Author: Peter Gonsalves

Publisher: LAS, Roma:  las@unisal.it / web-page

Co-edition for Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America: Kristu Jyoti Publications, Bangalore: kristujyotipub@yahoo.in

Year: 2022

Pages: 470

ISBN 978-88-213-1490-2

Price: Euro 29.00 (Co-edition $15 / Indian Rs. 750) 

Don Bosco is popularly admired and known worldwide as a saint, priest, "father, friend and teacher of youth." However, no one has attempted a serious study of his peace traits and the peace culture he radiated through thousands of personal contacts, letters and numerous publications. To confirm the validity of this curious yet unique choice, the author, Fr. Peter Gonsalves, SDB, takes an unconventional approach with his three distinct but interconnected strands of research. The first part of the book presents Don Bosco's peace response to the various conflicts, challenges and crises in his life. The second seeks to expand the popular understanding of peace to embrace the scientifically accepted notion proposed by sociologist Johan Galtung, and to test participant perceptions about Don Bosco’s peace traits. The final study, the major part of the book, explores the personal, social, political, cultural and transcendent aspects of Don Bosco's peace culture in daily life, thereby highlighting its ever-relevant applicability in different contexts across the world.

Gandhi today is universally recognised as an international icon, but did his influence extend to the Vatican as well? The author unravels the answer by pursuing six research targets. The book opens with a historical inquiry into Gandhi’s unsuccessful attempt to meet Pius XI, and then goes on to examine the writings and speeches of the Popes from Pius XI to Benedict XVI who alluded to Gandhi. Adopting a hermeneutical slant, it also engages in a comparative study of the thoughts and actions of Pope Francis and Gandhi, and highlights some remarkable similarities that call for an explanation. In the process, the book explores and assesses the popular claim that Gandhi was influenced by Christ, and the not so popular conjecture that Francis was influenced by Gandhi.

Gandhi and the Popes is published in the series Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity, vol. 160, 2015.

Khadi: Gandhi`s Mega Symbol of Subversion investigates the power of a symbol to qualitatively transform society by studying Mahatma Gandhi’s use of clothing as a metaphor for unity, empowerment and liberation from imperial subjugation. 

The book brings together historical evidence of Gandhi’s search for a semiotics of attire in his quest for personal integrity and socio-political change. From a multidisciplinary perspective, it closely examines the subversion underlying his sartorial communication. 

The author also discusses the complex challenges in Gandhi’s highly polarized environment, such as the conflict between the British Empire and the Indian National Congress, Hindu–Muslim tensions, the urban–rural divide, and the question of untouchability. He examines the symbolic potential for change which khadi has, not merely as ‘revolution’ or ‘sedition’, but as a sustained, well-organised strategy for achieving full independence or purna swaraj.

This is the first analysis of Gandhi’s dressing style in terms of communication theory and an exploration of the subliminal messages that were subtly communicated to a large audience. Peter Gonsalves chooses three famous theorists from the field of communication studies and looks at Gandhi through the lens of each one, to give us a fascinating and new insight into one of the most famous men from South Asia.

The author first prepares the ground for the theoretical investigation by exploring the breadth of Gandhi’s communication skills. He provides essential information on a wide range of Gandhi’s communication skills, with a view to proposing interesting areas of research for communication scholars. 

The book deals with the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Gandhi’s verbal output, his linguistic capacity, his journalistic and letter-writing style, his peace communication in an atmosphere of conflict, his organizational ability and the international repercussions of his mass mediated messages. It also elaborates the different types of non-verbal communication he used, such as silence, fasting, clothing, personal presence and charisma. The book closes with, perhaps for the first time, a Gandhian approach to symbolisation for socio-political change.Photographs of Gandhi in different phases of his life have been used to provide a visual chronology of sartorial change and emphasise the arguments in the book. 

While much has already been written on the preventive dimension of Don Bosco's educational method, not enough reflection has gone into its expressive, growth-enhancing aspects. In January 2012, DBWAY.IN decided to solicit Salesian authors to reflect and write on themes promoting Salesian education to expressivity. Their articles were published in Divyadaan, Journal of Philosophy and Education, vol. 23, no. 2, 2012. 

