Unani
[Neshat Quaiser. (2024). 'Bazaari-Subaltern Unani Medical Public Sphere: Blanket Binaries, Disjunctions, Implications and the Making of Alternative Texts and Archives Convivially’. In: Edited volume–Decolonizing Science and Modernity in South Asia: Questioning Concepts, Constructing Histories. Springer, Singapore. Introduction-Abstract]

The essay deals with the bazaari-subaltern unani medical practices, demonstrating how contrary to the predominant view within the studies of South Asian medical practices, Unani has been a dispersed and discursive terrain since the beginning with the simultaneous presence of the two broad paradoxical spheres of Unani practices, such as textual Unani on the one hand, and bazaari-subaltern unani on the other in different geographical, social, and cultural locales. Critically examining the recent endeavour of a group of historians to recover “the realm of subaltern therapeutics”, this essay, however, argues that the relationship between the textual Unani and bazaari-subaltern Unani medical practices cannot be comprehended properly through a blanket totalising elite-subaltern binary framework. Moreover, the concept of subaltern itself is to be re-examined contextually, particularly to account for the ways in which a textual tradition such as unani itself can be rendered to a state of Subalternity particularly in post-colonial situations. The essay examines the ways in which bazaari-subaltern Unani medical public sphere remained outside the textual Unani and statist medical imaginations and control, therefore, was/is declared inauthentic for its practitioners were/are considered untrained, and yet it catered to the medical requirements of vast masses during the colonial and post-colonial periods. Bazaariunani medical practices were/are not confined literally only to bazaar, but found in homes and other social locales such as in print medium as well. The essay outlines the nuances of this simultaneity of the two paradoxical spheres with a focus on the critical prevalence of bazaari-subaltern medicine and therapeutics, and the ways in which they can produce their own text without being immanently well-ordered, fixed and complete but ever-evolving.

Section I explains the preliminary theoretical considerations with regard to the relationship between the bazaari-subaltern Unani practices and textual Unani; and the ashrâfiya-casteistpredispositions and moral economy; section II deals with the questions of blanket binaries, disjunctions and implications in the light of the recent endeavour to recover “the realm of subaltern therapeutics”; section III deals with bazaar-bazaari in social history of South Asian medicine; bazaar-bazaari medicine and the colonial state; bazaar, bazaari and subaltern: concepts in context; nuances of bazaar, bazaari, ‘market’ and Unani; caste-class, economic dimensions and bazaariUnani;post-colonial turn and implications for bazaariUnani; and institutionalised explanations; section IV examines the framework and types of bazaari-subaltern Unani medical public sphere as a convivial dialogic terrain within general medical public sphere; eleven cases to illustrate the bazaariUnani sphere; and the question of how Unani is bazaari-Unani and how different it is from non-Unani bazaar medicine;and section V is an epilogue summing up the critical issues with a focus on the making of bazaariUnani texts and archives at the end. Illustrative cases are drawn from the provinces of Bihar, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, and the United Provinces of both colonial and post-colonial periods.
Neshat Quaiser

Avaaz is facing a new Threat
Trump ran for president pledging a crackdown on his political enemies. Now the US Congress could be about to hand him the tools he needs to take down any non-profit he wants, including Avaaz.

A bill–dubbed the “non-profit killer”–could see huge taxes levied on donations raised by Avaaz and other progressive organisations. And because we’re 100% funded by small online donations, and registered in the US, we’re vulnerable.

This could just be the start. We’ve campaigned hard against Trump’s vicious brand of politics for nearly a decade. We know he holds a grudge. And he’s more powerful than he’s ever been.

But one thing’s for sure–we won’t be silenced. So we have to protect ourselves. And fast.

So we’ve put together a defence plan–covering everything from legal protections to moving Avaaz out of the US completely. But all of it will be costly, and we already need funds for our critical campaigns.
Avaaz Team

 China-US Rivalry over Greenland
While Trump’s blunt demand to buy Greenland and threat to invade are received with shock and mockery, the reality is that for years both China and the US have been ramping up their pursuit of economic and military interests there.

Climate change will inevitably open up Arctic sea routes in the next ten to twenty years. They are destined to be objects of naval contention and advantageous shipping routes. In 2019, then Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said at an Arctic Council Ministerial Summit, “Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade.”

The Kvanefjeld deposit in South Greenland is the world’s second-largest resource of rare earth oxides. These are used in electric vehicle batteries, wind turbine magnets, and a range of military hardware. A Chinese state-owned company invested in the project–not openly, but through an Australian intermediary.

China has purchased Greenlandic fisheries, sent cruise ships full of big-spending tourists, invited Greenlandic officials on junkets to Beijing, and taken stakes in Greenlandic iron mines they knew were unprofitable. China even tried to buy an abandoned naval base on Greenland’s North Atlantic coast.

Whether it is a port in Greece, copper and cobalt mines in the Congo, or Arctic sea routes and resource contention in Greenland, Chinese monopoly capitalism is out for profit and hegemony. Meanwhile, US imperialism scrambles to fortify its established holdings. The rivalry is classic, reminiscent of the years leading up to World War One. This time, World War Three approaches. None of this benefits the workers of China or the US. The solution for them and the world is a socialist-communist revolution. The only contest here, a friendly one, is: who will break through first?
Charles Andrews [Charles Andrews is the author of The Hollow Colossus and other books.]

Disconnect to Reconnect
In our tech-driven world, we urgently need Tech-Free Zones, similar to No Smoking areas, to foster inner peace. These zones can provide tranquil spaces for introspection, connection, and meaningful conversations. Let us disconnect from our cell phones to reconnect with ourselves.
T S Karthik, Chennai

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 32, Feb 2 - 8, 2025