World Without Walls

Literary Nonfiction. Asian & Asian American Studies. Edited by R. Cheran, Dalbir Singh, Chelva Kanaganayakam, and Sudharshan Durayappah. Tamil Studies. In the past few decades, as a growing presence worldwide, Tamil has become an important component of the South Asian diaspora. As one of the few classical languages of the world that is still a living one, it continues to remain a vehicle of secularism while celebrating diverse religious and political traditions. It has served Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, and Christianity, while articulating politics from the time of the ancient kings, through colonialism, to modern times. The essays in this volume offer a nuanced view of BEING HUMAN, BEING TAMIL in the context of South Asia and the diaspora. They explore the multiple ways of being Tamil, and the cultural, religious, and poetic linkages that have contributed to the emergence and articulation of Tamilness in a global context.

R CHERAN is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology andAnthropology at the University of Windsor. His publications include History andImagination: Tamil Culture in the Global Context, New Demarcations: Essays inTamil Studies, Pathways of Dissent: Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka, andEmpowering Diasporas: Dynamics of Post-war Tamil Transnational Politics.DALBIR SINGH is a PhD candidate at the Graduate Drama Centre as well as theCentre for South Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. His publicationshave appeared in journals and anthologies such as Canadian Theatre Review,Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre, She Speaks, and Red Light: Superheroes,Saints and Sluts.CHELVA KANAGANAYAKAM is a professor in the Department of English at theUniversity of Toronto and is also the Director for the Centre for South AsianStudies at the University of Toronto. His publications include Moveable Margins:The Shifting Spaces of Canadian Literature, Counterrealism and Indo AnglianFiction, Lutesong and Lament: Tamil Writing from Sri Lanka, and Structures ofNegation: The Writings of Zulfikar Ghose.SUDHARSHAN DURAYAPPAH teaches at the University of Toronto, Scarborough andthe Royal Ontario Museum. His research interests include Hinduism in theDiaspora, Trans-Asian Religious routes of the 7?th century A.D., Iconographyand Tamil devotional poetry.