Is there an essay that you would recommend to any undergrad majoring in History or those interested in Historical research? Just one, if you had to!
I’ll pick Saidiya Hartman’s “Venus in Two Acts”. How about you?
#TMC
all set to send 9 women elected representatives to the Parliament. They fielded 12 women candidates. West Bengal has around 49% women voters and the voter turnout was the highest in the country. WB is also ruled by only woman CM.
There is a LOT to celebrate here.
Indians quoting Faiz to express their solidarity for the students’ revolution in Bangladesh are woefully ignorant of the sea of Bangla revolutionary literature, especially songs. Bangla is a language of revolution!
Historian David Ludden there in the human chain who was arrested soon after. He is in his 80s if I am not mistaken.
Yes, students are under our care. Protect them from the excesses of the admin.
I guess it is a good hour to share that I will join
@NLSIUofficial
as an Assistant Professor in Social Sciences. Excited to begin a new chapter in a new city! Bangalore, here’s hoping we will vibe :)
VP Dhankar: Jairam Ramesh is so intelligent, talented, and gifted that you should immediately take the place of Kharge!
*Kharge Sahab refutes back*:
Don't bring that varnashram!
I think you still have that Varna Caste System in your mind.
🔥🔥🔥🤣 Brutally Slayed!
Prof. Allison Busch’s pathbreaking research on Hindi literature in the Mughal court broke multiple stereotypes nurtured by nationalist and postcolonial histories of Hindi. Remembering Allison (my advisor) on this occasion of Hindi Diwas. Forever grateful to be her student.
The first piece of advice I got while finishing my PhD and starting a job is that you need to build a life (alongside) independent of institutions. I can’t emphasise how wise the words were. Hopefully, I will be able to do that
Why aren’t we talking abt suicide amongst LGBTQ+ persons in India?A boy took his life bcz he was abandoned by his school, teachers, and friends. Why shouldn’t this make us question the institutions we build, networks of hatred we perpetuate, and cultures of alienation we foster?
Teaching Premodern South Asia (History 1) next trimester. Some of my favourite lectures are part of this Compulsory Core. We begin with Early India and end with the Mughals in the Seventeenth Century.
It’s time that academics acknowledge and study the anti-CAA movements in Bangla, Tamizh, Marathi and several other regional languages too. The narrative needs a different perspective, not centred in Delhi or Shaheen Bagh.
As a queer person and a first gen PhD I can say that good mentorship played a big role in my academic career. Shout out to all of us who keep our hours flexible. Time is a precious gift that we can give to our students. And, I hope we are doing that well.
The toughest part of moving in to a new city is about making friends. You can’t try too hard, you will look desperate. You can’t sit at home because you won’t be trying enough. You can’t be the one always making plans because you will be judged. And, you can’t live alone either!
There are days when I can’t do a thing. I can’t read or write. I can’t cook or run. I can’t watch a movie or talk to a friend. I am unproductive. I fall behind. Perhaps, I waste precious time. But, I need to shut down in order to be sane again!
Loneliness wears you out.
I know i post a lot about loneliness, being single through 30s, losing hope in relationships, and struggling to make friends in a new city despite knowing I am difficult. But, I wish i could tell how it feels to be lonely and juggling your first job and your life. Phew.
Humbly suggest that the organisers reflect on the politics of representation of a symposium that has 12 men, 3 women, no Dalit scholar, and one Muslim scholar. Guha’s work is still tremendously relevant but this does not seem a proper way of revisiting.
In this interview I speak about teaching history at law school, my current and future research, and classes I’ll offer
@NLSIUofficial
amongst other things. Excited to begin this journey!
I was in 9th standard when I read an exquisite story about border crossers in the Rann of Kutch. It made me think about borderlands as a distinct place, always made in difference. An early lesson that I remain indebted to.
Rest in power, Keki N. Daruwalla.
Earlier this year my students read this brilliant essay on writing the city by Manan Ahmed Asif. Some of you might have read it, sharing this for the larger community of readers here! It’s beautiful meditation on method.
