The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma Ep 385: Vinayak Calling Vinayak
Chaturvedi's Multicultural Upbringing
- Vinayak Chaturvedi grew up moving between India, London, New York, Texas, and California.
- His diverse upbringing and linguistic environment shaped his identity and intellectual outlook.
Language Shapes Identity Shifts
- Chaturvedi experiences linguistic shifts where Hindi is tied to identity and dreaming in Hindi signals belonging.
- Language shapes his cultural connection and reveals internal dual selves between Hindi and English.
Newspapers and Enduring Friendships
- reading newspapers daily in childhood cultivated critical thinking in Vinayak.
- Long-term friendships among immigrant kids sustained identity despite constant moves.
To understand modern India, we must understand the history of Hindutva -- and we must wrestle with Savarkar. Vinayak Chaturvedi joins Amit Varma in episode 385 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his life and work as a historian -- and the importance of history in shaping the present moment. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) (This episode was recorded in March, 2024.) Also check out: 1. Vinayak Chaturvedi at UC Irvine and Amazon. 2. Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of History -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 3. Peasant Pasts – History and Memory in Western India -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 4. Imaginary Homelands -- Salman Rushdie. 5. The Road and No Country for Old Men -- Cormac McCarthy. 6. No Country for Old Men -- Joel and Ethan Coen. 7. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 8. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 9. Partha Chatterjee on Amazon, Wikipedia and Columbia University. 10. The Egg -- Andy Weir. 11. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 14. The Long Divergence — Timur Kuran. 15. Some plagiarism complaints against Claudine Gay: 1, 2, 3, 4. 16. The Exquisite Irony of Claudine Gay's Downfall -- Glenn Loury with John McWhorter. 17. Why Did Harvard Cancel Its Best Black Professor? -- Documentary by Rob Montz on the destruction of Roland Fryer. 18. “A White Male Would Probably Already Be Gone” -- Carol Swain interviewed by Christopher Rufo. 19. How one hearing brought down two Ivy League presidents -- Sareen Habeshian. 20. Carlo Ginzburg and Christopher Bayly. 21. The Birth of the Modern World -- CA Bayly. 22. Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire -- CA Bayly. 23. The Indian Ideology -- Perry Anderson. 24. Event, Metaphor, Memory : Chauri Chaura -- Shahid Amin. 25. Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania -- Steven Feierman. 26. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India -- Ranajit Guha. 27. Maps Are Magic -- Episode 44 of Everything is Everything. 28. On Exactitude in Science — Jorge Luis Borges. 29. Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars -- CA Bayly. 30. The Cheese and the Worms -- Carlo Ginzburg. 31. From Peasant Pasts to Hindutva Futures? -- Vinayak Chaturvedi. 32. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 33. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 34. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi -- Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 36. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 37. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 38. Essentials Of Hindutva -- VD Savarkar. 39. Farewell Waltz -- Milan Kundera. 40. A Zone of Engagement -- Perry Anderson. 41. Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas -- Perry Anderson. 42. BR Ambedkar's interview on BBC from 1955. 43. Hindutva before Hindutva: Selected Writings and Discourses of Chandranath Basu in Translation -- Edited by Amiya Sen. 44. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 45. The Many Shades of George Fernandes -- Episode 327 of The Seen and the Unseen. 46. The Life and Times of George Fernandes — Rahul Ramagundam. 47. Hind Swaraj — MK Gandhi. 48. Annihilation of Caste — BR Ambedkar. 49. Understanding Gandhi: Part 1: Mohandas — Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 50. Understanding Gandhi: Part 2: Mahatma — Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 51. The Indian War of Independence: 1857 -- VD Savarkar. 52. Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva -- Vaibhav Purandare. 53. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 54. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 55. Hindu-Padpaadshahi (Hindi Edition) -- VD Savarkar. 56. Veer Savarkar -- Dhananjay Keer. 57. GS Sardesai, VK Rajwade and Jadunath Sarkar. 58. The Collected Works of MK Gandhi and BR Ambedkar. 59. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 60. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 61. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Manu Pillai: 1, 2, 3, 4. 62. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 63. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma and Rana Safvi. 64. John McEnroe plus Anyone -- Edward Said. 65. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste -- Pierre Bourdieu. 66. Lendl, Becker, McEnroe, & Wilander interviewed in the Tennis Legends Podcast. 67. Ben Böhmer, Sultan+Shepard, Nora En Pure, U2 and New Order on Spotify. 68. The Zone of Interest -- Jonathan Glazer. 69. Oldboy -- Park Chan-wook. 70. Burning -- Lee Chang-dong. 71. Memories of Murder -- Bong Joon-ho. 72. Return to Seoul -- Davy Chou. 73. Past Lives -- Celine Song. 74. Monster -- Kore-eda Hirokazu. 75. The Wind From Far Away -- Amit Varma (on Monster among other things). 76. Shoplifters -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 77. Nobody Knows -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 78. Broker -- Hirokazu Kore-eda. 79. A Death in the Family -- Book 1 of Karl Ove Knausgaard's A Struggle. 80. In Search Of Lost Time -- Marcel Proust. 81. My Saga -- Karl Ove Knausgaard's essay for NYT. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘The Historian’ by Simahina.