May 20, 2021
Divorce, Misogyny and Privacy
I will engage in a critical conversation about divorce stigma in the Bangladeshi context with Dr. Nasrin Khandoker. According to the 2019 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the number of applications for divorce has increased by 34% in the past seven years. More and more are filed by women, especially in cities. Not long ago, women could not initiate divorces. I think, as a society, we are painfully ill-equipped to think and talk about divorce critically. We often use misogynistic discourse and breach privacy when dealing with the social reality of divorce.
May 17, 2021
Exploring Climate Justice From Global South
It is not news that Bangladesh is one of the worst victims of climate change. We are paying the price for the crimes we did NOT commit. The challenges of climate change are often understood and explained from a Western vantage point. My upcoming guest Dr. Md. Khalequzzaman will discuss climate justice from Bangladesh's vantage point. Seeing things from the margin has never been so desperately needed in a morally bankrupt neoliberal world.
May 16, 2021
বাঙালির অভিবাস চৈতন্য
Bengali immigrants' (like most immigrants) quest to make new homes away from their homes takes them through identity negotiations. As a Bengali immigrant in Canada, I think our process of making new nests in foreign lands brings about an inexorably qualitative change in our consciousness, shifting our sense of self. My upcoming guest Kazi Jahirul Islam (কাজী জহিরুল ইসলাম )—a notable Bangladeshi author—will unpack Immigrant Bengali consciousness.
14th May, 2021
Tackling Spiritual Abuse Through Education and Empowerment
Dr. Maryyum Mehmood and I will engage in dialogue about Spiritual Abuse on May 14 at 9 PM Bangladesh time. Dr. Mehmood defines spiritual abuse as MISUSE of religious edicts and precepts by those in positions of power to control, coerce, and manipulate vulnerable believers into thinking and behaving in ways that are harmful to them. You might have seen her on BBC or other news channels speaking against Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and other oppressive practices. Her academic training and social engagement for positive change will simply blow your mind. I think it is time we stop using our personal and convenient interpretation of Islam to justify cruelty against women and other marginalized groups.