The writing of history, like the taking of a photograph, is, by definition, a process of selection.
16 posts by
Parvati Nair
The largest mass migrations in South Asia since the time of partition are taking place in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indians are on the move in every direction from the major urban centres, criss-crossing the nation on their way homeward to towns and villages across the country. With the…
Madras, 1965. The living room of my grandparents’ home had two walls adorned with photographs, one facing the other. On one, there was the family, our family, the various momentous events of sons and daughters, graduations, weddings, and births. The story of three generations told through milestones unfolded before our…
Yet again, a photograph erupts into the collective sightline: a picture of a father and child who drowned whilst attempting to cross over from Mexico to the United States. 04 July 2019, Mexico, Tijuana: A man and his child look through the border wall in the Mexican city of Tijuana…
When I read the news and see the word ‘migrant’ over and over again, I can only wonder who this refers to. Who exactly is a migrant? Is it my fellow traveller, the person queuing at the border or the neighbour from another country who lives next door to me…
A call to rethink the language of migration in order to recognise the humans at the heart of migration debates. Rarely a day goes by when migration is not in the news. All around us, the topic of migration surfaces. The language of migration abounds. At the same time, the…
A dozen years before the influx of refugees and migrants to Europe’s shores would force policymakers to take heed, Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 docudrama In this World brought the inside story of international migration to the big screen. In charting the risky, clandestine journey to Europe of two Afghans…
It is through dialogue, not wars, that Europe can work towards alleviating the humanitarian crisis that is apparent on its shores. Protest at Palermo port, paper boats on black cloth representing the Mediterranean. Demotix/Lucio Ganci. All rights reserved.As the EU prepares to address the dire shortcomings in the…