Reports on grant received from Uberoi Foundation for 2011
Professor Arvind Sharma
Grantee report upload in progress
Professor Yashwant Pathak and Professor Gurleen Grewal
The Conference on "Eastern and Indigenous Perspectives on Sustainability and Conflict Resolution" is being held at the University of South Florida, Tampa, November 13-15, 2011. It is enabled by grants from the Uberoi Foundation and a matching USF Conference Support Grant. Bringing related and diverse perspectives together from the standpoint of sustainability and peace, the conference aims to begin meaningful dialogue and suggest new collaborations toward global solutions. It is interested in exploring themes such as the following:
- eastern religions and the encoding of ecological knowledge-in Indian Dharma traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh) , Indigenous (Native American, Australian aboriginal, African) and Asian traditions (Shinto, Confucian, Taoist, Zen)
- practices for individual/societal transformation and healthy sustainable communities
- conflict resolution from eastern and indigenous perspectives
- exploring cases where traditional ecological knowledge has altered the dominant paradigm of unsustainable development
- contemplative pedagogy: integrating eastern perspectives in the classroom
Publication : We expect to publish select papers from the proceedings in an anthology.
Abstracts are due Sept. 30 2011. Complete Papers are requested by Oct. 30, 2011
Professor Bal Ram Singh
Report on Teacher Training Workshop for Teaching Dharmic Traditions
As a follow up to the pilot program implemented in August 2010, two weeklong workshops were organized University of Massachusetts Dartmouth during the last part of July 2011. Several modifications, including extensive lesson plan descriptions, were included in this year's workshop. A total of 22 teachers were trained during the workshop, and instructors coming from academia and community provided the training. Teachers attending the workshop came from six states ranging from Virginia to Maine. Overall, the program was very well received. Further efforts need to be made in recruitment of teachers, preparing teaching materials, and streamlining presentations at the level of middle and high school.
Professor Sthaneshwar Timalsina and Professor Sunil Kumar
The database project brings together online information on the scholars working in the four Dharma traditions of Sikhism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The objective is to provide comprehensive information on current scholarship in these disciplines for the layman and scholar like . This research, when searched with keywords, can identify tendencies of current research, help to understand emerging and future trends, and assist policy makers in focusing on specific areas that need greater attention. This project also gives detailed information about current publications whereby laymen and scholars can evaluate objective studies in these areas.
In order to demonstrate the visible imbalance in textual information on the Dharma traditions, this project also organized a small symposium that involved ten scholars from eight different universities. The focus of the symposium was to explore alternate methods of teaching Dharma traditions by engaging contemplative approach and encouraging writers to engage in writing introductory textbooks.
This project has also gathered insights from other scholars not yet directly involved in the project in order to explore the relevant and urgent issues that deserve the attention of the Uberoi Foundation.
Shri Rajiv Malhotra
As promised, Infinity Foundation has utilized the grant it received from Uberoi toward final editing and publishing of one of my most important books on Dharma Studies. This is being released by the prestigious publishing house, HarperCollins later in 2011. The title of the book is: Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism. I shall send you copies of it once they are ready, and I am convinced you will regard this as an investment well made. I am indebted to several persons for making this book possible, and the acknowledgment section in the book includes the following words:
The funding for the finalizing of this book during the year 2011 included a grant provided by Uberoi Foundation. For this, I thank Prof. Ved Nanda, Katherine Nanda, Anu Bhatia and Dr. Manohar Shinde, and as well Bal Ram Singh, Director of Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
A synopsis of the book is attached along with several endorsements we have received from important voices in the field, and several more are expected to arrive shortly. We hope to maintain this pace and would like to publish very original, compelling and game-changing works every year.
Professor Arvind-Pal Mandair
Grantee report upload in progress
