Arven fra den kristne mission: Tranquebars skoler

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The Heritage of the Christian Mission: The Schools of Tranquebar

Tranquebar is served by an impressive number of educational institutions ranging from kindergarten (pre-school) to teacher training - in numbers far exceeding the need of the approx. 7.000 people living in the immediate area. Thus the educational institutions, including their hostels, cater to pupils and students coming from a much larger area. In this article we take a closer look at these schools, which are all run by Christian churches (except for a small, Muslim village school) in surroundings with a population of 85% Hindus, 7% Muslims, and 8% Christians. To what extent are the activities of the schools informed by Christian values and ideas and how does the non-Christian population respond to these activities? Do the schools contribute in a positive or negative way to a general sense of social cohesion in the multi-religious Tranquebar? The article concludes that the Christian schools of Tranquebar basically, in spite of stressing a number of specific Christian elements (iconographic, ideational, or behavioural), contribute to the all-Indian ideal of ‘unity in diversity' and in no way appear to alienate the pupils and students from the Hindu or Muslim milieu of their homes.

Translated title of the contributionThe Heritage of the Christian Mission: the Schools of Tranquebar
Original languageDanish
Place of PublicationKøbenhavn
PublisherNationalmuseet
Volume7
Edition1
Number of pages32
ISBN (Print)978-87-7602-108-5
ISBN (Electronic)978-87-7602-109-2
Publication statusPublished - 2009
SeriesTranquebar Initiativets Skriftserie
Number7

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Humanities - mission (Christian), Tranquebar, Tarangambadi, Tamil Nadu, Social capital

ID: 14466782