Challenges of Nation-Building in Developing Societies: Vignettes from West and South Asia

Suranjan Das is Professor of History at the University of Calcutta and Director, Netaji Institute for Asian Studies Group of the University of Calcutta. He received the D. Phil degree from the University of Oxford for the dissertation on ‘Communal Riots in Bengal 1905-1947’ which was subsequently published by Oxford University Press. His other publications include Caste and Communal Politics in South Asia (edited jointly with Sekhar Bandopadhyay: 1993), The Goondas: Towards A Reconstructioin of the Calcutta Underworld (jointly with Jayanta K. Ray: 1996) and Electoral Politics in South Asia (edited jointly with Subho Basu: 2000). Dr. Das was a Junior Research Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and has been a Visiting Fellow in Maison Des Sciences De L’Homme, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of New Mexico. He was also elected a Visiting Professor by the British Academy.