Casteist Savarna losers attacking Prof. Shailaja Paik after her spectacular McArthur win (read the comments)!
Try building a career like hers in global academia before you say a word about her. She is a trailblazer. Her win is epic🔥
Historian and a professor at University of Cincinnati, Shailaja Paik has received a $800,000 "genius" grant from Mc Arthur Foundation for writing about challenges faced by the Dalit women in the country.
Details here:
Please try to understand the anger that pushes a woman constable to slap someone, while she is on duty! She is risking her job, her career, her reputation. She knows she will pay for this. Yet she did it. That’s how frustration against the powerful works. I hope she remains safe
The last TT Assistant Professor position in my field (early modern South Asian history) in the US was in early 2023. I was a finalist for the position. Since then no new search has been announced. I know many recent & superb PhDs in the area but jobs aren’t being created!
Led a tremendously invigorating discussion on “eighteenth-century South Asia” this morning with 2nd Year BA LLB students
@NLSIUofficial
My first class as an Assistant Professor in History will always be special for the sixty students who made the gig worth it 😊😇
Historians edition
Favorite historian of all time:Natalie Davies,Partha Chatterjee,Shahid Amin
Historian I dislike:Bada’uni
Historian that grew on me:Spiegel
Most overrated historian:Dalrymple
Most underrated historian:Alessandro Portelli
The GOAT(s):Ranajit Guha,Carlo Ginzburg
It’s September and if you are applying for PhD in the US then you need to reach out to the faculty right now. Don’t wait till the last minute, please. Conversations that begin early are productive. Also, this shows that you respect their time. That’s a crucial thing to remember!
Women across West Bengal are taking to the streets in the night to demand justice wrt to the
#rgkarincident
Protests are being organised both in urban & semi-urban areas. The night belongs to all, fearlessly. Right to mobility is a fundamental component of urban democracy! ✊🏾
Terrifying times: inching towards finishing your PhD while realising you are unemployed, your research isn’t cool enough for the market, and you have to feed yourself. 30s, I didn’t need you so soon :(
I get abused on X for my chosen pronouns (they/them). But, the reason why I identify as non-binary is my discomfort with cis-het men. Their casual jokes. Their chit-chat. Their stares. Their touch. Their confidence.
I try to unlearn whatever it “takes to be a man”. Everyday!
wishing you the smell of ābīr/gulāl and the heaviness engulfing your body after a long day of holi rumpus! Happy eid-e-gulal/holi/dol/phalgutsava
Pictures: The Cleveland Museum of Art (1971.83).
Wishing my queers more smiles and happiness! Happy Pride, India 🌈🏳️🌈
P.S. this year was special because I walked with our amazing students. Big shout out to
@NlsQueer
for their spectacular turn out
@NammaPride
Pride March 💜🫶🏽♥️
Glad that I had the privilege of coming out when I was 26. This picture drawn by my cousin reminds me of the love, support and acceptance I have received since. It’s never an easy journey but it’s a sweet one
#HappyNationalComingOutDay
@KunalGhoshAgain
একটু চুপ থাকুন না। খামোকা পাড়ার কাকুর মতো গা-জ্বালানি কথা বলে কি লাভ। নাগরিকদের প্রতিবাদ করার অধিকার আছে। তাতে গনতন্ত্র শক্ত হয়। পারলে আপনিও যান। পাশে দাঁড়ান। গোটা ব্যাপারটায় আমরা-ওরা না করে একবার অন্তত সচেতন রাজনৈতিকের মতো আচরন করুন।
Successfully defended and submitted my PhD dissertation. Also, wrote 80,000+ words between May and September. I don’t think I will ever do anything as impossible as that.
Yesterday a queer identifying student came to meet me in my office to let me know that my presence makes a huge difference in their campus life. Apparently, their queer friends feel safe and seen around me. Couldn’t believe my ears! ☺️🏳️🌈✊🏾
Columbia students making history! Hundreds of students occupy Hamilton Hall and unfurl a banner that read Hind’s Hall, in memory of Hind Rajab, a five year old Palestinian girl killed by the Israeli forces
Now you can check out the abstract of my PhD dissertation in Academic Commons and ProQuest.
