What Is Brown Pundits For?

Posted on Categories Blog, Brown Pundits, Civilizational Politics, Comment Thread, Culture and Politics, Diaspora, Digital Culture, India, Islam, Progressive Politics, Religion, ResistanceTags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 10 Comments on What Is Brown Pundits For?

Brown Pundits has always been an open tent—not a monolith, not a movement, and certainly not a megaphone. A forum. A space where ideas, arguments, and identities from across the Brown world are aired, examined, and sometimes clashed over—with the hope that we all leave a little sharper than we arrived. But with that openness comes tension. How do we balance quality and quantity? Principle and pluralism? Coherence and contradiction?

It’s something I’ve reflected on often in other matters of my life (like party-planning for instance). When I’m in the UK, time is tight. When I’m in the US, there’s more room for Brown Pundits. In that ebb, others—like Kabir—have stepped in, contributing with energy and range. And I’m grateful.

Some of Kabir’s posts may align politically with The Wire. That’s fine. Other Pundits lean toward a down-low Hindu Right. Also fine. This was never a place for orthodoxy. We aren’t here to gatekeep belief—we’re here to grow through encounter. The real question isn’t what side are you on? It’s why are you here?

If you’re here to dunk, to declare, to dominate—maybe this isn’t the right space. But if you’re here to engage, to learn, to argue in good faith—welcome. As authors, we don’t always agree. We shouldn’t. But how we disagree matters. To that end, I’d like to lay out four standing principles—not as commandments, but as shared norms that keep our house in order:

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We Cannot Forget the Plurality of Pakistan

A book review of Towards People’s Histories In Pakistan: (In)Audible Voices, Forgotten Pasts edited by Asad Ali and Kamran Asdar Ali.  The review was published in The Wire on June 13.  (Full disclosure: Some of the contributors to this volume as well as one of the editors are family friends)

https://thewire.in/books/we-cannot-forget-the-plurality-of-pakistan

In conclusion, it can be said that while the opening chapters may read a tad academic for a practitioner, the book eases into a telling of history that is accessible and kind to all kinds of readers. The effort to bring in a diversity of voices, experiences, and expressions, gives a richness to the book and keeps it interesting.

Continue reading We Cannot Forget the Plurality of Pakistan

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