Postcolonial theory is dense, its difficult to read. There is more to ‘theory from the south’ than its lugubrious absurdities. Theory must start from empirics, and postcolonial theory is not meant for that. I offer a reading list to get you started (avoiding) reading postcolonial theory, and spending more time in the archives or the field instead. Click here for the list and discussion questions.
Bihar Elections 2025: Democracy, Development, and the Decline of Dynasties
The Bihar Assembly Elections (2025) and the state of Indian politics. Elections in the second most populous state in India, and the changing calculus of caste-based electoral arithmetic. Click here to read the blog.
Confessions of a Luddite, or AI in Education
The news about AI is thrillingly difficult to keep track of – we have learnt that its hard to distinguish real videos from AI generated ones, AI can hallucinate and will do so more as it trains itself on its own regurgitations, it makes up academic citations, it gently gaslights people into falling in love with it, and its causing teachers and professors to prep for obsolescence. What is a teacher to do? Click here to read my thoughts on AI in education.
American Elections 2024 or the Iron Law of Oligarchy Revisited
My thoughts on the 2024 American elections. In both elections where Trump beat a female Democrat candidate (2016; 2024), the Democrat primaries were afflicted by the iron law of oligarchy. With some digressions through the interesting story of Gabbard. Click here to read.
Réflexion sur les liens sociaux des Parisien.nes, rapport de l’APUR
Voici mon intervention pour l’APUR, autour de la restitution de leur rapport sur les liens sociaux et le capital social – un rapport riche et nuancé, l’information pertinente pour les stratégies de la résilience de Paris. Cliquez ici.
Pedagogical Strategies that Encourage Reading
Writing or updating a syllabus? As we battle the dominance of social media and smartphones, and bemoan our gnat-like attention spans (sorry gnats!) for the offline world, my new blog is on ‘Pedagogical Strategies that Encourage Reading’. Click here.
Linking Theory and Evidence
Writing a thesis or term paper? Linking theory and evidence is key to writing both the literature review and the empirical parts of your research. Click here to read an example of what we call ‘iteration of theory and evidence’.
You can also check out my earlier blog on ‘writing a literature review’. Remember, its not a literature review, its a literature analysis!
Bipartisan Disdain of the American University
American higher education is in political upheaval. The events of the last few weeks and months, at Harvard, Penn, MIT, New College, and elsewhere, have put the internal politics of universities on the front page. In this short blog, I argue that there is a bipartisan disdain for the university in North America; both the left and right scoff at the university, though for different reasons. Click here to read more.
The Smart City in India
Cities are important sites for the digital transition, and for investigating the impacts of technology on everyday life. In this blog, I explain what the smart city is, and outline what is specific to the smart city in India. Read it here.
Dynasty, Defamation, Democracy
On 23rd of March 2023, Rahul Gandhi, key member of the opposition party in India was convicted on defamation charges. There has been much debate about what this means for Indian democracy, with perhaps not enough attention paid to the facts of the case, and placing it within the political and legal context of India. I analyse the verdict and its context to bring you up to speed. Click here to read.
Sukriti Issar 