To download the articles

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A teachers' manual to develop a critical understanding of communication and mass media through 95 lessons, 'Exercises in Media Education' is essential, systematic and fun. It wears its research and erudition lightly and strikes a blow at several ills. It fits well into schoolwork where this kind of stimulus could do lasting good but is usually absent. It provides a simple, hard-to-find framework for an understanding of the media, for study and discussion of the subject beyond the classroom and for that most important of requirements, responsible participation in the use of media. (Gerson da Cunha, Ex-Communication Executive in UNICEF)

This manual is part of the Quality Life Education series.

Contains 52 sessions designed for peace educators of South Asia to help young people (ages 5-17) form peaceful personalities. The lessons encourage participation. They raise awareness, provoke thinking, challenge stereotypes, point to solutions and incite to action.

This manual is part of the Quality Life Education series.

This is the students’ workbook that accompanies the Peace Education manual mentioned above. It can also be used independently to stimulate reflection among young people – an ideal gift for young peace builders.

This workbook is part of the Quality Life Education series.

A manual that offers a holistic approach to the education of love, sex and marriage. It is divided into two parts. The first contains 24 participatory lesson-plans and the second, essential biological information.

This manual is part of the Quality Life Education series.

A compendium of a variety of exercises to develop creative thinking skills through group participation and application to life-situations. Contains 77 lessons on creativity with 50 attractive worksheets.

This manual is part of the Quality Life Education series.

This manual was originally designed as an induction course for the staff of Salesian educational and social institutions of the province of Mumbai. It is an attempt to present Don Bosco's Way of Educating to a multireligious, multi-cultural population of South Asia and beyond. It offers educators, parents, social workers and youth leaders the opportunity to be enriched by the genius of Don Bosco and his educational method, even though they may not share his religious beliefs, or accept his original writings that are clothed in cultural and religious vocabulary. It will provide the concepts, themes, attitudes and skills that are essential to Don Bosoco's Way today.

The manual is also available in TAMIL. Please write to <mukennedysdb@gmail.com>

The book can be viewed online here.

This book of cartoons presents Don Bosco's Educational Method to those parents, educators and youth leaders who are too busy to read fine print. It contains lively illustrations that accompany the main principles underpinning the Salesian Method of Education. The concluding pages of the book are an age-wise, practical guide for parents of all faiths and cultures. 

As members of an international educational society, the authors are proficient in youth work and have at various times lived and worked with young people of different age-groups, socio-economic backgrounds, creeds and cultures. This book is a compendium of practical methodologies for youth leadership culled from the storehouse of their vast and varied experiences.

The provincial delegates for Social Communications representing the then eight Salesian provinces of India met in 1996 at their annual BOSCOM-INDIA meeting to discuss a common problem: there seemed to be a lack of direction in guiding formators in training young Salesians in the rapidly advancing field of communications. The group felt that a clear itinerary with concrete lesson plans to facilitate the training was necessary - even if the attempt were to be an experimental one. 

A list of important themes that affect religious, priestly and Salesian life were drawn up. Members were invited to choose which areas they wished to take responsibility for in drawing up concrete lesson plans that would be peer-reviewed before the final publication. A three-year commitment to intense work, both individually and in collaboration with competent Salesians on topics related to communication was undertaken. By the end of 1999, the 418 page tome was sent to the printing press. The manual entitled, Shepherds for an Information Age - An Experimental Resource and Training Manual for the Education of Salesians of Don Bosco in Media and Social Comunications, was released by Franz Josef Eilers (author of a series of books on the Catholic Church and Communications) at the the annual UNDA-OCIC (today SIGNIS) meeting at Hyderabad, in February 2000.

A silver jubilee tribute to the pioneers of the Salesian Province of Bombay in four parts: the beginnings, the leaders, the vineyard and blessings for the road ahead.

"The vision, the plans, the anxieties, the toil, the supplication, the expectation, the sacrifices, the sorrows, the joys - all experiences integral to any foundational enterprise, can never be adequately enshrined within the pages of a history book. Faith and devotion as motivating forces that have kept men at their post in creative fidelity day after dreary day, through the 70 years of labour in this western part of India and 25 years of the Bombay Salesian Province, are, once again, incalculable and elude documentation. Many who laid the foundations have expired. Few are still alive. It is to them - our pioneers, our leaders, our benefactors, our aged, our departed - to them that we dedicate this work - a symbol of our sincere LOVE, ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE." 

(From the introduction)