2017 started grim, and stayed so. Here, at CM, we started with a few pieces on the new wave of xenophobia, with guest essays on the Spencer phenomenon and on fake news. Sepoy responded to the 'Muslim ban' and reminded us that "[t]he law is not an ally," that "the Executive power that Trump is wielding to destroy families here and abroad, has a long and checkered history that stretches back to the very foundation of this nation." Meanwhile Sepoy also published an op-ed in NYT (ha) on FATA, and in Dawn on the colonial myths of Muslim Arrival in Sindh. He also posted his talk on Richard Eaton and Phillip Wagoner's Memory, Power, Architecture: Contested Sites on India's Deccan Plateau, 1300-1600. Your humble servant's favorite for the year is the post on Eqbal Ahmad.
The XQs series continued with conversations with Sarah Besky, and Sanjeevini Badigar Lokhande, and Julie Billaud. We also published an exclusive prologue to the Chinese language edition of Sarah Besky's Darjeeling Distinction. There was also this interview with Deepak Singh.
We hosted our second book roundtable, this year on Saba Mahmood's Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report with an introduction by Durba Mitra and essays by Schirin Amir-Moazami, Sarah Eltantawi, and Humeira Iqtidar.
From the Michigan tandoor, here are the reports on the teach-ins on Disappeared activists in Pakistan, on the racist violence against Desis in the U.S., and on the Indigenous Peoples' Day rally.
CM friends Francesca Recchia and Sarover Zaidi contributed as well: here, here.
Lapata was, well, lapata.
Welp, thus ended 2017 and this, the 8th postcard. Let's see what 2018 has to offer!
Previously: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010