Formations of the King: Politics, Pleasure, and Law in Early Eighteenth-Century Brahmaputra Valley, 1700-1750
In solidarity with Columbia University students who continue to resist in face of brute force by the largest police department in the world and a vicious administration out to get them. Takeaway, learn from your students! They are far more brave and courageous ✊🏾🇵🇸🍉
A friend recently told me not to skip shower and to stay hydrated even when you are in the thick of spirals, mood swings, and meltdowns. I didn’t pay much attention then but in the last few days I have realised how honest and sincere they were. It works wonders!
Another “India Studies” endowed professorship based in the US has been announced. I know a couple of new institutions in India that have a similar position. Is this Indology staging a return? How are these positions different from “South Asia/South Asian Studies”? Any thoughts 🤔
Please read Bangladeshi authors on the July revolution. Listen to Bangladeshi news channels. Talk to BD friends if you have. This is an opportunity to learn and understand rather than bank on what we know & critique. I know this sounds identity politics max. But, it matters.
Posters for next trimester’s elective course/seminar
@NLSIUofficial
(The images used in the posters are photographs of Zarina Hashmi’s drawings, available in public domain.)
Loneliness is unpredictable. Sometimes a smack in your tired face right in the middle of the day. Sometimes the knots in your muscles as you drag yourself out of the bed. Or, the rushed heartbeat that ceases to calm down. Loneliness is never consistent but always cruel!
I turned a year older this week. I’m in my mid 30s and I feel that the thing I want most is to remain single. I’m tired of dating and I’m tired of waiting. Of course I whine. And, sometimes I cry. But, I want to be the person that my mother could never be but always wanted to!
Submitted my first TT assistant professor application this weekend while recovering from the delta. Not sure if i will be employed after my PhD, but, boy I love teaching and that’s why I am here!
@AbubakrJamalSci
I have nothing against Faiz or Urdu poetry. But, can’t stand people who fetishise Urdu or quote that one poem in every occasion. Bangla’s fight was against Urdu imposition/oppression. Urduwallas are too quick to forget that.
Chuffed to teach an elective course next term
@NLSIUofficial
titled, “History, In the Present” on what it means to study, think, and engage with the remembered past in wake of increased misinformation and how has AI complicated public memory. Dropping posters soon. Hope it’s fun!
I was nine when I saw him in the morning prayer line. Quietly walking towards his class. New kid. Everyone spoke about him. The girls, mostly. He topped the class that year. Then, his father got transferred.
I never got to tell him that he was the first man I ever loved ♥️🏳️🌈🌈
At that point in my life when I know it’s best to hide your feelings for a person. Never let them know. Maybe even say otherwise. Faraz sahab was right. The hiding of love is love too.
If I had to pick one book (from my area) for a historical writing seminar then it would be this! A masterpiece in the genre. Also, the nod to Vermeer’s portraits as the inspiration tells you a lot about how historians think
What’s a thing that is common between Tavleen Singh, Shekhar Gupta, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and Barkha Dutt?
They are highly inconsistent and confused thinkers. This isn’t a bad thing but it makes us realise we should not take them seriously
The most fundamental change that has happened in India in ten years of Modi’s rule is that a process of decolonisation has taken place. When Indians say we are proud to be Indian for the first time it’s this they mean.
Finally watched PS 1&2. Yes, better late than never. Despite all the criticism, I like it more than all of the Bhansali historical movies. Also, the films belong to Aishwarya Rai Bacchan & Vikram. Nandini is the soul of PS & Aditya it’s beating heart!
You can’t use Bengalis to mean Calcutta elites. Bengali history is not confined to twentieth-century Calcutta. Look beyond. Look around. Bengalis are a transnational/transregional community. And, surely they will write about other Bengalis. You can’t “ban” or silence them.
In a world racing towards unequal opportunities the most we can do as academics is to be generous with our time. I learnt this from the best, who opened their doors and let me in. Mentors, colleagues, friends, and lifelines. Here’s to them. And to surviving 2022!
