Monthly Archives: October 2017
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30OctGetting to know the ‘Bolsheviks’
In the cities of colonial India, caught in the vortex of war-time/post-war scarcity and political repression, how did the colonizers and a segment of their literate middle-class subjects perceive and depict the Bolshevik Revolution through newspaper pages? In the course of November 1917, the colonial world became gradually acquainted with Bolshevism through hostile news networks based in the West. In Kolkata, the former capital of British Empire in India until 1912 and the provincial cap[...] -
Writing About Caste Violence in Southern Tamil Nadu
K.A Manikumar I moved from Tirunelveli to Erode in 1992 to become Reader in History at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. I was struck by the frequency with which people in the area plunged into social violence. The flimsiest pretext seemed to be sufficient. I decided to study the underlying factor for social violence in Erode. The University Grants Commission (UGC) accepted my proposal and sanctioned me to do a Major Research Project. As I began to work on the project ‘caste riots’ brok[...] -
26OctCommunist Prints: Sidenotes to the Asian Women’s Conference of 1949
The paper caught my attention. The pictures slipped into my fingers from the archive file. The paper was fine and strong, with a subtle texture and sheen. It felt as if it were made of silk. Three of the brightly colored woodblock prints shared the same paper. All featured peasant women were reveling in the benefits of communism. The images suffered from mild water damage. This blurred the writing and spread a pink wash of watercolor paint over parts of the image. The stories they tell, however[...] -
26OctThe Fight Against Sexual Harassment: A Call for the Long Road rather than the Short Cut
We want to start with extending our deepest solidarities to the survivors of sexual harassment that runs rampant in the academy and beyond. We acknowledge that sexual harassment, in all its forms, is far too widespread. That senior and serial offenders have operated with impunity and survivors have been maligned and blamed for the assault. One of us is a woman and having handled enquiries with the GSCASH in JNU, has experienced and fought alongside the complainants for justice if the accused is [...] -
19OctFacing odds still moving ahead: Kulgam (Jammu & Kashmir)
Very few people know that the red flag of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPIM, staunchly defends the people’s rights against the police and military excesses here and also is a beacon to combat the designs of secessionist elements in Kashmir valley. In the state, the CPIM is a small party, which has only one MLA - Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami from Kulgam. Nonetheless, the party has faced great violence here, which is little known outside the state. Nearly fifty comrades have been killed b[...]