‘No Man’s Land’: Of Missed Opportunities and Clichéd Portrayal of Kurdish Fighters
The newly-released show misses the political core of the context in which Kurdish militias operate, and relies on trite depictions of left-wing Kurdish fighters.
What Durga Puja During COVID-19 Pandemic Tells Us About Artisans
Time and again, artisans have crafted idols of Goddess Durga to make a point about social justice. Yet, these artisans are themselves one of the most underpaid segments of India's informal economy.
Amir Khusrau, AR Rahman, Ebrahim Alkazi: Three Ways of Being Indian
The three legends have come to signify the centripetal and centrifugal currents in Indian cosmopolitanism - an impulse that seems to be fast disappearing today.
Chadwick Boseman’s Passing and the Power and Limits of Afrofuturism
Boseman's Black Panther and Wakanda present the vision of an alternative, splendidly-black future.
The Poetics of Abolition: From Female Suffrage in the US to Social Reformation in...
Processes of emancipation across time and space have always had a poetic impulse in them.
Poetry Resurrects Itself: Translation of Two Poems by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
Translations of two poems by the doyen of Assamese literature.
The Hagia Sophia Reconversion Is a Cynical Undoing of What Turkey Used to Be
The recent reversal of Istanbul's Hagia Sofia to the status of a mosque from a museum is just the latest manifestation of Erdogan's conservative-authoritarian politics.
Protest Music and Style Iconoclasm in the Times of Celebrity Activism
Many celebrities have expressed solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. But how genuine or meaningful is their anti-racism activism really?
“Cinema Will Help Us Survive”: Five Assamese Filmmakers on the COVID-19 Crisis
A new wave of Assamese cinema had just taken off when the COVID-19 crisis hit. Five prominent filmmakers talk about the damages caused and what the future looks like.
Crisis and Compassion: How Six Music Stars of Assam Are Spending Their Lockdown Days
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a crippling effect on Assam's music industry. How are the state's top music makers coping with that?