Author: Dilip

I'm a scholar, writer and teacher; and my blog is designed for intellectual exploration. It carries no advertisements and requires no cash subscription

Alfred McCoy: The Future According to Trump / Julian Borger: The Putinization of US foreign policy has arrived in Venezuela

Ending the American Dream by 2029? For writers, the future has long been a tricky terrain. While the past can prove unsettling and the present uncomfortable, the future seems to free the mind from reality’s restraints and let the imagination soar. Yet it has also proven full of political pitfalls. The ‘Putinization’ of US foreign… Read More Alfred McCoy: The Future According to Trump / Julian Borger: The Putinization of US foreign policy has arrived in Venezuela

Dilip

Call for Papers: Special Issue of the British Journal of Aesthetics

NB: This notice has been placed here at the request of one of the guest editors. DS Special Issue of the British Journal of Aesthetics on “Transnational Feminist Aesthetics” Firm deadline for submissions: 15th June 2026Please adhere to the deadline as we are on a strict production schedule. Guest Editors: Peg Brand Weiser (Indiana University, Emerita)                       Sukhvinder Shahi (University of Arizona)                       Ritwik Agrawal (University of Arizona) This special issue… Read More Call for Papers: Special Issue of the British Journal of Aesthetics

Dilip

They Questioned India–Israel Ties. Now the trolls want to destroy their lives

NB: In India today, a section of opinion considers any criticism of Israel to be equivalent to ‘anti-nationalism’. This is similar to what has taken place in the USA; where even academic rersearch on Palestinan history is censored. It’s ridiculous that criticism of another country should be seen as betrayal of my country. Why? What… Read More They Questioned India–Israel Ties. Now the trolls want to destroy their lives

Dilip

‘Hope is a​n embrace of the unknown​’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times (2016)

Memory produces hope in the same way that amnesia produces despair,” the theologian Walter Brueggemann noted. It is an extraordinary statement, one that reminds us that though hope is about the future, grounds for hope lie in the records and recollections of the past. We can tell of a past that was nothing but defeats, cruelties and… Read More ‘Hope is a​n embrace of the unknown​’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times (2016)

Dilip

Nawada lynching mocks ‘The rule of law’ / Bangladesh Lynching Condemned 

NB: This heinous incident is one of many such, that have been visible in India and the countries of South Asia for many years. It indicates nothing less than the blatant encouragement and deployment of mob rule by the ruling classes of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Pakistan is now not just a… Read More Nawada lynching mocks ‘The rule of law’ / Bangladesh Lynching Condemned 

Dilip