Across the 43 colour plates and 33 text plates of Native ball, the artist Anup Mathew Thomas builds a portrait of Kerala and its people that is bureaucratic, deadpan and often darkly funny. Read the full review here - https://ow.ly/oPme50Y9MBf #KeralaArt #IndianPhotography #ArtReview

In this interview, lawyer and politician Aman Wadud speaks to Harsh Mander about how Bengali Muslims in Assam are being disenfranchised and declared foreigners by India’s CAA-NRC laws. Read the full conversation here - https://ow.ly/U17u50Y9cA3 #CAANRC #HumanRights #PodcastDiscussion

Himal’s virtual cover for February 2026 examines the fate of Bangladesh in the wake of the July Revolution. Read the first report on the Bangladesh election here : https://ow.ly/AUYv50Y86rl

Elsewhere in Southasia. News roundup for the week of January 26. Sign up for Southasia Weekly here - www.himalmag.com/newsletters #Southasia #CurrentAffairs #RegionalNews #AsiaPolitics #NewsUpdate

If you would like more book recommendations, please consider subscribing to Southasia Review of Books. Write to [email protected] for any new books, authors or events you would like to see featured. #SouthasianBooks #BookRecommendations #Literature #BookReview #ReadSouthasia

The most debated development ahead of Bangladesh’s general election is the formation of an alliance between the Jamaat and the National Citizen Party (NCP), born out of the July 2024 uprising. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/bangladesh-election-ncp-jamaat-student-islamist #BangladeshPolitics

Excerpts from Southasia Weekly curated by our senior editor, Raisa Wickrematunge. Subscribe to the newsletter here - www.himalmag.com/newsletters #InternationalRelations #TariffCuts #EUIndia #TradeDeal #SouthasiaNews

In this interview, lawyer Shahrukh Alam and Harsh Mander reflect on what it means to be Muslim in India today, and what constitutional values demand in this moment. Read the full conversation here - https://www.himalmag.com/politics/shahrukh-alam-harsh-mander-muslims-india #PodcastDiscussion

In an excerpt from 'Speaking of History: Conversations about India’s Past and Present', Romila Thapar and Namit Arora reflect on how identities were formed, imagined and contested in early and medieval India: https://www.himalmag.com/politics/romila-thapar-namit-arora-history-indian-identity-2

"I have seen these patterns of repression before. In March 1990, two months before that year’s election, I was arrested for my political participation." Bo Kyi writes: www.himalmag.com/politics/mya... #Myanmar #PoliticalPrisoners #Politics

Despite the junta’s claims that the election mark a step towards democratic transition , two of the country’s previously elected leaders from the National League for Democracy remain imprisoned. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/myanmar-political-prisoners-election-junta-nld #MyanmarPolitics

Elsewhere in Southasia. News roundup for the week of January 19. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

For more writing and book recommendations from across Southasia, subscribe to the Southasia Review of Books : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters Suggestions for books, authors, or events are welcome at [email protected] #SouthasiaReview #BookRecommendations #ReadSouthasia

Excerpts from Southasia Weekly. Subscribe to our newsletter here : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters #SouthasiaNews #CurrentAffairs #SubscribeNow #StayInformed

In India, Madhya Pradesh has seen the highest numbers of relocations of villages in the name of tiger conservation – both before and after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/madhya-pradesh-india-tiger-cheetah-conservation-adivasi

From Panchayat-era moralism to donor-driven publishing and today a rising crop of local initiatives, the shifts in Nepal’s children’s literature reflect the difficult history of the country itself. Niranjan Kunwar writes: https://www.himalmag.com/culture/nepal-children-books-literature-publishing

Congratulations to Neha Dixit for winning the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman (Best Debut) 2025 and the KLF Book Award 2025 for Debut Non-Fiction for 'The Many Lives of Syeda X : The Story of an Unknown Indian'. Listen to the full conversation on Youtube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Elsewhere in Southasia. News roundup for the week of January 12. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

Excerpts from Southasia Weekly. Subscribe to our newsletter here - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

Rohith Vemula, a #Dalit PhD scholar, died by suicide in January 2016. From the #HimalArchives: essays on #caste, #campuses and institutional violence.

With a narrow focus on security and a desire to perpetuate #Afghanistan’s dependence on #Pakistan, Islamabad has failed to recognise the Taliban’s new regional ambitions and geopolitical strategy, writes Salman Rafi Sheikh https://ow.ly/j8Bx50XXRlH

Calling all translators of Southasian languages! Original submissions for Himal Fiction Fest 2026: Southasian Fiction in Translation are now open. Please help us to spread the word to applicants. Deadline: 1 April. #SouthasianFiction #Translation #CallForSubmissions #SouthasianLiterature

Submissions to Himal Fiction Fest 2026 open tomorrow!

