Remembering Professor J.P.S. Uberoi: Scholar, Mentor, and Teacher (1934-2024) / Antim Ardas for Professor Jit Pal Singh Uberoi

NB: Jit Singh Uberoi was beloved of many of us who were not students of sociology. My personal link with him was not slight: he was on the interview committee which appointed me to a teaching position in Ramjas College, in August 1974. Thereafter we met and interacted in academic seminars as well as on… Read More Remembering Professor J.P.S. Uberoi: Scholar, Mentor, and Teacher (1934-2024) / Antim Ardas for Professor Jit Pal Singh Uberoi

An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department

These professors had to finish their doctoral research, write papers, present in conferences, and yet miraculously also had time for that extra reading that a student requested, or for lunch at D-School Canteen to give a serious answer to a question. Abinash Dash Choudhury Education as the practice of freedom—as opposed to education as the… Read More An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department

Louis Althusser: An Intellectual Adventure (2017)

Louis Althusser – an Intellectual Adventure (2017) This documentary traces the development of the thought of the Marxist French philosopher Louis Althusser (1918-1990), who influenced a whole generation of philosophers, including Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, Badiou and Zizek. Famous for his Definition of ideology and ideological state apparatuses. Althusser is credited with reinterpreting Marx in a… Read More Louis Althusser: An Intellectual Adventure (2017)

Henry Kissinger: the Dr. Caligari of American Empire

‘no legal notice was more gratifying than the one CounterPunch received when Ken Silverstein published these photos of Henry Kissinger picking his nose during a press conference on Brazil. As Ken noted, “Kissinger was OK having his picture taken with murderers like Pinochet but upset when outed as a snot eater‘ (The Cabinet of Dr.… Read More Henry Kissinger: the Dr. Caligari of American Empire

Henry Kissinger was the definition of elite impunity

For U.S. mass media, Henry Kissinger’s quip that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac” rang as an obvious truism. Influential reporters and pundits often expressed their love for him. For decades, the media establishment swooned over one of the worst war criminals in modern history. After news of his death broke on Wednesday night, prominent coverage echoed the… Read More Henry Kissinger was the definition of elite impunity

Unit 731 Museum Harbin, China: the Japanese Army site for ‘medical experimentation’ on prisoners of war

First posted May 04, 2020 Unit 731 Museum: UNIT 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development wing of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. Commanded by General Shiro Ishii, an officer in the Kwantung Army, the exact number… Read More Unit 731 Museum Harbin, China: the Japanese Army site for ‘medical experimentation’ on prisoners of war

Natalie Zemon Davis, Historian of the Marginalized, Dies at 94

NB: A great scholar, a deeply humane person and an optimist of the spirit. This is sad news, but one must be grateful that she lived a long and fulfilling life. She and her husband Professor Chandler Davis were committed war resisters and anti-imperialist intellectuals. I salute them both; and offer my deepest condolences to… Read More Natalie Zemon Davis, Historian of the Marginalized, Dies at 94

How Mahatma’s ashes travelled: In Pune lingers traces of Gandhi family’s 1948 decision to engage a nation in mourning

 Atikh Rashid , Shalmali Bhagwat The signboard at the entrance of Pune’s Aga Khan Palace provides directions to two places of interest within the 13-acre complex – the three-storey palace built in the late 19th century, and the Samadhis. To visit the Samadhis, one needs to descend a flight of stairs located at a distance from the… Read More How Mahatma’s ashes travelled: In Pune lingers traces of Gandhi family’s 1948 decision to engage a nation in mourning