Ethnic and religious rivalries are major sources of conflict in South Asia and interpretations of the past are integral parts of the conflict. Udayakumar and his contributors provide a careful and comprehensive analysis of the interface between history writing, identity constructions, and intergroup relations. Providing a range of theoretical deliberations, they examine specific South Asian conflicts such as the Kashmir issue, Hindu-Muslim conflict, Sinhalese-Tamil strife, and the human rights struggles of oppressed castes.

With a view to understanding the ethnic and religious rivalries that have come to be a major source of conflict in South Asia, Udayakumar and his contributors analyze the interface between interpretations of the past, identity construction practices, and intergroup relations.

With general theoretical perspectives, contributors help to explain the various ethnic conflicts in South Asia and other parts of the world. The role of history, narratives, and violent pathologies in those conflicts are also explained. Some of the most prominent South Asian conflicts such as the Kashmir decision, Ramjanmabhumi temple, and historicity of caste system in India and the first comer controversy in Sri Lanka are analyzed in detail. One of the major conclusions reached is that there is an element of bigotry in certain historiographies and these bigoted histories and ethnic/religious histrionics build on and contribute to each other and thrive in certain environments. Elevating this debate to a more political level, the essays highlight the role of human agency in the decision to remain handcuffed to bigoted histories or to be more aware and struggle for new beginnings. They also examine the prospects and possible means of negating the unity of history and metanarratives (with their characteristic pathologies and violence) and proliferating many histories told from diverse perspectives. This book is a stimulating collection for scholars, students, and researchers dealing with South Asian history as well as current ethnic, political, and military tensions in the region.

The interface of identity construction practices and the role of knowledge of the past in that continual process manifests itself in contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations and political governance. Presenting' the Past studies the religious, cultural, sociological, and ideological dimensions of the Hindutva historiographical project going back and forth into the realms of history, myth, socialization, and governance. Taking Ram' and the division of the Indian society into Rambhakts (Ram devotees) and non-Rambhakts as the core, Udayakumar proceeds by reading the closely related set of texts: the Ramayana, Ramarajya (State of Ram) imageries in political discourses, the Babri Masjid/Ramjanmabhumi controversy in Ayhodhya and the Ramraksha governance of the BJP-led government in New Delhi. With analysis of events dating to the 1920s and the establishment of Muslim separatism and Hindu fundamentalism, extending to the 1990s when the Sangh Parivar's narrative of national history' reached its pinnacle with the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the attainment of state power, and terminating in 2004 when the BJP lost power and prominence at the center, this illuminating discourse is readily accessible to students and scholars of contemporary Indian politics and society.

Exploring the field of peace education, the bulk of the book analyzes and critically evaluates contemporary schools and universities. Providing some successful and not-so-successful alternative school and university projects and experiments, the book proposes peace and development education as a life process and presents a whole array of non-conventional tools and approaches. The unique feature of the book is that instead of putting emphasis on teaching peace and development, it insists on being and becoming what we teach. It makes a great textbook for education courses and programs, and a good handbook for peace educators and peace researchers around the world. The authors of the book are two teachers who are not attached to any regular educational institution anywhere in the world and are qualified to say what they have said in the book. The two authors have played significant, instrumental roles in promoting peace studies.

Exploring the field of peace education, the bulk of the book analyzes and critically evaluates contemporary schools and universities. Providing some successful and not-so-successful alternative school and university projects and experiments, the book proposes peace and development education as a life process and presents a whole array of non-conventional tools and approaches. The unique feature of the book is that instead of putting emphasis on teaching peace and development, it insists on being and becoming what we teach. It makes a great textbook for education courses and programs, and a good handbook for peace educators and peace researchers around the world. The authors of the book are two teachers who are not attached to any regular educational institution anywhere in the world and are qualified to say what they have said in the book. The two authors have played significant, instrumental roles in promoting peace studies.