Arts & Culture
The Mahabharata: A Conversation
Ashis Nandy and Gurcharan Das discuss the Mahabharata.
Dance to Change the World
At TEDIndia, Mallika Sarabhai, a dancer, actor, and politician, tells a transformative story in dance—and argues that the arts may be the most powerful way to effect change, whether political, social or personal.
The Art of Borobudur
The world's largest and 1200 years old Buddhist monument located near the city of Jogjakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia.
Alan de Botton on Success
A breezy talk in which Alain de Botton looks at our ideas of success and failure, the anxiety we feel over our careers, why it's harder now to feel calm than ever before. Is success always earned? Is failure?
Wade Davis on the Human Imagination
Wade Davis takes us on a tour through the wild ranges of the human imagination as manifested in the breadth of human mythology and cultural life.
Slaughter in America
A recent Humane Society sting operation at a California slaughterhouse brought to light some very cruel treatment of farm animals.
I'm Dalit, How Are You?
The Indian caste system has long violated some of the most basic tenets of human dignity, inflicting untold humiliation and injustice on too many for too long. Watch this video on the plight of Dalits (‘the oppressed’)—formerly ‘untouchables’—numbering one out of six Indians.
A Folk Singer from Himachal
He sings in a language called Pahari in the highlands of Khajjiar, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Comedy Break
Intelligent comedy is so rarely found. I consider it a gift when I run across something that moves me and makes me laugh and think...
Kumbh Mela, India
The greatest of the Hindu pilgrimage festivals, the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad is a riverside religious fair held every 12 years at the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna.
On China's Confucian Revival
An interview with Daniel A Bell, author of China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society
LGBT Pride Parade, 2008
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Celebration & Parade in San Francisco, 2008
Halloween in the Castro
Here is some anthropologically curious footage I shot in the Castro district of San Francisco on Halloween night, years before the famous event was forced to downsize due to a violent incident in 2006...
The Romance of the Nation-State
A thought-provoking and often amusing lecture by Ashis Nandy, prominent Indian political psychologist and social philosopher.
The Oldest Conflict of All
A debate between Professor Mansfield, author of the recent controversial study, Manliness, and Professor Kipnis, author of a similarly controversial new book, The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability.
