June 2019
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Brown Pundits Browncast episode 51: Scratching the surface on Sri Lanka
A BrownCast episode in which the host talks to ‘Nan’, a Sri Lankan Tamil American raised in the American South, about his background and why Sri Lankans see themselves as…
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Good luck Pakistan-
Shares a tweet linking Disney’s Aladdin remake to Pakistan’s World Cup match against New Zealand, and jokes that Pakistan plays cricket like the author plays pool.
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A darker shade of brown
The author examines attitudes to skin colour among South Asians, noting how Bollywood aesthetics define ‘Indian’ even for Western casting, that Indian-American culture pays less attention to shade, and predicting…
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The Rise of the Quarter-breeds in Bollywood
After seeing Kabir Singh, the author remarks on a trend of Bollywood starlets with a hidden European maternal grandparent, arguing that Indian beauty standards of sharp features and fair skin…
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When White Men rule the roost; there are no need for Rules.
Struck by an Oxbridge historian who rose without finishing his PhD, the author argues that rules were unneeded when academia was all white men, and describes feeling lectured by white…
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humblebragging History-
Mocks a tweet crediting the Greeks with the Ramayana, saying it reflects a subtle bias that inflates Greco-Roman achievement at other civilisations’ expense and justifies colonialism.
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The limits of semantics; Hindus before Hinduism
The author argues that the claim that the British ‘invented’ Hinduism rests on a narrow, philosopher-driven idea of religion, pointing to al-Biruni’s recognisable description of Hindu belief, practice and communal…
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BP Episode 50: South Asian Subnationalism with Prof. Majeed
A BrownCast episode with Professor Majeed on linguistic sub-nationalism and Grierson’s Linguistic Survey, covering how regional language identity grew alongside communalism before independence, why India’s languages stay healthy, and how…
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weight loss 101
The author shares his own weight-loss routine, relying on red meat, salad and front-loaded protein, with a target weight he intends to hold, after a reader suggested he offer advice…
