Laxmi Murthy
Laxmi Murthy heads the Hri Institute for Southasian Research and Exchange and is a Contributing Editor with Himal Southasian. She is currently working on a project titled “Challenging visual depiction of women and sexual violence in Southasia”.
Women’s bodies, disinformation and nationalism in Manipur
Sexual violence in conflict has a long and terrible history – and its combination with disinformation and nationalism in Manipur makes for an especially ominous mix
Aug 07, 2023
The face of female leadership
Do women politicians in high office in Southasia offer something different from their male counterparts?
Mar 24, 2021
Reframing the Dalit experience
A new photobook on Dalits in Nepal brings out previously unheard voices and unseen visions.
Aug 22, 2019
Uniform hysteria
Following the suicide attack on security forces in Kashmir, India’s media went on a nationalist, fact-free overdrive.
Mar 07, 2019
Net nanny meets muscular law
India’s new human-trafficking bill could criminalise sex workers and curtail free speech.
Sep 26, 2018
The making and unmaking of a star
On the life and times of Qandeel Baloch, Pakistan’s first social-media celebrity.
Jul 26, 2018
The ‘i’ of the storm
The Bollywood hit ‘Padmaavat’, India’s anti-sati laws and the failure to confront misogyny.
May 14, 2018
Ladyland revisited
On the first feminist science fiction in the Subcontinent.
Jul 19, 2015
Violence, voices and visibility
What are the ethical implications surrounding graphic depictions of sexual violence in the media?
Jul 11, 2014
Latest Articles
Pakistan embraces military rule without martial law
New laws have created jurisdiction for the military to operate at both federal and provincial levels of government, with serious implications for Pakistan’s already precarious federation.
Strains between Malé and the atolls in the Maldives
Forced migration, “development” pressures, political neglect and the climate crisis have assailed the Maldives’ less-populous atolls, eroding the country’s identity and driving thousands to the capital
Manipur’s conflict has harsh lessons for all of India’s Northeast
Rampant ethnic chauvinism of the kind that has shattered Manipur’s civil society is ingrained in communities across the Northeast
How Southasia and Oman intertwined
In ‘Sovereigns of the Sea’, the histories of Omani sultans in the age of empire speak to the interconnectedness of Southasia, West Asia and East Africa
