Forum offered online and in the Hinckley Institute caucus room - Room 2018, Gardner Commons.
Unity in Diversity has been the core principle of the Idea of India both historically and especially since the country’s independence. However, contemporary debates and dilemmas in India’s politics have led to a rethinking and remaking of the Idea. The lecture will elucidate this identity dilemma through an examination of the core principles of democracy, development, and social justice as they relate to today’s India.
Speaker
- Professor Ramu Manivannan
- Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
Ramu Manivannan is Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Author of seven books and many articles published both in India and abroad, Professor Manivannan served as Professor of Politics & Public Administration at the Universities of Madras and Delhi in India. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Passau, Germany; University of Paris, France; Uppsala Forum for Peace, Democracy and Justice, University of Uppsala, Sweden; and at the Centre for International Studies, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan. He was a Fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan. To better understand how technology has been shaping today’s education and politics, he has completed a Certificate Program on Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at MIT.
Professor Manivannan has been leading inter-faith and spiritual walks in the Himalayas for over twenty-five years. He has been working with refugees from Tibet, Burma and Sri Lanka for over two decades in the areas of peace, education, and development. As a trainer in holistic education and nonviolent conflict resolution, he has trained more than 500 teachers from the Tibetan community in India, Nepal and Bhutan. He has been involved in the development and implementation of the Basic Education Policy of the Tibetan Government–in-Exile for over a decade. He has also been active in the development of education policy/curriculum for the Myanmar Refugee Community in India and Thailand since 2003.
Professor Manivannan has founded fifteen non-formal schools for the children from tribal and stone quarry areas and the weavers’ community before building his monumental “Garden of Peace,” the school for poor and socially marginalized children, in Vellore, India.
Pizza will be distributed to attendees at the beginning of the event. Please plan to arrive at the venue promptly.
The Hinckley Institute neither supports nor opposes the views expressed in this forum.