‘Indian history from the perspective of the Hindutva ideology reintroduces ideas that have long been discarded and are of little relevance to an understanding of the past.’… Read the rest

If you number your paragraphs, will people mistake you for Adorno?… Read the rest

Richard Dawkins on the cowardly flabbiness of the intellect that afflicts otherwise rational people confronted with long-established religions. … Read the rest

Most government-funded Islamic clubs ‘are run by deeply conservative men and perpetuate the segregation of women.’ … Read the rest

Dissent is part of all cultures, Asian decidedly included.… Read the rest

Betrousered, two-eyed philosopher Ventre considers a world in which Things are Against Us.… Read the rest

Paul Krugman draws an interesting parallel with Stephen Jay Gould.… Read the rest

‘A Russian, an Italian, could not justify beating his wife to death by referring to the customs of dear old Moscow or Calabria’… Read the rest

Terrorists, freedom fighters, fundamentalists, postcolonialism, the Enlightenment – all contested, as usual. … Read the rest

When students are consumers, they want what they pay for.… Read the rest

‘There is nothing sacrosanct about any culture or religion’s rituals. Cultures are neither monolithic, unchanging, nor without internal critique and resistance…’… Read the rest

Scientists are humorless nerds, and crop circles and crystals are more fun.… Read the rest

If Lentricchia and Said have joined, the revenge of the emeriti may not be so regressive after all.… Read the rest

A scandal in anthropology is complicated by politics, emotion, prestige – the usual sort of thing.… Read the rest

‘We are in danger of losing our grip on the concepts of truth, evidence, objectivity, disinterested inquiry.’… Read the rest

It’s important to distinguish between necessary, useful technicality, and jargon or pseudo-mathematics substituting for genuine rigor.… Read the rest

What if you want to talk about an authentic self instead of an ‘authentic self’?… Read the rest

The new chauvinism receives official sanction from government and academic institutions.… Read the rest

The world is a jungle, barely one child in a hundred escapes being murdered! Or so you would think.… Read the rest

‘Death and marriage may have fed and fuelled her writing, but – posthumously at least – they cramp her style.’… Read the rest