Tag Archives: Sociology

Pranav Joshipura and Swati Vyas (Kapadia) portray the pain of Indo-Fijian communities in their essays, ‘Issue of Land and Indo-Fijian Reality’ and ‘The Displaced Migrants of Fiji’. Here, the ghosts of colonial exploitation are palpable. In these essays, land is more than soil—it is life, home, and memory, torn away under the weight of foreign rule. Their work offers a haunting reminder that colonization’s scars do not fade with time, binding generations to loss and dislocation.

Nationalism, a recurring motif in the novel, is presented as both a unifying ideology and a vehicle for violence and marginalization. Through the lived experiences of his characters, Islam interrogates how nationalist discourses justify systemic exclusion, displacement, and cultural erasure. It also reflects how even such a unifying force could not cut across social boundaries like caste.

In the final chapter, Roy talks about Kashmir. Here, he notes the plight of Kashmiris, who live on the edge of a cultural and political chasm that shapes their social interaction with the rest of Indian society. Also, in commenting on the complex lives of (militant) women in Kashmir, Roy tells us about their painful encounters with violent, patriarchal bands of self-righteous men.

Another fascinating aspect Gautam explores is the rise of soft spirituality among Millennials, reflecting their quest for personal meaning in an increasingly individualistic society. This spirituality, focused on personal choice and the freedom to select one’s own spiritual guide or guru, is becoming more prevalent.

For the last decade or so, 21st century India has been a confusing place. We are bombarded with triumphant messages of India’s rise as an economic superpower while simultaneously feeling the crunch of rising costs and diminishing earning capacities.

At first glance, it appears that the Punjab-Emilia Romagna migration corridor is a win-win proposition for the Italian dairy owners in dire need for workers in a rapidly aging population and the relatively low-skilled Punjabi emigrants to meet their economic and aspirational goals since the once-prosperous agricultural sector of Punjab has stagnated.

The anthology Concealing Caste: Passing and Personhood in Dalit Literature with an extensive introduction by K Satyanarayana and Joel Lee is a treasure-trove of Dalit literature.

India is the land of paradoxes. As the British economist Joan Robinson famously quipped, ‘Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true.’ This statement aptly captures the politics around the cow in India.

Harsh Mander, the author of this book, would be known to most readers of the The Book Review. He is a gadfly some might say, others might say the conscience of a nation that was India.

literary activism of women depended upon the influence of male intellectuals, it was only in the 1980s that Dalit women began writing to ‘externalize their pain, show their plight, demand their rights, spread social awareness and mobilize themselves for affirmative articulation’

Disability is born out of interactions of these impairments of mind and body with the external settings comprising the physical features present in the environment and the human components coupled with attitudes and perspectives.

Indian villages represent a vast terrain, which is full of diversity in its natural settings, social structure, cultural life, economic conditions, and many other aspects of life.

Birsa Munda is a revolutionary figure who has inspired many generations to fight against the injustice of both colonial rulers and the postcolonial exploitative development model. Though largely overlooked and portrayed marginally as a ‘nationalist’, who fought against British rule in present-day Jharkhand in the last decade of the nineteenth century,