Monthly Archives: October 2016

Early Indian Communists and their Historian: An Interview with Suchetana Chattopadhyay

Suchetana Chattopadhyay, who teaches at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, has been producing some of the most important work on early Communist history. Her first book – An Early Communist: Muzaffar Ahmad in Calcutta, 1913-1929 (Tulika, 2011), traces not only the early life of  Kakababu but also the world of colonial and radical Calcutta. The book was reviewed when it came out by Vijay Prashad in Frontline. Most recently, Chattopadhyay has contributed an essay for our own new volume – Communi[...]

A review of Acting Up: Gender and Theatre in India, 1979 Onwards

Acting Up: Gender and Theatre in India, 1979 Onwards, by A. Mangai, a book which examines the work of major women theatre practitioners in India since 1979 to explore the intersection of gender and theatre. Niharika Malimadugula has written about the book for The Wire. She writes, "Despite being a largely scholarly endeavor, there’s a sensitivity of description and a personal involvement from Mangai, both as a teller and participant in the world of theatre, that makes the book relatable and p[...]

P. Sainath and the Toofan Sena

P. Sainath, India’s most important journalist, has just released his new report on Satara District’s prati sarkar [provisional government] of the Quit India era. It is a dazzling account of the freedom movement – one that takes us through the audacity of the fighters, such as ninety-four year old Ramchandra Sripati Lad, to the disregard of such people in contemporary India. Lad tells Sainath about the arc of his aspirations, ‘We dreamed of bringing freedom to the common man. It was a bea[...]