Jyoti Markam In the ever-evolving narrative of human progress, where the pursuit of sustenance, clothing, and shelter has been a constant, certain indigenous communities face a distinctive challenge that transcends these fundamental needs. Their struggle revolves around safeguarding their cultural heritage, including their languages, as well as stewardship of their precious forests and lands. The …
Vernacular ‘Modernity’ as Caste Monopoly
Umar Nizar The Malayalam novelist NS Madhavan claims that James Joyce was a major influence on his writings. But that leaves one wondering about the fact that Madhavan’s works bear none of the labyrinthine complexities of Joyce. His short stories have been celebrated in Kerala. Perhaps Madhavan is referring to Joyce’s `Dubliners’, a magisterial collection …
Adivasis Are Not ‘Noble Savages’ – A Brief Reminder
Chhotelal Kumar The mainstream has always viewed Adivasis as ‘alien people’. In our common sense, they are ‘Noble Savages’ who live away from modern complexities in jungles. But while making such a point, we often forget to explore realities. The terming of Adivasis (who were classified as Scheduled Tribes during colonial times) as Noble Savages …
Liberal narrative and Afghanistan
Vinith Kumar These last few weeks have been about the Taliban. But it hasn’t really been about them. The reports, the end of the war, the exit of the American forces, the tragic images from the Kabul airport, all of these things were about the Taliban, but also not one of them were really about …
Karnan : A powerful cinematic projection of Dalit Assertion and Anger
Vidyasagar “He did not hit us because we vandalized the bus. No, he hit us because we stood tall. He hit me because I, Maadasamy’s son, was named Duryodanan.” ~ (Dialogue from Karnan) Karnan is a Tamil language film which was recently released on Amazon Prime. Karnan is the second movie directed by the Periyerum Perumal …
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s 129th Birth Anniversary Commemoration
Ambedkar King Study Circle On Thursday April 16, 2020, the Ambedkar King Study Circle located in California, also known as AKSC, commemorated the 129th birthday of Babasaheb Dr. B.R Ambedkar. Due to the the COVID-19 virus outbreak and the nationwide shelter in place in order to prevent the spread, AKSC decided to commemorate the …
This lockdown is completely against the Dalit-Bahujans
Pradnya Jadhav (SAVARI and Round Table India are doing a series to put together the Bahujan perspective on the Coronavirus pandemic) Anu: How are the people at home and the neighbourhood responding, and preparing for the prolonged lockdown due to the pandemic? Pradnya: I would say, uncertainty prevails. First of all, there is no clear …
Muslim exceptionalism and the digital public sphere in India
Umar Nizar Muslims in India form a significant minority, numbering almost 140 million. These Muslim belong to various denomination including, Sufi, Salafi and Sunni and the Jama’at-e-Islami. The public sphere in India has been caste and class ridden in a way that MN Srinivas (1989) observes in his work on Sanskritization, where people belonging to …
When Rohith Vemula Meets Jignesh Mevani: Towards a Radical Democratic Imaginary
K K Baburaj ‘Live dangerously’, told Nietzsche, one of the great counter-thinkers in the history of modern philosophy. KK Kochu, a well known Dalit writer and political activist from Kerala, in his collection of articles titled ‘Revolution and Culture’ published in the eighties, attempted to rewrite the slogan of Nietzsche as ‘act dangerously’. Such …