Habits of the Heart

Tag: religion

  • Rashomon effect and understanding geopolitics in 2026: How to make sense of the world

    Rashomon effect and understanding geopolitics in 2026: How to make sense of the world

    We live in a post-modern world, where truth, with a certainty of 100% is very hard to establish, if not impossible. In a world of ubiquitous AI, seeing is not believing. We are also in a media context (in the USA and much of the West) where serious questioning of government propaganda is rare, if…

  • Interview with Dr. K.T. Connor on ethics and public life 

    Dr. K.T. Connor was a Senior Adjunct Professor with the MPPA program until recently, for over a decade and brings a wealth of experience in ethics, business as well as public leadership. She served as the Managing Director of Applied Axiometrics. She is the head of a virtual collaboration of consultants using decision-theory-based assessments in…

  • On being mentored by the inimitable Akumal Ramachander

    One of my mentors, someone who had a substantial impact on my life and career passed away a few weeks ago, in Bangalore, India. Akumal Ramachander was a public intellectual, an art promoter and one of the most well-read and educated people I have met. He was persistent, fearless and inimitable.  There are mentors who…

  • Is Hi-net worth philanthropy good for our society?

    They say a rich man’s joke is always funny and his/her ideas for public issues are always spot on. I say a rich man’s (policy) ideas are not always good for everyone. Many a time, actually, a rich philanthropist / giver’s ideas can actually work against public good. Don’t believe me? Look at various examples…

  • How to make academic work relevant?

    It costs about a million dollars to produce a Ph.D, in the U.S. One of my mentors shared this interesting fact, as I was about to finish my doctoral education. While I was trying to finish a decently-written dissertation, this fact kept nagging me. I had to justify that million dollar investment made on me…

  • The problem with the question : ‘Is Islam a Violent Religion’

    As a young scholar, I am amazed at how easily such a question can be posed towards Islam and  Muslims, without second thought – as if it is the most normal and banal question that one can ask – indeed, many of my close friends and associates have asked me this question, in the past.…

  • Is religious nationalism relevant today?

    Is Zionism relevant today? Or for that matter Hindutva or Islamism?  Whether it is India, with its ruling party – the BJP, which has a strong Hindu revivalist motif or Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power, after a debacle of sorts, religion and religious parties continue to challenge our understanding of politics…

  • Why focus on praxis, rather than on thought?

    In the study of religion, is ‘thought’  more important than the everyday reality of those who practice religion? By ‘thought’ I include all the teachings, conceptions of ‘ideal society’ and life that every religion teaches.  This is a hard question to answer, as ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘orthopraxy’ are two sides of the same coin, but in…

  • Top ten books I read this year

    I read a lot of books this year. Like a LOT. Part of the reason is that I am preparing for my prelim exams (part of the PhD process) where you prove to your committee that you know your stuff. Additionally, I presented a few papers at a few conferences, many of them outside my…

  • How to write about Islam?

    Amidst all the noise about the end of the world scenarios being portrayed as a result of ISIS conquest of parts of Iraq and Syria and equally banal assertions that Islam is somehow inherently violent, and needs ‘reformation’, the common man out there is left confused. As someone studying Islam in America, I am at…

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