By E P Mohammed Swalih
This is what I mean by “consumer citizenship” – you mark your identity and belonging through material goods. This is of course connected to prosperity but it is not reducible to wealth. I remember one of my first interviewees in Dubai telling me that when he was growing up in Kerala, Carrefour plastic bags were considered status symbols.
By Rebeka Sultana Chowdhury
Whenever we talk about women claiming their rightful place in society and state, we can’t avoid the question of their educational backwardness. It is often said that uneducated women will never be able claim their right to the state.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
Aman Sethi’s A Free Man:A True Story of Life and Death in Delhi, focused on the life of Mohammed Ashraf, is by no means a sociological work. It is a journalistic work that explores the life of one of those thousands of nameless workers who, while contributing significantly to India’s growth story, are often rendered faceless and seen as having no individual subjectivity.
By An Independent Inquiry into Muzaffarnagar Riots
Fighting communalism is not merely an electoral issue. The communal forces can be defeated only by ground struggles built by an alliance of the minorities, the working masses, the dalits, the tribals, other oppressed castes and progressive sections of the intelligentsia. In this regard the example held out by the people of Hussainpur, Kheda Gani, Garhi Novabad, Garhi Jaitpur, Kurawa and other such villages is a ray of hope.
By Mary Ann Chacko & Mosarrap H. Khan, Editors
As it often happens, a new venture always lacks credibility. As our culture increasingly becomes celebrity-driven, those who see themselves as self-important hesitate to associate with new obscure ventures. Below I narrate a couple of incidents that showcase the challenge of convincing authors to write for us.
By Shreya Ila Anasuya
Given that this law was passed in 1860 by the colonial government, it is doubly absurd that it is now being upheld in order to preserve ‘Indian culture’. Even a cursory interrogation of this law will place it firmly within the framework of Victorian morality, which then becomes violently translated into upper-caste, elite Hindu nationalism.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
Nizam’s Hyderabad metamorphosed into a shiny, new city with wide roads, modern steel-and-glass structures, swanky cars, and multinational eateries. Ten days into my stay, I was on my way to the Old City, originally founded by the Nizams. Once on the periphery of the Nizam’s city, the landscape was perceptible different.
By Mary Ann Chacko
All three of them were French-Canadians and university students who had decided to travel to NYC to sell freshly cut Christmas trees to make some extra bucks for school. They bought the trees from a Christmas Tree farm in North Carolina. Apparently, North Carolina ranks second in the U.S. for Christmas Tree production, behind Oregon.
By Shreya Ila Anasuya
From singing Lady Gaga to a rousing Hindi protest song asking who it is – exactly – that can possibly be threatened by people asking for freedom. From warning the participants not to betray their queer communities by voting for a party that has expressly supported the Supreme Court verdict, to dancing to the wonderfully apt ‘Pyar kiya toh darna kya?’
By Nienke Boer
We should take courage from the public outcry that has followed this decision. Homosexuality in India is now, more than ever, a subject of public discussion, an issue for debate. The shame the Victorian legislators tried to brand onto this form of desire is being eradicated, and it is no longer a whispered taboo.
By Mosarrap H. Khan
About a month after I watched these two films in Kolkata, I landed in Dhaka toward the middle of December, 2011 with the twin purpose of attending a conference of Bengal studies and conducting research for my study on Muslim everyday life in the sub-continent. Once in Dhaka, I could feel an air of excitement and celebration on the occasion of Bangladesh’s fortieth anniversary of its independence.
By Rafikul Islam
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, presided over the inauguration. Sukalyan Bhattacharya choreographed Down Memory Lane, which showcased 100 years of Indian Cinema. Dev and Koel felicitated Big B. Ranjit Mallick gave the inaugural speech. In the opening ceremony, a clipping of Brand Bengal was screened.
Cafe Dissensus Everyday 