In last three months I survived break up and travails of dating in a new city. Some days were unbearable but I knew I had to pull through. Now that the first trimester of teaching is coming to an end, I know I am doing what I do best. Here’s to me being there for myself 🥂
As many Bengali Hindu families from erstwhile East Bengal worship the goddess Laxmi today, I remember my grandmothers. Women who crossed borders carrying nothing but traditions. In refugee homes, they worshipped the goddess with unfailing love & care.
Shubho Kojagori Purnima!
Have been waiting for this! Of breathtaking scope, the book combines research in the Ottoman, Mughal, Maratha, and British archives. Look out for the delicious prose! Congratulations to my friend Rishad Choudhury for this brilliant achievement 🎉🥂
I grew up with labels because I was not boy enough. School was a torture. I would return home and lock myself up in my room for hours to recuperate. I still carry these trauma bonds in my personal and social life.
This news and the letter broke my heart! No one deserves this
As an early career scholar, I am sceptical of contributing to yet another edited volume unless it is right up my alley. Reason, I need to protect my time and publish in prestigious peer reviewed journals! Don’t know if I am doing the right thing. Any suggestions, X acad fam?
My department denied giving me a promised TF that too in the last semester. Fighting it out with GSAS, Admin right now. Unbelievable. I have paper trail and yet they are lying. Really, MESAAS (Columbia University) this how you treat your graduate students!!
This is great news! In my opinion, the
#INDIAAlliance
will have far better opportunities as the opposition. Mobilise. Solidify. And, make inroads. Assembly elections in the next 3 yrs are crucial. Maha, UP, WB. A lot is on the cards. Picture abhi baki hai, mere dost!
#Khelahobe
“We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realise the desire of the people”
#INDIAAlliance
after the meeting, claiming that for now they will play the role of the opposition to
#NarendraModi
Govt. But the catch is “appropriate time”
Don’t know why you are surprised at the lack of concern except a perfunctory statement from Mahua Moitra wrt
#rgkar
She has never said anything that concerns women at large. She opposes the BJP. That’s it. I can’t imagine her as being part of a collective struggle. She can never.
2023 has been a year of accepting what life gives. And, living with it. I still don’t know where I’m headed but if I have learnt one thing it is to not think about the destination. Live with the hope that you will reach where you belong, someday if not today!
Every time I read Munis Faruqui on the Mughals and their “successors” I end up with fanboi feelings! “At Empire’s End” (in Expanding Frontiers) is by far the best piece on early 18thc South Asia! Please read and teach Faruqui if you don’t already
Imtiaz Ali’s Chamkila is an extremely important and film. Chamkila is a strong reminder of the artist’s location in a society in grip of religious fundamentalism. It’s a brave film and asks difficult questions about art itself. I think this is Ali’s best so far. Kudos!
In today’s public history seminar,
What kind “histories” do heritage workers, genealogists, architects, podcasters, and artists create? How can we understand their “passion” for the past as an iteration of public history knowledge? Why listen to “outsider” history makers?
This is outrageous. You can’t punish students for peacefully protesting against a genocide that has been going for 200+ days and then claim to be beacons of “academic freedom”.
@Princeton
Hassan Sayed, a fifth year PhD candidate in economics, and Achinthya Sivalingan, a SPIA MPA second year, have been arrested, evicted, and permanently banned from the
@Princeton
campus, thereby preventing them from finishing their degrees.
As I complete a year of teaching as an Assistant Professor I am grateful to students & colleagues for giving me the space to learn and grow. Despite hurdles, I feel every class has taught me to be a kinder teacher. To listen and to adapt. It’s a gift I will always cherish 😇🙏🏽
A lot in store for next term! I’ll be teaching a seminar that I wanted to since joining
@NLSIUofficial
Thanks to my mentor Manan Ahmed for provocations to think about premodern historical narratives in the present and to my colleague
@PostitAcademic
for the encouragement 🙂😇
Case for Objects | The American Historical Review | Oxford Academic
This is a brilliant article on teaching material culture/object history. Definitely using this for my seminar on “Objects-History”.
