Audrey Truschke
@audreytruschke.bsky.social
Professor of South Asian history Rutgers-Newark | Anti-fascist | pro-education | https://www.audreytruschke.com/ | https://princeton.press/8r8idcye
Good riddance to, frankly, one of the weak links in the American far-right Hindutva movement who did little good for anyone. www.nbcnews.com/politics/202... #Thanedar #Hindutva #Michigan
Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar loses his primary to a progressive challenger in Michigan
Thanedar was unseated by Donavan McKinney, a state representative endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Abdul El-Sayed, NBC News projects.
nbcnews.com
Saturday plans. Do join us if you are interested —
Building up Indian higher education was a priority for many Congress leaders. The BJP focused on tearing it down, and they will continue to do so. Even with periodic protests, an ignorant population serves #Hindutva interests. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/w... #India #harshreality
‘We Are Not Learning Anything’: India’s Gen Z Rage Is a Test for Modi
As India’s huge youth population surges, the government faces pressure to fix an education system that leaves many ill prepared for university, let alone for the workplace.
nytimes.com
It’s understandable that many fear losing everything and so stay silent. Still, there are moments when those with power and platforms should risk it all to do the right thing. Otherwise, what was the point of anything they achieved? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... #India
Indian celebrities fiercely criticised for silence on Cockroach protests
Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government
theguardian.com
My two-cents after seeing Nolan's #Odyssey, which trades on moral ambiguity -- Somebody get that director a copy of the #Mahabharata and a massive budget. He'll never look back.
I have spent the last 3 days binge-reading Emily Wilson's Odyssey. After two decades with my mind occupied by the Indian epics, I have a lot of reactions (including, damn, the Odyssey is short). I'm enamored with the translation though.
"Can all the people be fooled all the time? Can a country with a population of a billion-and-a-half be dragged around like a corpse forever? It cannot. The Cockroaches are out and about." thewire.in/rights/cockr... #India
Cockroach Democracy: Unarmed and Dangerous
Can all the people be fooled all the time? Can a country with a population of a billion-and-a-half be dragged around like a corpse forever? It cannot. The Cockroaches are out and about.
thewire.in
Solidarity and strength to the Indian people as they face the brutal, violent oppression of their corrupt, callous leaders. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/w... #India #Delhi
Police in India Use Tear Gas and Batons on Crowds Protesting Exam Scandal
nytimes.com
Local context -- The BJP has served the Indian people poorly for years, and people are fighting back. Regional context -- South Asia has seen numerous Gen Z revolutions in recent years. Global context -- Right-wing extremism often breeds discontent. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Who are India’s Cockroach Janta party and why are they staging protests?
Explosion of anger over education system and youth unemployment has led to movement’s rapid rise
theguardian.com
Rutgers admin corruption, making national higher ed news. 🤦 "Rutgers’s ethics policies cite the New Jersey Conflicts of Interest statute and say that “companies partially owned by Rutgers (or State) employees cannot sell goods or services to the university.” www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Rutgers Investigates Dean for Selling Services to University
Rutgers University is investigating a potential ethics violation by Rutgers-Newark School of Arts and Sciences Dean Jacqueline Mattis after her professional development business did hundreds of thousa...
insidehighered.com
Beautiful to see this come out, finishing the Chicago translation of book 12 of the Mahabharata Book 12 is exceptionally long and chock-full of upper-caste commentary on living and ruling well, c. early first millennium CE. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... #Mahabharata #Sanskrit
The Mahabharata, Volume 8
A translation of the twelfth book of The Mahābhārata, an epic tale of history and kingship, reinforced with legends, romances, and metaphysical, theological, and ethical teachings written in Sanskri...
press.uchicago.edu
Professor life is good this week. Key tasks -- Polishing a talk on the Mughals as builders of India, working on edits for the paperback edition of my India book, and finishing an article on teaching controversial subjects in American higher education. 😎
Rutgers admins last week: Hiring freeze and fiscal doom-and-gloom Rutgers admins this week: Jamaica for the in-crowd, on the tax payer dime, baby! www.nj.com/education/20...
New Rutgers scandal: School paid $150K for staff to attend Jamaica retreat — owned by a dean
Easton's Nook, operated by Dean Jacqueline Mattis, has been paid thousands by Rutgers for faculty workshops since she became dean in 2020.
nj.com
Modi's Hindu nationalist government has systematically dismantled most of India's higher education system. It's a damning legacy that disadvantages Indian citizens, possibly for generations. The most recent anti-intellectual move -- indianexpress.com/article/indi... #Hindutva #highered
Think tank CSDS likely to face funding cuts from Centre
After probe, ICSSR ‘looks at’ suspending its grants which account for 90% of CSDS salaries: Rs 5.8 crore in 2024-25.
indianexpress.com
Modi's age isn't discussed enough; interesting perspective here on what's needed to protect his image: www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
Naps, no stairs, and snipers? Modi adds extra layer to NZ arrival
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touches down for a whirlwind visit to New Zealand on Friday evening.
stuff.co.nz
I have read 16 novels this year, so far (most recent was Ghosh's Ghost-Eye). That's in addition to magazines, news, and the non-fiction I read for work. I honestly don't get what non-readers are doing with their lives and brains. You all are seriously missing out.
I don't know about other academics, but my current MO on journal and book manuscript reviews -- I ask to ensure that the publication has a no AI policy and that the author(s) has attested to no AI use. If I think AI was used, I (1) recommend no publication and (2) decline the next review request
#TransnationalRepression, India-US edition. A police chief in India ordered a Los Angeles family to pay $400,000, or else he would falsely charge their relatives in India with murder. Remember, India often doesn't bail accused persons. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/u...
Authorities Arrest Members of India-Based Gangs in Sweeping Crackdown
nytimes.com
In case you were wondering, the patriotic American positions right now are, in this order -- 1) Ignore soccer, as usual 2) Root for Belgium
"...with every gain, greed only grows." - Tulsidas (Lutgendorf trans.) www.bbc.com/news/article... #RamMandir #Ayodhya #Hindutva
Ayodhya, Ram Mandir: Row over alleged theft of donations from Indian temple
Questions are being raised over the handling of cash, valuable jewellery, gold and silver offered by devotees.
bbc.com
Indian ship honoring America’s 250th, NYC boat parade. May both nations live up to their higher values, rejecting intolerance and majoritarianism.
“The process of India becoming a post-truth society is near complete” I continue to look forward to the day when India rejects Hindutva and begins to rebuild from its current catastrophe. That will involve reckoning with how the state treated its own... www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘Humanity is a privilege’: Umar Khalid on his six years in an Indian jail without trial
Exclusive: Activist tells of his life as one of India’s most prominent political prisoners and his opposition to the government of Narendra Modi
theguardian.com
July is South Asian Heritage Month in the U.K.! I'm happy to be participating in this by offering a webinar on Mughal history, aimed at non-specialists, through the Historical Association (members only). www.history.org.uk/historian/ne... #Mughal #History #SouthAsia #India
South Asian Heritage Month 2026
history.org.uk
Your periodic reminder -- the Constitution protects your right to criticize bigoted, hateful, racist, sexist monsters as such. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/u...
Professor Fired for Criticizing Charlie Kirk Reaches $1.9 Million Settlement
nytimes.com
"I think Audrey Truschke’s work opened the door to a long overdue reassessment of Aurangzeb." timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-...
‘Jadunath Sarkar saw a bigot, I see Aurangzeb as a pragmatist,’ Munis Faruqui tells William Dalrymple
Munis D Faruqui, professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, has spent nearly three decades immersed in Mughal archives. The result is ‘Aurangzeb Alamgir ...
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
