Abro

  A Dialogue on Slavery in Medieval South Asia (The characters of Maria and Sophia, a professor and a student, are fictional and are used for educational purposes to facilitate a dialogue on the complex topic of slavery in medieval South Asia.)   Alright Sophia, pull up a chair. Today, we're going to completely re-evaluate what you might think you know about slavery, especially in a historical context far removed from the Atlantic. Forget the common images for a moment. When we talk about slavery in medieval South Asia, we're diving into something far more nuanced, deeply embedded, and, frankly, quite paradoxical. It was not a fringe institution, but a central element of political authority, military strategy, domestic order, and even ritual economy from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries. Are you ready to have some of your assumptions challenged?   Sophia: Professor Maria, that’s quite a start! I'm ready. I guess when I hear "slavery," my mind im...

  Thar Speaks: What You Refused to See   I am Thar. Not just a patch of sand, but a living, breathing landscape, home to souls whose roots run as deep as my own ancient dunes. For millennia, my winds have carried stories of resilient people, vibrant cultures, and livestock that dotted my vast expanses. But lately, the whispers I hear are darker, laden with the cries of malnourished children, the despair of recurring droughts, and the chilling silence that follows a suicide. They call me Tharparkar, in the southeastern corner of Sindh, Pakistan. Over 1.6 million people call me home, the majority of whom are rural, low-income families dependent on subsistence agriculture and livestock. My beauty, my history, they say, are profound. Yet, the world knows me for a different kind of profundity: the disturbing frequency with which my children perish in Mithi, Islamkot, or Chachro hospitals, a grim reality that routinely makes national and international headlines.   What ...

  Today, I want to invite you on a journey, not through time to a glorious past, but into a much darker, more devastating chapter of colonial history. We're going to delve into the shadows of the late 19th century, when a catastrophic famine swept across vast regions of South India : The Great Famine of 1876–78 in Colonial India.   A Catastrophe Underestimated: Why Revisit the Great Famine Today? Between 1876 and 1878, a catastrophic famine swept through vast regions of Colonial India – particularly the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, as well as the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad. The human cost was staggering, with an estimated 5.5 to 10 million deaths. So, why revisit this calamity today? Why pull this dark memory from the archives? Because understanding how colonial systems created famines amid plenty can illuminate the underlying structures of present-day disasters. We live in a world grappling with rising food insecurity, intensifying climate shocks, an...