Associate Professor Co-ordinator, Postcolonial South Asian and African Studies Group Office: 408 Fletcher Argue e-mail: Ravindiran.Vaitheespara@ad.umanitoba.ca Phone: (204) 474-8404 EDUCATION Ph.D.,University of Toronto M.A., University of Toronto B.Sc., University of Calgary

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Colonial; Postcolonial South Asia; Nationalism; Postcolonial Studies

PUBLICATIONS

Monograph

Theorizing the National Crisis: Sanmugathasan, the Left and the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientists Association, 2007. (Read Online: Part I, Part II )

"The Limits of Derivative Nationalism: Marxism, Postcolonial Theory, and the Question of Tamil Nationalism" Rethinking Marxism (Special Issue: Marxism and Nationalism), Volume 24, Issue 1, 2012.pp. 87-105. 

“A Post-National and Postcolonial History of Early South India and Sri Lanka: A Review Essay” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies. Vol 34, No. 2, Aug. 2011, pp. 298-307.

“Maraimalai Atigal and the Genealogy of the Tamilian Creed” Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 44 No. 14, April 04 - April 10, 2009, pp. 45-51.    

“Sanmugathasan, the Unrepentent Left and the Ethnic Crisis in Sri Lanka,” Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 42 No. 43 October 27 - November 02, 2007, pp. 58-65. 

 “Beyond ‘Benign’ and ‘Fascist’ Nationalisms: Interrogating Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism and Militancy,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 29 no.3 (December 2006): 435-54. 

 “Did the Bible Tremble in Jaffna?: Protestant Christianity and Saivite Revivalism in Northern Sri Lanka,” South Indian Studies no.3 (Jan-June 1997): 165-73. (Review Essay)

 Chapters in books

"Forging a Tamil Caste: Maraimalai Adigal and the Discourse on Caste and Ritual in Colonial Tamil Nadu" in M. Bergunder, H. Frese, and U. Schroeder, edited. Ritual, Caste, and Colonial Discourse in South India. (Neue Hallesche Berichte, vol. 8) Halle: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen, 2009. 

“The Question of Colonialism and Imperialism in Tamil Nationalist Thought: The Case of Maraimalai Adigal and non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism in Southern India, 1876-1950” in R. Cheran, et al eds. New Demarcations: Essays in Tamil Studies. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press, 2008. pp. 43-66. 

“Christianity, Missionary Orientalism and the Origins of Tamil Modernity” in Andreas Gross, Y. Vincent Kumaradoss & Heike Liebau (eds.) Halle and the Beginning of Protestant Christianity in India. Vol. II: Christian Mission in the Indian Context, Halle: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen zu Halle, 2006. pp. 973-1017. 

“Discourses of Empowerment: Missionary Orientalism in the Development of Dravidian Nationalism” in Timothy Brook & Andre Schmid (eds.), Nation Work: Asian Elites and National Identities, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1999. (Read Online)

COURSES TAUGHT

2012-2013
HIST 1430 Asian Civilizations from 1500
HIST 2130 Emergence of Modern South Asia: 1757-1947
HIST 4010/HIST 7930 Imperialism, Decolonization and Neo-Colonialism, 1700 to the Present