From the archives. Mahasweta Devi wrote against erasure - of land, labour and life at the margins. On her birthday, we return to our archival pieces on a writer whose politics were inseparable from her prose. https://www.himalmag.com/culture/amma-and-budhan-theatre-tribute-mahasweta-devi

What does it take to write about a figure as unsettling as V T Rajshekar? Roman Gautam, Editor of Himal Southasian and writer Ashik Kahina discuss the making of 'Dalit Voice and V T Rajshekar’s frustrated revolution'. Watch the full conversation on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/QLdm_1HkevQ

"Dalpat Chauhan has never tired of upholding education as a great enabler of Dalit emancipation, and hurdles to it are to him more damaging than material deprivations of various kinds." Hemang Ashwinkumar writes: https://www.himalmag.com/politics/dalit-literature-gujarat-caste-dalpat-chauhan

Against the familiar image of Gujarati development and pride held up to India and the world, Dalpat Chauhan has spent his life writing another history, one shaped by Dalit memory, resistance and a vision of justice. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/dalit-literature-gujarat-caste-dalpat-chauhan

Elsewhere in Southasia. News roundup for the week of January 5. Sign up for Southasia Weekly, your radar on the region - https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

In this clip from the bonus episode of "Saffron Siege", Tanika Sarkar comments on how the RSS used interpersonal interactions as a substitute for a structural critique of caste, untouchability and anti-caste movements. #RSS #India #SaffronSiege

The true safeguards for the military in Myanmar's election are political. They are not to be found at the polling station, but in all that the military has done to re-engineer politics beforehand. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/myanmar-election-military-junta-nld

Reporting on domestic abuse raises difficult questions about access, safety, and silence. In Footnotes, Leena Reghunath talks to Romita Saluja about “The woman in the bathroom” and what went into telling this story. Watch: https://youtu.be/kAFGBBI5oEM

Southasia weekly curated by our senior editor Raisa Wickrematunge is coming out with its 100th issue! Subscribe to the newsletter here : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

Read more about the continued impunity around attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka, including murders and enforced disappearances in our collaborative series with FMMSriLanka: https://www.himalmag.com/politics/sri-lanka-black-january-journalist-attacks

Leena Gita Reghunath, Managing Editor of Himal Southasian talks to Romita Saluja about the story behind 'The woman in the bathroom' in our new segment - Footnotes.

In the 17 years since my uncle’s death I have seen the crowds gathering at his grave every January grow and shrink. There has been little movement towards uncovering answers. https://www.himalmag.com/politics/sri-lanka-journalism-lasantha-wickrematunge

In a special episode of “Saffron Siege”, Harsh Mander speaks to Felix Pal about his research into the #RSS and its affiliates that revealed a network of 2500 organisations globally. Tanika Sarkar and Christophe Jaffrelot comment on the findings. Watch here: https://youtu.be/FSg9h0NXipU

📚🎙️“There were so many women on the ground who were very present and very important in the Gen Z revolution, but so much of their work was invisible.” A conversation with Nirvana Bhandary on what it means to be a feminist in #Nepal today: https://youtu.be/4TeurmZBBcA

Siddhesh Gautam, multidisciplinary visual artist, designer, writer, poet, and Ambedkarite on the cover art of ‘Dalit Voice’ and V T Rajshekar’s frustrated revolution, published by Himal Southasian.

V T Rajshekar’s idiosyncratic dreams of revolution were the engire of 'Dalit Voice'. In scores of articles and monographs, he elaborated a contrarian vision of India’s history with caste identity and ideology at its centre. Read the full piece on Himal's website.

Presenting the first visual cover of 2026! V T Rajshekhar deployed Dalit Voice in an assault on the caste system, amplifying Ambedkar and exposing both the Brahminical enemies of Indian democracy and its Brahminical guardians : https://www.himalmag.com/politics/dalit-voice-vtr-rajshekar-india-caste

🎥 Only a few more days to watch ‘Before You Were My Mother’ by Nepali filmmaker Prasuna Dongol, who uses home video archives and contemporary testimonies to better understand the journey of her mother from #Manipur to #Nepal. Subscribe to watch before Jan. 8: bit.ly/ScreenSouthasia

Elsewhere in Southasia. News roundup for the week of 29 December. Sign up for Southasia Weekly here : https://www.himalmag.com/newsletters

After #Pakistan's government summoned the UK high commissioner over comments made at a pro-Imran Khan rally in England, revisit a 2023 piece about the country's descent into autocracy by Salman Rafi Sheikh https://www.himalmag.com/politics/imran-khan-pakistan-descends-into-autocracy

📚🎙️ “Living in the Western world as a woman of colour, I often felt invisible in spaces – I had to assert myself to be given the same voice and recognition as white women.” A conversation with Nirvana Bhandary on 'Unsanskari: A Feminist Life': https://youtu.be/4TeurmZBBcA

“Even as #Myanmar's junta ploughs ahead with the election, international condemnation is growing,” writes Ma Thida about the ongoing elections https://www.himalmag.com/politics/myanmar-2025-election-junta-military

Jeevan Ravindran, Sri Lankan human rights journalist and researcher on why she contributes to Himal. If you value the work that we do, consider becoming a patron : https://payhere.lk/pay/o84a18f40

In light of reports of low turnout and voter intimidation during the ongoing #Myanmar elections, revisit a 2016 piece about the decline in freedom of expression in the country by Ma Thida https://www.himalmag.com/comment/a-fierce-fear

The 2007 assault on the news director of the state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation by Mervyn Silva, and the stalling of the investigation and case, remains a blot on media freedom during and after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime. #SriLanka #Reportage

🎥 #Southasia film spotlight: Prasuna Dongol is a documentary filmmaker, curator and educator based in Kathmandu, #Nepal. Watch her 2022 film 'Before You Were My Mother' with Screen Southasia before Jan. 8: bit.ly/ScreenSouthasia

Anupam Debashis Roy, PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Oxford, and the Editor-in-Chief of Muktipotro on why he contributes to Himal. If you value the work we do, consider becoming a patron via the link in bio.