Blog

Jai Bhim, Justice Chandru, and a pleasant surprise

A few months back, I watched the Tamil movie, Jai Bhim, a movie that narrated the struggle of Sengani, a woman from the Irular community in Tamil Nadu who takes on a legal fight against the Tamil Nadu police as she searches for her husband, Rajakannu, who is murdered in police custody over a false… Continue reading Jai Bhim, Justice Chandru, and a pleasant surprise

Blog

Why Do You Fear My Way So Much?

As we speak, several academics, poets, and activists - Varavara Rao, Hany Babu, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj (since given bail), Stan Swamy (who passed away) Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde, G. N. Saibaba - are/were languishing in Indian prisons simply because they raised their voices against injustice. The Indian state has wrongfully charged them under the… Continue reading Why Do You Fear My Way So Much?

Blog

A song on Thendral :)

One of my favorite musicians, Tajmeel Sherif, singing an Ilaiyaraaja song is the musical version of a gentle breeze: Thendral in Tamil. When Tajmeel released this cover, I thought, well, this blog has a song 🙂 I miss Tamil. https://open.spotify.com/track/5Pj5jYUArvV4a4xIyx24zv?si=495493d922fb4536 Thendral Vanthu Ennai Thodum Thendral vanthu ennai thodum[A breeze is touching me]Aaha satham intri mutham… Continue reading A song on Thendral đꙂ

Poetry

Running Orders by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

They call us now,before they drop the bombs.The phone ringsand someone who knows my first namecalls and says in perfect Arabic“This is David.”And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphoniesstill smashing around in my headI think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza?They call us now to sayRun.You have 58 seconds from the end… Continue reading Running Orders by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Publication

Oppression and Resistance : What it means to be Asian and Asian American

A couple of sociologist friends (Dr. Min Li and Dr. Yiqing Yang) and I wrote a short piece for AAPI Heritage month in the Asheville Citizen Times. We had a longer piece. Thought it might be a good place to share it here! This May, as we commemorate another Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)… Continue reading Oppression and Resistance : What it means to be Asian and Asian American

Publication

Intersectionality in Social Movements: How can Social Movements be Intersectional?

Published paper in Mobilization! You can find the full paper here. Here is the abstract: Intersectional Grievances in Care work: Framing Inequalities of Gender, Class, and Caste How do social movements include or exclude intersectional grievances of individual participants? What do variations in framing within the movement tell us about including intersectional grievances? I address… Continue reading Intersectionality in Social Movements: How can Social Movements be Intersectional?

Blog

Many Shades of Gender Violence and their Intersections

As part of a Culture in Conversations series held at Western Carolina University (WCU), I had the opportunity to speak on the topic of gender violence in a panel session. It was a wonderful session and felt great to participate in the panel with these amazing speakers from WCU. Link to the full session here.… Continue reading Many Shades of Gender Violence and their Intersections