Book Reviews

Foothills. Such a lovely word. It signals an elusive geography—neither high-altitude mountains, nor flatlands or plains. As we learned from postcolonial theorists like Homi K Bhabha and Edward Said, foothills have that quality of the creative in-between space where differences can flourish. In anthro­pologist Dolly Kikon’s masterly crafted book Living with Oil & Coal: Resource Politics […]

Wandana Sonalkar is a self-proclaimed atheist and in this autobiographical account titled ‘Why I am not a Hindu Woman’, Sonalkar critically reflects on her position on why she has chosen to renounce her religion. This work adds to the list of works where authors are writing to declare their religious positions like Kancha Illaiah’s ‘Why

In Singing Gandhi’s India, historian Lakshmi Subramanian examines Gandhi’s relationship with music through his letters, significant events and other documents. Leaning on bhajans Subramanian begins by introducing the reader to the early nationalisation project aimed at collating and creating a new ‘classical’ tradition of Indian music: Hindustani classical in the north and Carnatic in the south.

India’s farmers have sustained the largest protests in modern Indian history since Mahatma Gandhi and the independence movement. While Gandhi’s khadi dhoti appeared in media worldwide, the farmers received relatively scant attention until cultural stars like Rihanna and Greta Thunberg tweeted and Disha Ravi, the granddaughter of a farmer, was arrested. Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste:

The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social freedom, and moral freedom. These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular -Mahatma Gandhi The opening quote of Oral History of Indian Freedom Movement by Mahatma Gandhi sums up the true