It turns out that globalisation, while promising sameness through brand-name consumption, was fostering, through uneven economic growth, an intense feeling of difference. Pankaj Mishra brandconsumptiondifference Change image and share on social
As the years passed in my village, I witnessed poorly educated young men leaving to seek the greater comforts and liberations of big cities. I would see them on my visits to Delhi. Pankaj Mishra bigcitycomfort Change image and share on social
Though there are laws against blasphemy and insult to religion in many European countries, France has institutionalised its anti-clerical past by proscribing religion from public life. Pankaj Mishra antiblasphemyclerical Change image and share on social
National independence, and the preceding political struggles, helped create the space for literary creation in many post-colonial countries. Much of modern Indian or Chinese literature is inconceivable without the political movement for freedom from foreign rule. Pankaj Mishra chinesecolonialcountry share on social
After India and China, Indonesia was the biggest new nation-state to emerge in the mid-twentieth century. Pankaj Mishra bigcenturychina Change image and share on social
If you think of India in the 1980s, there weren't many writers in English around. The ones that were there, Amitav Ghosh or Vikram Seth, were living abroad or publishing from abroad. Pankaj Mishra 1980sabroadamitav Change image and share on social
I am often struck by the anxious inferiority many well-educated British people display towards the U.S., particularly Londoners dazzled by New York, when many postcolonials are accustomed to regarding Britain's old imperial cosmopolis as the true capital of the western world. Pankaj Mishra accustomanxiousbritain share on social
For boys like me, in north Indian railway towns in the '70s and '80s, where nothing much happened apart from the arrival and departure of trains from big cities, the Soviet Union alone appeared to promise an escape from our limited, dusty world. Pankaj Mishra 70s80sappear share on social
Certainly, imperial power is never peaceably acquired or maintained. Pankaj Mishra acquireimperialmaintain Change image and share on social
Life in a Chinese village is much more organised because the Chinese Communist Party has a presence even in the remotest Chinese village - a presence of the kind that no governmental or non-governmental organisation has in Indian villages. Pankaj Mishra chinesecommunistgovernmental share on social
