This week at Himal
This week, Devana Senanayake writes about the fight to decriminalise same-sex relationships in Sri Lanka, following the path of dedicated queer activists who continue to
Uncovering her maternal ancestors’ past rooted in the Bhantu identity, Jafri offers a rare account of the so-called criminal tribe, the circumstances of their conversions and the continuities of caste oppression in India today
Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav’s biography of Lajpat Rai helps trace the Indian freedom fighter’s ideas on nationalism and caste – which, when compared to Gandhi’s, point to the often counterintuitive caste politics of India’s Hindu and “secular” nationalisms
The Indian tennis star who has succeeded despite a dysfunctional sports administration and woeful funding – and Indian tennis is refusing to learn its lessons
In ‘Sahaj Path’ – Rabindranath Tagore’s much-loved work for young readers of Bengali – his views on class, caste and gender are inextricably intertwined with his aesthetics and pedagogy
In ‘The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian’, Neha Dixit studies the past 30 years of inequalities and majoritarianism in urban India through the eyes of a Muslim migrant woman
Building on an inclusive Dravidian politics, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has provided leadership to the opposition alliance countering the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Tamil Nadu has shown a better path for India’s development
Three recent books demonstrate how dancers negotiate individuality and collective identity through their work, and how their gender and sexuality is controlled and reproduced by caste mechanisms in modern Indian society
Couples in inter-caste and inter-faith relationships continue to battle discriminatory societal attitudes and legislation – and the Uniform Civil Code could make things worse
