In struggles of sovereignty, cartography is a weapon. I first saw the truth in this statement in the work of Bernard Nietschmann, a professor of mine at Berkeley who partnered with indigenous groups in Nicaragua, Mexico, and Australia to map their traditional territories and fishing areas. These maps became critical tools in the groups’ struggles [...]
The cover of the Economist this week asks “What’s Holding India Back?” This account of the challenges facing governmental reform is one of the standout pieces, a character study of one of India’s elite public servants that conveys the Herculean nature of the task of running this country.
A four-year veteran of the elite Indian Administrative [...]
New project! This is a community resource for all expats in Bombay — a wiki to gather the best information and recommendations from the members of the Bombay Expats Yahoo Group.
December 25, 2007 – 12:59 am
Merry Christmas everyone! I’ve been catching up on things on my India travel blog: check out the latest.
December 11, 2007 – 4:44 pm
Nice intro to megacity life on Current. This 15 minute mini-documentary/”megapod” on life in Lagos, Nigeria, from a foreign visitor’s POV reminded me of living in Mumbai in many ways…the traffic, the masses of what I would call “subsistence entrepreneurs,” the dearth of social services and infrastructure and the various fixes that people come up [...]
December 4, 2007 – 2:09 pm
Nokia anthropologist and UI connoisseur Jan Chipchase highlights a lightswitch in Japan that masks its own complexity with an simple cover to shield the user from all the settings.
Over here in India, though, complexity is the new simplicity.
(Photo from our apartment.)