@AHAhistorians
You can’t stand in a classroom and lecture about ideas that you don’t believe in. You can’t talk about history as if it has nothing to do with who you are & where you are. Talking about history can get intimate. And, right now very difficult as well.
Hope we are doing it well!
Halfway into the term and I am surprised that the students are engaging, enjoying, and learning. And, rarely do they miss lectures. I know some of us think teaching isn’t the most important thing we do. But, I would rather spend time in the classroom than do other things!
Here to remind you of the scene from Modern Love S1 where Lexie finally comes out to her colleague as bipolar and her colleague cancels a work meeting to have lunch with her. May many such kind gestures take you through 2023! Happy New Year 🥳
PhD rejections:
Arizona State University
University of Chicago
PhD acceptances:
University of Texas at Austin
Columbia University
(Didn’t have money to apply to more than four places 😬🤣)
9 years later I’m a procrastinator. Lol.
This is misleading! West Bengali liberals can say whatever nonsense they want. But, the students have asserted themselves as muktijoddhas in the present. The students and the people won. Acknowledge it before you jump to conclusions!
Muktijoddhas gave their lives to liberate Bangladesh so that one day the daughter of the Father of the Nation would be kicked out of the country and Islamic radicals come to power
Was re reading this lovely tweet by
@dinasfoodstory
and it occurred to me that “nokshi” (patterns) most likely comes to Bangla from Farsi naqsh-e keshidan (to draw lines, maps, patterns etc.). “Nokshi” (v.) was also used in the context of ornamentation of scripts by scribes.
When nokshi pitha (hand decorated rice flour pastries) reunited with mum’s shital pati/adhi - a traditional Bangladeshi handwoven mat - intrinsic to Sylhet & listed as a
@UNESCO
intangible cultural heritage
#Bangladesh
.
#bangladeshifood
#bangladeshiart
This is an excellent opportunity to focus on your writing while being in conversation with some excellent early career scholars. If you have completed your PhD and are looking for a writing position (in India) then this Postdoc is for you! Apply within 15 February, 2024.
I have deleted the post where right wing trolls were abusing me. The threats are getting too much to handle. Some of these folks are also misrepresenting my comments. I don’t feel secure in such a situation. Therefore, I deleted my post to put an end to this madness.
Historians edition II
who help me think:Quentin Skinner,Richard Eaton,Kumkum Chatterjee,Indrani Chatterjee
help me write:Camilla Townsend,Prachi Deshpande,Manan Ahmed
can’t wait to read:Durba Mitra
regret reading:Venkat Dhulipala
i re-read:Finbarr Flood
AOMM:Daud Ali
Kicking off Borderlands Seminar with the screening of Haobam Paban Kumar’s film, Loktak Lairembee (Manipur, 2016). As we watch the film we will think about what it means to orient ourselves to borderlands thinking and the iteration of place from borderlands perspective
Will remember this class forever. The first that I taught as an Assistant Professor. Students brought cake to class with their favourite thing about the lectures inscribed - history as a ground of possibilities. Immensely happy and grateful for the appreciation 😍💜☺️
In today’s Public History seminar we will discuss the sign of the present in studying urban development and the multiple transformations of material pasts wrt Saidlajab village and the Hauz-i-Rani reservoir in South Dilli, with Sunil Kumar as our guide :)
Can’t wait to see the following folks in the parliament 🔥
Rahul Gandhi
Mahua Moitra
Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan
Supriya Sule
Kanimozhi Karunanidhi
Shayoni Ghosh
Bimol Akoijam
Gaurav Gogoi
Akhilesh Yadav
Saugata Roy
#loksabhaelctionsResults2024
How did you prepare for your PhD defence? Were you anxious after distributing your dissertation? Was the anxiety related to reception of your work? Is it okay to feel inadequate after you have distributed? I’m in a flux of emotions right now :(
The National Testing Agency (NTA) needs to be sacked. This is a huge scam. Education Ministry must take responsibility and resign. There’s no doubt that
@NTA_Exams
has failed miserably and millions of Indian citizens’ careers are at risk here.