While the colonial and modern history of epidemics in South Asia is well researched, the earlier developments of this subject area have hardly been studied. The project Epidemics and Crisis Management in Pre-modern South Asia aims to fill part of this gap by exploring the intellectual history of epidemics and similar disasters in South Asia and…[Read more]

Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714–1774), a Bolognese wax sculptor, overcame humble origins to become one of the most important anatomical artists of the eighteenth century. Working with her husband Giovanni Manzolini (c. 1700–1755), and continuing alone after his death, Morandi created remarkably lifelike and anatomically accurate wax models of the sen…[Read more]

In this paper, I argue that Hygieia has to be viewed as a full goddess in Greek religion and medicine, with a special focus on her position within the Asklepios cult. I will examine her identity, to which scholars attribute several labels like goddess, abstraction and personification. I further argue that Hygieia’s role in performing incubation r…[Read more]

The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an inter-disciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on thetransition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contributionof anthropology…[Read more]

इस आलेख में मैंने देखने की कोशिश कि कोविड की रोकथाम के लिए उठाए गए अतिरेकपूर्ण कदमों के कारण दुनिया में क्या स्थितियाँ उत्पन्न होने वाली हैं। विशेष तौर पर सामाजिक वंचना झेल रहे मानव-समुदायों पर इसका क्या प्रभाव पड़ने वाला है। आलेख में भारत के उन शोषित समुदायों को केंद्र में रखा गया है, जो भारतीय आबादी का बहुसंख्यक हिस्सा हैं। इस बहुसंख्या में…[Read more]

फ़रवरी, 2020 तक भारतीय अख़बारों में दुनिया में एक नये वायरस के फैलने की सूचना प्रमुखता से आने लगी थी।
अख़बारों ने हमें बताया कि कोविड-19 सबसे अधिक जानलेवा है। लेकिन यह नहीं बताया कि हमारी हिंदी पट्टी में टी.बी, चमकी बुख़ार, न्यूमोनिया, मलेरिया आदि से मरने वालों की एक विशाल संख्या है। इन बीमारियों से सिर्फ़ हिंदी पट्टी में हर साल 5 से 7 लाख…[Read more]

The proliferation of work by autistic writers continues apace, defying a long and multidisciplinary tradition of constructing autistic people as lacking the capacity for narration. To study neurodivergent literature, then, is to witness the refusal of these exclusionary narrative conventions, and to register the ideological presuppositions that…[Read more]

A one-day hybrid symposium to be hosted by the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE) at the University of Brighton (UK). Date: Wednesday 5 April 2023. Location: University of Brighton, City Campus, M2, and online. Keynote speaker: Dr Leticia Sabsay (LSE). Deadline for abstracts: Friday 24 February 2023. Please see poster for…[Read more]

Presentation in the working group “History of Science in Early South Asia” at https://www.chstm.org/early-south-asia on Dec. 19th 2022.

भारत में क्या हालत हो चुकी है, इसका अनुमान दिसंबर, 2020 में हुए एक सर्वेक्षण से लगता है। इस सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार भारत की आधी से अधिक आबादी को कोरोना-काल में पहले की तुलना में कम भोजन मिल रहा है। इनमें ज़्यादातर दलित और आदिवासी हैं।

लेकिन इन सूचनाओं से भी अधिक भयावह यह है कि भारत का बौद्धिक वर्ग, ग़रीबों के सर पर मँडराते मौत के इस साये से प्…[Read more]

The seminal 1989 study “Mantra in Ayurveda” by Kenneth G. Zysk1 describes four areas in which mantras were used in early Ayurveda: the treatment of wounds and swellings/tumours, of poisoning, of mental disorders, and the collection and preparation of certain medicines. Although this article is a highly important contribution to the study of the…[Read more]

The seminal 1989 study “Mantra in Ayurveda” by Kenneth G. Zysk1 describes four areas in which mantras were used in early Ayurveda: the treatment of wounds and swellings/tumours, of poisoning, of mental disorders, and the collection and preparation of certain medicines. Although this article is a highly important contribution to the study of the…[Read more]

The coronavirus-induced lockdown hasn’t just eroded our physical liberty; it has also eroded our intellectual freedom. Our freedom to think has been put under lock and key. Clearly, we are on the threshold of a dangerous phase. Which way we go from here will depend on how soon and how well we gauge the danger and start exploring the ways to c…[Read more]

अधिकांश लोग समझते हैं कि चिकित्सक ही जांच द्वारा तय करते हैं कि किसे कोविड है और किसे नहीं तथा अगर किसी की मौत होती है तो चिकित्सक ही यह तय करते हैं कि वह मृत्यु कोविड से हुई है या किसी अन्य कारण से। इसलिए जब कोई खुद को चिकित्सक बताता है या अपने परिवार में चिकित्सकों के होने का ज़िक्र करता है तो लोग उसकी बात पर अनिवार्य रूप से विश्वास करते ह…[Read more]

As was expected, the country is witnessing an explosion of Covid cases, leading to chaos and mayhem. People are dying for want of oxygen. The protocol for the treatment of Covid patients is faulty and that is one reason for the high number of deaths. Thanks to the protocol, deaths due to other causes are also being added to the Covid toll. In this…[Read more]

Although he obtained a medical degree at the University of Caen in 1618, Isaac Beeckman never practised medicine. Instead, he developed an atomistic conception of Galenic physiology by discussing, throughout his notebook, the constituents and functioning of the living body. Interestingly, Beeckman applied his atomistic interpretation to the notion…[Read more]

Historically the Red Cross has created opportunities for women that were otherwise denied to them in their wider society. This role for female Red Cross workers is not a recent thing and is deeply embedded in the past and psyche of the organisation.

Focusing on rural white communities in the early twentieth century, this article examines how disability, queerness, and economic estrangement were intertwined in American eugenic assessments of the “unfit.” In doing so, it attends to the knotty relations of power by which such communities were simultaneously adjudged deviant and bestowed with the…[Read more]

This note outlines several features common to the reception of ancient ruins by the Christian populations of three countries, each located on a different continent. Most of the sites were and are strongly associated with the realm of the dead. Fear of misadventure or calamity typically inspired a respectful avoidance of such pre-Christian sites…[Read more]