticized for writing in Dutch & erecting a linguistic barrier between herself & her interested Indian readers. A. Orianne.