#ResearchMesearch
US Elections: Representation matters but it is not enough
Before the elections, a five-year-old boy asked his mother, my friend, if he would ever be able to be the President of the United States because of the colour of his Brown skin. This is a question that American girls, too, have been asking their parents forever.
Magical thinking in the time of Covid-19
I don’t remember exactly when I heard about the 2019 version of coronavirus, Covid-19, but I do know it was during my travels in Asia this past January.
Magical thinking in the time of Covid-19
Over the past few weeks, I have heard variations of “I don’t know why but I don’t think Bangladesh will be affected by Covid-19 in the way that other countries have been.”
Sexual Violence: Looking inward and thinking out loud
Every single day, a rapist is reported. Every. Single. Day. Let that sink in.
Election Day Hoopla
Election Day in Bangladesh is usually a festive occasion. The weather is wonderfully crisp. We are in our Friday best. With friends and
#ResearchMesearch / The violent men around us
Over the last six months I've had conversations with various people about what to do with all the violent men around us. This is perhaps my current burning question, because we are having to contend with the fact that more than just a handful of men around us have committed acts of violence—if not against us, then against people we know, or people we know of. We no longer have to read the news to gauge how pervasive violence is. It is out there for all to see. Unless your eyes are closed.
#ResearchMesearch / No country for Beauty
SOMETHING remarkable happened this week. Babul Mia of Habiganj—who had raped Beauty Akhter (16) earlier in the year—had her raped again and killed for not withdrawing the rape case pending against him, surprising no one.
If not now, then when?
Rupa Khatun was raped and murdered on a bus near the Tangail-Mymensingh road in Tangail's Madhupur upazila last August.
Has the world gone mad?
To understand the violent world in which we live today, it is important to understand that with neoliberal policies came rapid globalisation (that fostered international trade, privatisation of national institutions, deregulation, and competition) and that includes, as we can see, globalisation of terror and acts of terror.
Untangling our collective chaos
We're not new to disproportionate experiences based on class. So when class dynamics unfolded in the aftermath of the attacks, we yet again remained silent.
Ma: Telling stories through shapes
Life, death, and everything in between – is what I see when I look at the paintings of my mother, Shameem Subrana.
2015: The Year of the Cat
45 percent of all videos uploaded to YouTube in 2015 were of cats or other pets. Without demand there is no supply, and this huge supply of cat videos perhaps speaks to some mysterious acute need.
Oh Pakistan!
It is really not a surprise that Pakistan would make a statement which pretty much echoes what the research has been revealing all along: that Pakistan justifies the war crimes; that Pakistan will not take responsibility for the harm they inflicted on an entire people in 1971.
Of war criminals and hypocrites
The death penalty is inhuman and inhumane. What I don't understand, however, is how the UN can call for its abolition in Bangladesh while it [the death penalty]thrives around the world – from neighboring India to the land of the free (the US).
The odd shadow lurking between cognition and behaviour
In a recent academic paper titled “Men's Report of Domestic Violence Perpetration in Bangladesh: Correlates From a Nationally...
Hope is hollow on its own
I have been silent for a while. Because I refuse to react to the brutality of the world around us, I prefer to respond. And I wanted to wait till things passed.
A case against (only) watching cat videos
Children who witness violence are more likely to mimic that act in situations they deem appropriate as violence becomes normalised. The same principle applies to other issues: corruption, murder, lying, ill-treatment of people.
An ever shrinking space
Maybe it's ghreena, this pervasive feeling of hostility, hatred, and disgust built into a mass of rage that is one of the biggest problems with the world today.