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Yvette Rosser is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin. Her doctoral dissertation is "Curricula as Destiny: Forging National Identities in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh." She has published over fifteen essays and articles. Since January of 2002 she has been a contributing editor to the Encyclopedia of Hinduism (University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC).
I first visited India in 1970 where I met my Guru-ji Shri Neem Karoli Baba Maharaj. After spending several formative years of my life in India, I have nurtured a life-long appreciation for the culture and history of the Indian Subcontinent. Since my youth, my respect and admiration of India's religious traditions, spiritual inheritance, and rich historical legacy has continued to grow as my knowledge of the region increased along with my professional development. I am an American citizen who genuinely appreciates India and whose focus transcends economic and strategic interests After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Asian Studies in 1981 (with honors) and teaching certifications in Social Studies and English, I taught high school for several years, while raising three children. I returned to graduate school in hopes of contributing to the field of Asian Studies. I received my M.A. in Asian Studies in 1997. My Master's Thesis, an analysis of the treatment of India in the American secondary social studies curriculum, includes a study of the negative impact that the standard essentialized presentation of India, in American classrooms, has on the identity formation of American high school students of Hindu descent. My Ph.D. dissertation, in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, is a study of the politics of history in South Asia and looks at social studies textbooks in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with a particular focus on the rewriting of history in India. I have designed and led several workshops for high school teachers to help them better understand and teach about India. I am the co-creator and sponsor of the International Day without Violence, held annually on April 4th, designed to promote peace, non-violence, and conflict resolution, by encouraging autonomous events in communities and schools around the world. On a personal note: I relax by working in my flower and herb garden-- I'm particularly successful with zinnias, dahlias, marigolds, hibiscus, sunflowers, basil, dill, and mint! I also enjoy the pleasure of writing essays and articles and the agony of writing poetry. I'm an amateur photographer. I like to listen to Mozart, old-fashioned rockin' Blues, and World Music such as the Indo/Jazz fusion of Jai Uttal or A.R. Rahman. My favorite participation sport is downhill skiing. My favorite spectator sport is not cricket. I have also carved wood blocks and dyed and printed fabrics. All three of my children have visited Mother India... and are always eager to return, as am I. Jai Hind!
India: Rewriting History in the Headlines
This essay was compiled by piecing together several chapters of my PhD dissertation, which concerns the politics of historiography in the Indian Subcontinent. I have excerpted passages from several sections in order to give an overview of the various arguments and provide an edited version to present at the Indic Colloquium, 2002. These excerpts only describe a few of the issues that I have researched, many of which are considered in subsequet or previous chapters, such as the politization of archaeology and the critiques of NCERT textbooks. This essay represents only part of what I have written about historiography battles in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, therefore there may be references to other issues that are not included here.
Read the entire paper in PDF format (88K, 35 pp.)