Peace Histories Podcast

Episode 12: Peace talk with Floris de Ruiter

Published on 15 June 2026 - Created by Peace Histories Podcast team

In this episode, we chat with Floris de Ruiter, a fellow PhD researcher from the Faculty of History at the University of Leiden. He writes about theories of violence, nonviolence, and the nation-state in the political thought of Indian ashrams.

Together with Kamila Smagulova, Floris shares highlights from his recent fieldwork in India and China. He discusses some of the fascinating intellectual and peace-oriented documents he discovered at the Aurobindo Ashram, Shantiniketan, and Nisargopchar Ashram, while also exploring Sino-Indian ashram connections through figures such as Tan Yun-Shan, You Yunshan, and Xu Fancheng.

If these themes interest you, this episode is definitely worth a listen. We would like to take a short summer break, and we will be back with a new episode on October 12, 2026. Have a nice summer, all our listeners, and see you after summer!

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