Seagull Books’ “History for Peace Tracts”, project consists of a series of monographs by eminent thinkers

Published : Mar 23, 2023 10:35 IST - 7 MINS READ A lot is happening at Kolkata-based independent publishing house Seagull Books at present. Titled “History for Peace Tracts”, the project consists of a series of monographs by eminent thinkers, scholars and specialists. Janaki Nair in her essay “Single teachable Indian past possible today?” discusses the ways in which a “historical temper” can be built up in the classroom, and analyses the future of the history textbook in schools—“the single most important repository of the national past.” Rajeev Bhargava talks about the nature of Indian secularism in his piece “Reimagining Indian secularism”. I feel these questions assume redoubled significance in neoliberal times when success and competition emerge as more desirable than ever, overshadowing questions of historical marginalisation and social justice.” The inception “History for Peace Tracts” has evolved from an earlier project titled “Peace Works”, which was conceptualised two decades ago by the founder and managing director of Seagull Books, Naveen Kishore. That led to us working with teachers, and the project “History for Peace” was born.” In 2015, Seagull set up a network of high-school history teachers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to explore innovative ways of teaching and looking at history, recognising and addressing biases in textbooks, examining events from multiple perspectives, and encouraging teachers to bring historical thinking to the classroom.