S.P. Udayakumar founded and directs the South Asian Community Centre for Education and Research (SACCER) in Tamil Nadu, India.
The center's projects include an elementary school for children from farming and fishing villages, a vocational school, vocational centers for women in 12 coastal villages, and entrepreneurship training for young fisherwomen. The center also conducts research on peace and conflict issues and runs innovative programs in peace education, disaster education, nuclear education, and other topics.
"I believe I am one of the few people in India who has formally studied conflict and peace," Kumar said, referring to his time at the Kroc Institute. "That experience of immersion in the field of peace changed my life completely and is at the root of all my work."
Kumar teaches peace studies around the world and is deeply involved in nonviolent struggles in India. His publications include Presenting the Past: Anxious History and the Ancient Future of Hindutva India (Praeger, 2005) and Handcuffed to History: Narratives, Pathologies and Violence in South Asia (Praeger, 2001). He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawaii.