Category: History and Culture

By — Prishaa Abstract This article traces the course of madness through four centuries, where it questions the dominant definition of madness throughout time as well as scrutinizes those who had the right to name it. Starting with demonic possessions in early modern Europe, and its violent denouement in Salem in 1692, which proceeds to…

By – Aarushi Ghosh Choudhury Abstract The acquittal of John W. Hinckley Jr. due to insanity charges for his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1982 caused a political uproar far greater than the infrequency of insanity plea warrants. This article explores the degree to which this reaction changed the treatment of mentally ill…

By – Prachi Agarwal Abstract Studying about the brutalities of the Colonial Rule on Indians has been a constant for all the Indian students. However, what if some aspects remain out of the history books? What were the extents of the dirty politics and racial games the then rulers played? The article examines the lunatic…

By — Manya Mittal Abstract Framing the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as a gendered struggle reveals deep structural tensions: the consolidation of patriarchal state authority. Witchcraft accusations targeted women and functioned as a disciplinary mechanism against them. Accused women defied traditional property norms and social hierarchies and did not fit the idea of the traditional woman.…

By – Prishaa Srivastava Abstract This article explores food as a cultural phenomenon in India, understanding it outside of taste, as a means by which social hierarchies were reproduced. Challenging the idea of vegetarianism as an unbroken ancient tradition, and cites Vedic and archeological evidence for the prevalence of eating habits in early India. The…

By – Aarushi Ghosh Choudhury Abstract In May 2026, thousands of young Indians dressed up as cockroaches and paraded in a state election claiming that they were part of the Cockroach Janta Party. This article examines how an insult, used for decades to dehumanize the poor, the migrant, and the radical rebel, became the symbol…

By – Prachi Agarwal Abstract Labour struggles at workplaces have historically been associated with mass demonstrations,  the picket line, the union hall. Platform work is not known for these kinds of protests. Platform workers are distributed, technologically controlled and often excluded from the normal employment laws. However, this does not mean that resistance does not…

By -Chandril Ray Chaudhuri Abstract This article examines how the phrase “pure veg” in India goes beyond a simple choice of what to eat and rather serves as a symbol of historical ideas of caste, purity and pollution. Being vegetarian is a  personal, ethical or religious choice but the language of “purity” has been used…

By – Aarushi Ghosh Choudhury Abstract The Bengal famine of 1943 is normally understood as a natural calamity, war-related famine, and the absence of rice supplies. In this regard, this article tries to prove that such an interpretation is too simplistic and, what is more important is that it protects the British government from the…

By- Prachi Agarwal Abstract  Cooking is one of the most basic life skills a person can learn to survive, yet somehow the value assigned to it by society depends on the person and place. Inside the comfort of the house, this skill is treated as an expression of love and duty a woman has towards…

By — Manya Mittal Abstract On January 28, 2024 two protestors from Riposte Alimentaire hurled orange pumpkin soup at the armored glass encasing Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in the Louvre. By examining the group’s foundational manifesto which calls for a “Social Security for Sustainable Food”, we analyze how this act used France’s ultimate cultural…