Neighbours together during the Autumnal festival (pre-COVID; Photo: A. ChatterjeeAnamika landed in Dubai on an October 2020 afternoon, and called her mother, Arpita, to let her know about her safe arrival.[1] Anamika’s brother, Mainak, resides in Pune. Arpita is 67 and her husband Manoshij is 77. Despite their old age, they preferred to live alone in Kolkata instead …
Designed by: okb-buro.com/Earlier this year, the world became familiar with the facade of Britain’s St Thomas’ Hospital when, in late March, it became the backdrop for breaking news. After UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, the BBC began broadcasting live bulletins from the hospital’s North Wing, where Johnson was convalescing in intensive care. …
For Mary Steedly
I’m grateful to Bharat Jayram Venkat and Natantara Sheoran Appleton for bringing together this group of scholars to reanimate No Aging in India through their respective commitments, and to Somatosphere for airing the exchange. At the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association where earlier versions of several of these reflections were shared, I stood up to …
In 1943, as the Japanese bombed the Port of Calcutta and Gandhi fasted in a Delhi prison to protest his detention, a young man in the seaside town of Nagapattinam borrowed money from a friend, leased a tent, and exhibited a film that launched his fortunes. The film, Sivakavi, starred M. K. Thyagaraja, an early superstar of Tamil talkies …
As we have all seen, COVID-19 has been a tip of an iceberg, exposing deep layers of social stratification and inequities. From the mass deaths in long-term care and nursing homes and exposure of the working conditions of care workers, to Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the violent responses to them, the critical importance of taking an intersectional approach to …
It was afternoon in early April and I was only two-thirds of the way through my 12-hour shift. Between checking on how one patient was breathing and whether another was ready for discharge, I paused at the edge of an open walkway conjoining three diamond-shaped towers. Taking a deep breath behind my face shield and two layers of masks, I …