March 2020
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Browncast Episode 90: With Kushal Mehra, Indian lockdown, Covid19, Things to come..
BrownCast episode 90 with Kushal Mehra of the Carvaka podcast, on the lockdown in Mumbai, the Indian response to COVID-19, the pandemic in general, and what might come next for…
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Are the (TV) Mahabharata and Ramayan “Right Wing”?
Asks whether the 1980s Doordarshan Ramayan and Mahabharata serials paved the way for Hindu nationalism, as many Left-liberal Indians argue. The author is fascinated that this view is respectable, and…
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What is a civilization?
Reflecting on what a civilisation is, the author finds Huntington’s emphasis on religion persuasive for South Asia, citing Peter Turchin’s view of higher religion as a meta-ethnic identity, while arguing…
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Browncast episode 89: Dr Sunny Anand, part 2
BrownCast episode 89, the second session with Dr Sunny Anand, a Stanford paediatric intensivist, on his work with the Heart to Heart Foundation’s free heart surgery centres in India and…
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Open Thread – Brown Pundits
Open thread, 28 March 2020, with a note that a COVID-19 podcast with Kushal Mehra is being recorded and readers can send questions.
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Browncast episode 88: Phillipe Lemoine, covid-19 “optimism”
BrownCast episode 88 with Philippe Lemoine, a philosopher turned data scientist, discussing his blog post asking whether the world is heading toward an unprecedented public health disaster and the patterns…
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Cultural evolution at work!
Quoting a New York Times report on clerics resisting limits on Friday prayers in Pakistan, the author argues that Islam’s perceived unitary cohesion, which some Hindu nationalists envy, can have…
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Pogrom in Kabul
Quotes a report of an Islamic State attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul that killed 25 worshippers, with the comment that attackers keep to their old script even during…
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Browncast episode 87: Dr Sunny Anand on healthcare, free heart hospitals in India, etc
BrownCast episode 87 with Dr Sunny Anand, a Stanford paediatric intensivist who works with the Heart to Heart Foundation and Sai Sanjeevani hospitals, on free heart surgery centres across India…
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The Weather, South Asia, and coronavirus
Summarises the idea that absolute humidity affects coronavirus spread, suggesting coastal Karachi and Mumbai are less suited to it than inland Lahore, with air conditioning a possible confound.
