Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Jun 6

Worried the World Is Falling Apart? That’s OK. It’s Happened Before.

A review of two new books

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/b...

Worried the World Is Falling Apart? That’s OK. It’s Happened Before.

www.nytimes.com

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Apr 24

How did Mughal understandings of the historical past evolve and change over time?

This is the question explored in my new essay, which focuses particularly on the early eighteenth century.

It is open access, and I look forward to your comments.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

FROM ETERNITY TO APOCALYPSE: TIME, NEWS, AND HISTORY BETWEEN THE MUGHAL AND BRITISH EMPIRES, 1556–1785

The eighteenth-century origins of colonial orientalism in India spurred not just the translation of Indian texts but the production of interstitial histories, works that were forged in the intellectu...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Mar 14

Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Mar 13

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Kelly Hammond @kellyahammond.bsky.social · Mar 11

Second scientist recruited to PRC in the past two days. There is more of this to come and much more happening at lower levels:

www.scmp.com/news/china/s...

Chinese-American mathematician Huaxin Lin leaves US for Shanghai institute

A top academic has returned to China as a professor at the new Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences.

www.scmp.com

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Feb 20

Reposted by Abhishek Kaicker

Iqtibaas اقتباس @iqtibaas88.bsky.social · Feb 20

Mughal Emperor Alamgir's advice in Braja-Bhasha:

Pt. Lajjaram Mehta wrote abt a 'Hitopdesh' (beneficial advice) manuscript that was passed down in his family. It had Alamgir's advice as heard by one Shankar Pant.

Was translated from Alamgir's 'Yāminī bhākhā' (Persian?) to Braja dohas

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Feb 7

A history that raises a question

Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Feb 5

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Jan 30

Grierson, The Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, 1889

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Past and Present @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · Jan 28

Applications for our 2025-27 ECR Fellowships @ihr.bsky.social close on 31 Jan 2025

For full details and how to apply see below:

www.history.ac.uk/fellowships/...

Past & Present Fellowships

Past & Present Fellowships are available for two years, and open to researchers who have completed a doctorate in history.

www.history.ac.uk

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Mekhola Gomes @oldthingsarefun.bsky.social · Jan 6

kosambi did not mince words

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Tim Lubin @timlubin.bsky.social · Dec 22

This fascinating new book by Sunila Kalé and Christian Novetzke shows us #yoga in a refreshingly unconventional light: its political and even militant applications over history. cup.columbia.edu/book/the-yog...

The Yoga of Power | Columbia University Press

In Indian languages from Sanskrit to Marathi, yoga has an enormous range of meanings, though most often it refers to philosophy or methods to control the min... | CUP

cup.columbia.edu

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Meenakshi Jauhari @meenakshijc.bsky.social · Dec 29

Baig’s mushaira is the portrait of a #Delhi and a way of life that now solely exists in the collective memory of ‘Dehli-wallahs’. It was a powerful urge to record the city’s older face in photographic detail.

Read my translation of the urdu classic "Dehli ki aakhri shama"

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Manan Ahmed @sepoy.bsky.social · Dec 29

Pakistani dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq shaking hands with National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; President Jimmy Carter stands by, 3 October 1980.

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Sandipto Dasgupta @sandipto.bsky.social · Dec 30

This is an incredibly ambitious paper, my god.
(with a bunch of interesting implications)

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Manan Ahmed @sepoy.bsky.social · Dec 27

The annual American Historical Association meeting is in NYC in Jan. Every year (since 2006 or so), I count how many papers this gathering has on Iraq and/or Afghanistan. It has never ever been more than 5. This year's count is 2.

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Dec 25

You will be visited by ONLY these three spirits

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Arunabh Ghosh @arunabhghosh.bsky.social · Dec 19

Four year departmental lectureship in Modern Chinese History.

This position is based at the China Centre at St Hugh’s College, close to central Oxford. This is a full-time, fixed-term position until 31 August 2029.

Details here: tinyurl.com/57nku4u5

Job Details

urldefense.proofpoint.com

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Carlos Noreña @carlosfnorena.bsky.social · Dec 18

A six-week journey beginning in Beirut and proceeding by way of Damascus, Baghdad, Tehran, down along the Zagros range, and then up the Helmand river valley to Kabul.

Seems unlikely ever to be possible, but that's probably my #1 bucket trip concept.

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Abhishek Kaicker @kaicker.bsky.social · Dec 19

Adventures in the Indies

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Alexander Jabbari @ajab.bsky.social · Dec 10

"Medicinal Property of Owl's Body Organs"
Folio from Manāfiʿ al-Ḥayawān (Usefulness of Animals), early 14th century, Tabriz, Iran

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Manan Ahmed @sepoy.bsky.social · Dec 9

A short Q&A about *Disrupted City* with my employer's news service

In 'Disrupted City,' a Columbia Historian Brings Lahore to Life

In his new book, Manan Ahmed shows readers that the cultural center of Pakistan has not disappeared, but it can only be glimpsed in reflections.

news.columbia.edu

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