STUDIES IN INDIAN SOCIOLOGY: IDENTITY, COMMUNITY/ETHNICITY, AND CONFLICT by N. J

This volume is a compilation of eleven research articles and exegetical essays by N. Jayaram, broadly focussing on identity, community/ethnicity, and conflict. The five chapters in Part One deal with the nature of social reality and the perspective for studying it; a semantic exploration of the concept of ‘identity’ in India’s society and culture; the scope and significance of sociology of conflict and the perspectives for understanding it; and a survey of literature on the interrelated themes of identity, community/ethnicity, and conflict. The two chapters on social conflict are written jointly with Satish Saberwal. The six chapters in Part Two are studies and analysis of the politics of ‘cultural renaissance’ among Indo-Trinidadians; the tragedy of Sri Lanka resulting from Buddhist revivalism and ethnic fratricide; the educational backwardness of Indian Muslims analysed from the perspective of identity and ethnicity; a south Indian perspective on multiculturalism and nation-building, and an analysis of the bearing of multiculturalism in education. The last chapter in this part is a sociological reading of

V.S. Naipaul’s ‘Indian Trilogy’. The introduction to the volume strings together the chapters by highlighting their themes and the context in which the text of the chapters was originally prepared, presented, and published.