2016 began with statements of solidarity with JNU (this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this), and ended with the dawn of the Age of Orange and our renewed commitments to not-survive, to not-surrender, and to always throw shad at power. In 2016, we bid farewell to beloved colleagues, mentors, writers, scholars.
2016 was a fairly busy year at CM. The highlight surely was the publication of Sepoy's A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia. Here are some reviews: link, link, link. Sepoy shared his thoughts on the writing process, here. Lapata graced CM with her art and essay on Aleppo, poetic translation, and thoughts on the art of translation. We continued our XQ series with an interview with Eric Beverly and Nayanika Mathur; featured an interview with Sheldon Pollock (see also, Sepoy's Why Sheldon Pollock); organized a roundtable on Kamran Asdar Ali's Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947 — 1972 (IB Tauris) / Surkh Salam: Communist Politics and Class Activism in Pakistan 1947—1972 (OUP — Karachi), featuring reviews by Ahmed Kanna, Sarah Besky, Junaid Rana, Arvind Elangovan, and Atiya Singh; and maintained a focus on city-writing: Lahore: Marks It Bears II, Rickshaw diary, The City and the City*: Space and Semiotics of Muslim Bombay**, Musings on Absence: Planning, Policies, and Conflict in the Indian Administered Kashmir. Other notable guest pieces are Zirwat Chowdhury's The Conditional World of the Refugee, Sahar Ishtiaque Ullah's Nanu's Poetry, and Taimoor Shahid's Meditation on Borders. Yours truly also said some things, about Zindagi Gulzar Hai.
If I were to pick, my favourite chapatis were Lapata's Lessons Learned: Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph, in memoriam, and Sepoy's The Work of Humanities.
PS. A rogue splinter group of "artists of all stripes: painters, dancers, musicians, poets, etc., to share their art of protest and come for inspiration. Scholars and other savvy individuals are also welcome[...]"
PPS. Thinking about the Last Hindu Emperor
Previously: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010