Issue 1/ Beyond Mumbai | Café Dissensus

Aug 14

The Making of a Monster

By Shefalee Jain
Much of my work is about the diseased body and how we look at it. I am intrigued by the discomfort, the horror, the disgust, and simultaneously the invasive curiosity that the sight of a diseased (especially a diseased skin) or disabled body, creates in us. Why do we react to it in such terror and with such violence? Why is it that despite advances in modern medicine, there has been no positive change in our ways of seeing and accepting the fact of disease?

Aug 14

1 Comment

Interpreting Disability and Art: Stereotypes of Aesthetics

By Jyothsna Phanija
Intentionally or unintentionally, as artists with disabilities, we become part of promotion of such stereotypical disability aesthetics, although we do our best to minimize their intensity. In this context, certain ideas can promote a better view of art and disability and this may include negating the idea that a disabled artist’s art is a “gift”or a “blessing” and instead promoting the idea that the art is a form of expression of the voice of the disabled person.

Jul 17

Contents: Muslim Women on Hijab/Veil (Issue 16)

Jul 17

1 Comment

Feminist Dress Culture and the Hijab: Some Personal Observations

By Jenny Rowena
Soon, I realized that feminism was not just excluding many women but it was also oppressing them. It was trying to wrench them out of their own sense of the world and their social locations that are closely tied to their communities and literally forcing them to convert into a liberal worldview in the name of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice.’

Jul 17

1 Comment

Photo-Essay: Imaging and Imagining Hijabis

By Mohammed Shah
Post 9/11, as we know, is significant for the resolute attempts made by Muslim women on their assertion of identity that actually clashes with the secular liberal discourse on religion. In opposition to the images propagated by the dominant narratives, Muslim women, as part of their assertion, started to shape their own ways to be imagined, photographed and visualized.

Jun 14

4 Comments

Contents: Study Abroad (Issue 15)

Contents - Study Abroad (Issue 15)

Jun 14

Guest Editorial: Study Abroad

By Rajdeep Guha
In recent years, we have seen how in India, students who score as high as 90% in their school leaving exams do not get a seat in their college of choice. There is an unnecessary burden of clearing various entrance exams to get an admission into engineering and medical colleges. Thanks to this immense competition, Indian students, who can afford to live abroad and study, migrate to the developed world. A foreign degree often becomes the passport to success for students from the developing and underdeveloped nations.

Jun 14

SPAIN, Marking Excellence in Higher Education

By Adrián Gutiérrez and Alejandra Garcia Fuertes
Infrastructure wise, Spain is second to none. World class libraries, lab facilities, housing and accommodation, recreational clubs for students and facilities for the differently abled can be found in every Spanish institute of higher learning. For non-Spanish speaking countries such as India, there are English taught Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. Normally, each university specifies on their webpage the total or partially offered degrees in a foreign language.

Jun 14

1 Comment

Higher Education in The Netherlands: Setting a new benchmark for International Students

By Laura Smit
As the Dutch government tries to keep successful graduates in the country, it is possible to extend the residence permit for 1 more year after graduation. Newly graduated young people can spend this 1 year looking for a job. Many graduates use this year doing internships, visit job fairs, go on interviews or visit other European cities in their search for a good opportunity to start off their professional careers.

Jun 14

An Interview with Sushmita Sircar

By Mosarrap H. Khan
In this audio interview, Mosarrap H. Khan speaks to Sushmita Sircar. Sushmita completed an undergrad from the State University of New York, Buffalo. Currently, she is pursuing a doctoral research at the Department of English, New York University.

Jun 14

All you wanted to know about a great Statement of Purpose

By Chitrita Chaudhary
The Statement of Purpose or SoP is one of the most important documents that go with your application. Universities ask students to provide an SoP so that the former can judge the student’s level of motivation and the desire to excel in the particular study programme. Hence, a good SoP should always reflect clarity of thought – why the student wants to pursue a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Ph.D. The student should be able to substantiate his/her short and long term goals.