Settler Colonialism and Permanent Settlement

I just read a short but very thought provoking article by Will Dalrymple in the Spectator website (https://spectator.us/algeria-current-colonization/). Some people may find the article a bit off-character from Dalrymple because here he provides a critique of all sort of colonialism and imperialism in history, including Muslim. Anyway, there are several interesting points in the article … Continue reading Settler Colonialism and Permanent Settlement

Pass the samosa, spare the postcolonialism

Edward Said’s Orientalism was a work of scholarship. I think it was a very mixed work of scholarship (better as a critique than a plausible interpretation of the facts, in keeping with the author’s expertise as a literary scholar rather than a historian). But it was one of the later 20th century works which ruminated … Continue reading Pass the samosa, spare the postcolonialism

How have the English paid for imperialism/colonialism?

Yesterday we went for lunch with some friends and rather randomly the husband engaged Vidhi on the merits/demerits of colonialism. I also had a commentator somehow bring up that I’m unfairly blaming the English for South Asia’s problems. My point being is that the new counter-narrative is that the English seem to have done us … Continue reading How have the English paid for imperialism/colonialism?

Nuanced understanding of British Colonialism

Please watch this video, followed by the following video: I have read many books on India preceding and during British rule from many different perspectives and as a child spoke to many old people who were nostalgic about the British. What does nostalgia mean? It means that they all celebrated independence and had a nuanced … Continue reading Nuanced understanding of British Colonialism

Why Colonialism is always wrong..

I had earlier posted a link to a Guardian Article about Singapore and how it was a model for colonial & post-colonial development. To my knowledge Singapore & Hong Kong are colonial creations and therefore their success are more anomalous than not. I would hazard a few drawbacks of colonial rule in South Asia: (1.) … Continue reading Why Colonialism is always wrong..

Does Colonialism work? . . . metrics to evaluate colonialism

The ever perceptive Zachary Latif asked the question of whether colonialism works. I think this needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis. How to evaluate the success of colonialism? Here is one way to evaluate the success of colonialism: 90% colonization of the mind Has colonization improved the character and self confidence … Continue reading Does Colonialism work? . . . metrics to evaluate colonialism

Does Colonialism work?

Colonialism can work โ€“ just look at Singapore It is now a rich country in which most of the population lives in municipal housing while their children attend excellent state schools. There is a further crucial difference from the colonial past; Singapore now holds elections to choose its leaders. This was not the case until … Continue reading Does Colonialism work?

Thumri and Social Change

Since there has been some discussion about “Indian” and “Pakistani” music recently– and in the spirit of being “high signal”– I am cross posting this essay I wrote about thumri and social change. The essay was originally submitted as part of my M.Mus coursework at SOAS, University of London.ย  Thumri is a semi-classical genre of … Continue reading Thumri and Social Change

Brown Pundits