Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence 1945: Reacting to the Past

In the struggle to reconcile religious identity with nation building, Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence, 1945 recreates one of the most intractable and important issues of the modern world.

Part of the “Reacting to the Past” series, this text consists of a game in which students are assigned roles, informed by classic texts, set in a particular moment of intellectual and social ferment.  The game is set at Simla, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where the British viceroy has invited leaders of various religious and political constituencies to work out the future of Britain’s largest colony.