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Mapping Histories

Essays Presented to Ravinder Kumar

Edited by Neera Chandhoke

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978-81-85229-16-4

Ravinder Kumar, an outstanding historian, is well known for his pioneering work on the social consequences of colonial rule in India. His seminal essays on the Rowlatt Satyagraha and on politics in the city of Bombay in the 1920s and 30s; his work as editor of documents relating to events in 1947 for a volume in the Towards Freedom series; his conceptualization of India as a ‘civilization state’ to better understand its plurality and cultural diversity – all these reflect his sustained interest in the complex processes of colonial and contemporary Indian society. Ravinder Kumar headed the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NNML) at New Delhi as Director for almost seventeen years, and is widely known and respected as an institution-builder. He founded the Centre for Contemporary Studies at the NMML which, under his guidance, developed into a prestigious research centre attracting scholars from a variety of disciplines. Professor Kumar not only provided Fellows at the Centre with felicitous conditions for independent research work, he personally directed the building up of a lively atmosphere for academic discussion and engagement. It is therefore but fitting that several Fellows of the Centre should come together to pay their tribute to Ravinder Kumar through this volume of essays. The essays in this volume are arranged in a broad chronological sequence, from ancient history to the present, and the subjects they deal with over diverse categories, from historical understanding to contemporary history to cultural studies to feminism, among others. They offer readings on how we understand our past or, conversely, how we bring an understanding of the past into comprehending our present.

Neera Chandhoke

Neera Chandhoke was formerly Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi. She was a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, during 1989–92. Her publications include Beyond Secularism: The Right of Religious Minorities (1999) and State and Civil Society: Explorations in Political Theory (1995).