Tag Archives: Bonojit Hussain

Capitalism, Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life

Teachers, Straw, and the Combine Harvester – Peasant Household’s Ecological Ledger in Assam: Bonojit Hussain

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Guest post by BONOJIT HUSSAIN

I did not come to the village to do research. I came to farm for the market—and to do it without breaking the village’s social and ecological ledger. I returned as a nephew and a neighbour. For six years I have lived inside this world of muddy fields, failed pumps, anxious harvests, and commonsense wisdom passed across haat stalls. Six years on, I am only now seeing a glimmer of hope for a workable path.

Photograph by Bonojit Hussain of his own farm

What I write here is not sociology in the professional sense, but a testimony from within the living contradictions. My focus is on the choices and constraints of the khilonjiya peasant household—native, often subsistence-oriented communities whose economic logic is deeply tied to ecological and social reproduction. This is a distinct reality from the highly commercialized production systems found in some other parts of the state.

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Capitalism, Culture, Left watch, Politics

Remembering People’s Historian Amalendu Guha (1924-2015): Bonojit Hussain and Mayur Chetia

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Guest post by BONOJIT HUSSAIN and MAYUR CHETIA

A Tribute and a Bibliography

স্বৰ্গত ৰুচি নাই, যাওঁ মই ভাটিখানালৈ

জুৱাৰী-মদপী-বেশ্যা-সিহঁতকো মেলত গোটাই

মনৰ চিতাৰ ছাই উৰুৱাই গাওঁ আশাবৰী :

আকাশত উৰা মাৰে জাকে জাকে ফিনিক্স চৰাই !

Amalendu Guha
Amalendu Guha

I have no desire for heaven,

Instead I go to the brewhouse,

Gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes – bringing them together

I sing of hope, sprinkling ashes from my soul’s pyre:

In flocks the phoenix flies to the sky.

  • “মোৰ কবিতা / My Poetry” Amalendu Guha 1960

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Culture, Genders, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Remembering Laxmi Orang and the Gender Question in Assam: Mayur Chetia and Bonojit Hussain

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Guest post by MAYUR CHETIA AND BONOJIT HUSSAIN

The Delhi gangrape case has led to country-wide outrage, with young women and men still pouring out on to the streets to protest against the widespread culture of sexual violence. The outrage has not just stopped at Jantar Mantar, India Gate or university campuses; it has also led to a wave of intellectual reflection on the issue. For most protesters the demand for justice has not stopped with the Delhi gang rape victim, but has led to a demand for justice for all victims of sexual violence. These protesters have forced us to remember a litany of names that get buried by the TRP driven media and a public with a notoriously short attention span of memory. It is time to remember names that we are losing to public amnesia, names like Soni Sori, Manorama, Asiya and Neelofar. It is time we remember another forgotten name – Laxmi Orang.

 In the Interest of Remembering: Who is Laxmi Orang?

On 24th November 2007, Laxmi Orang, a young adivasi woman, was forcibly stripped naked, thrashed and paraded by a violent mob of “mainstream” Assamese [1] men. This took place just 100 meters away from State Legislative assembly, in the very heart of Guwahati, in the full glare of the media and police forces. As with her fellow protesters, it was her first trip to the city, the mythical land where the modern day Swargodeo’s [2] listen to their subjects, where appeals are heard, where miracles happen, where riches and wonders thrive. She had come to the city as participant of a protest organized by the All Adivasi Students’ Association Assam (AASAA) to demand Schedule Tribes status for the Adivasi community of Assam. Continue reading Remembering Laxmi Orang and the Gender Question in Assam: Mayur Chetia and Bonojit Hussain →