Meera Venkatachalam

A short piece on a ongoing project which seeks to understand trajectories of recent African migration to Mumbai, and the contributions of Africans to the city's economic + cultural landscapes. Thanks to @iias.bsky.social + @miasa-ug.bsky.social for support
humanitiesacrossborders.org/blogs/africa...

YouTube video by CINEFEMFEST: Festival Africain du Film Féministe Bande-annonce: Festival CINEFEMFEST 2025 sur “Écologie, Démocratie et Artivisme”

Trailer of the3rd African feminist film and research (CINEFEMFEST) festival taking place 5-9 November 2025 in Senegal on Ecology, Democracy & Artivism

Bande-annonce du festival africain du film et de la recherche féministe qui se tiendra du 5 au 9 novembre 2025 au Sénégal. youtu.be/AcS6l391f6g?...

🎉Congratulations to Mayke Kaag! We celebrated her inaugural lecture as Professor of the Anthropology of Politics and Governance in Africa at Leiden University, titled 'Reflections on power, knowledge, and trust. Political dynamics in Africa and beyond'. www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025...

Brand new here and pleased to share news of the publication of our new @degruyterbrill.bsky.social book “Beyond Federation: Ideas and Practices of East African Regionalism in a National and Global Age, 1950–1975". Available for free: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

‘A climate of unparalleled malevolence’: are we on our way to the sixth major mass extinction? The long read: Churning quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the rate we are going could lead the planet to another Great Dying

"In fact, the best estimate is that we’re emitting carbon perhaps 10 times faster than even the mindless, undirected Siberian volcanoes that brought about the worst mass extinction ever."

Read that again.

🎙Hot Off the Mic: Don't Miss Our Latest Episode of Cluster Conversations! In this edition, fellow Dr. Renu Modi talks with her host Prof. Dr. Clarissa Vierke about her recent fellowship with the Cluster of Excellence in Bayreuth. www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/1_4-Publi...

On 9 July, the US imposed sanctions on special rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Below I provide a brief context of this unprecedented attack against this body of experts.

My article which examines India's positionality and relations w/Africa in the Third World turned Global South is now open access. Co-authored w/ @danbanik.bsky.social and published by Third World Quarterly
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We are receiving desperate messages of starvation from #Gaza, including from our colleagues.

Food prices have increased 40 fold.

UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months, stockpiled just outside Gaza.

Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale.

Ventilation Shutdown is One of the Cruelest Ways to Kill Animals Ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+) is an incredibly inhumane method of killing lots of animals at once by shutting off the air supply and driving up

www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/04/v...

Bubaraye Dakolo, an influential traditional chief and the traditional ruler of Ekpetiama Kingdom in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, has demanded that Shell pay $12 billion to address environmental damage caused by decades of oil pollution before divesting its onshore assets in the region - AFP /1

Life at a Distance by Vincent Duclos | Paperback | Cornell University Press In Life at a Distance, Vincent Duclos recounts the story of the Pan-African e-Network. Branded as "India's gift to the world," and as a "shining example of South-South cooperation," the Pan-African...

My book Life at a Distance is now out! Many thanks to colleagues, friends, and the press for the support along the way.

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Moral geographies: Indian exceptionalism, Africa, and the politics of South–South cooperation This article seeks to understand the evolution of India’s political relations and development cooperation with Africa, in the context of India’s ambitions of playing a leading role in the Third Wor...

In a new article w/ @danbanik.bsky.social , I analyse the evolution of India's political relations and development cooperation w/Africa
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

For Africa, the International Community is a Dangerous Myth International law ignores the African subject in favour of the ‘African project’

#Oldpost. The fiction of an "international community" involves a relationship in which the 'Global North' ignores the African subject in favour of the ‘African project’. This makes it easy for some to take decisions that inevitably result in death for many.

folukeafrica.com/for-africa-t...

Invitation to upcoming #MIASA Public lecture by Dr. Stephanie Lämmert on "(Un)silencing #women in the colonial #archive" on 27 May 2025 at 3:00 pm (UTC) at the Univ. of Ghana.
Zoom link via: miasa.ug.edu.gh/event/public...

Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder The greed of the new Administration has galvanized America’s aspiring oligarchs—and their opponents.

Around D.C., the new going rate is well-known: $5 million for a one-on-one dinner with Trump, but gov-affairs execs have “no clue where the money is eventually going,” one said. Another told me it’s “outer-borough Mafia sh*t.” My new piece is out @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

So sickened and enraged.

World War III World War III was the last of Earth's three world wars, lasting from approximately 2026 to 2053. The conflict involved nuclear cataclysm as well as genocide and eco-terrorism. The post-atomic horror i...

According to the canonical Star Trek timeline, World War III starts next year, and goes on for the next three decades...

Just in case you had any plans...

Further, the financial and operational modalities of India's SSC does not differ radically from development cooperation initiated by Africa's other partners.

Against this backdrop, India's involvement in south-south cooperation (SSC), which was meant to be an exercise that challenged northern hegemony, has been transformed over the last three decades from a critical counter hegemonic project to functionalist-instrumentalist problem-solving exercise

Indians have articulated their role in Africa in terms of a mixture of paternalism and benevolence, informed by a long history of racialized ideas of development and progress which developed during the colonial era

it also celebrates its neoliberal success, and techno-economic achievements, upholding a distinctive 'Indian model of development' as worthy of replication in the Global South

We argue that India's relationship with Africa has shifted from a sense of Third Worldist solidarity to hierarchy, informed by the idea of exceptionalism. India understands its exceptionalism not just in cultural-civilizational terms, but

Moral geographies: Indian exceptionalism, Africa, and the politics of South–South cooperation This article seeks to understand the evolution of India’s political relations and development cooperation with Africa, in the context of India’s ambitions of playing a leading role in the Third Wor...

In a new article w/ @danbanik.bsky.social , I analyse the evolution of India's political relations and development cooperation w/Africa
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Global warming reaches 1.58C over 12 months Record heat for almost two years leads to concerns about ‘inevitable’ breach of lower Paris accord target

"The UN climate change chief Simon Stiell warned on Wednesday the world was “on a trajectory to 3C” above pre-industrial times — a level at which scientists have warned of devastating environmental and human consequences."

By @attractamooney.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/f17d...

Pakistan says Indian air strikes killed 26 and vows response, as Delhi says 10 killed by Pakistan shelling - latest India hit several sites after an attack last month which killed tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Please remember the cost of war, once more, will fall hardest on civilians, especially in Kashmir. This is a moment to stay informed, to resist jingoism, and to call for de-escalation: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw...

Join in-person or online this hybrid seminar “Missionaries, Traders, and Cultural brokers: Africans and the making of modern Mumbai (1750-onwards)” by IIAS fellow Meera Venkatachalam. 01.05 | 10:30 ~ 12:00 Info/registration: tinyurl.com/4y69n5y7 #indianocean #asianstudies @leidenglobal.bsky.social

📖 Manish Karmwar and Abhinav evaluate "India's Development Diplomacy and Soft Power in Africa" by @meerakat.bsky.social and Kenneth King, dubbing it an extensive effort to map and analyse the complex dynamics in India-Africa relations.

➡️ doi.org/10.1177/0002...