Japan is trying a new style of cultural diplomacy to boost soft power. Is the message too exclusive?

Japan is targeting an 'upmarket' audience of wealthy business executives, city professionals, millennial foodies and highbrow arts enthusiasts.

Warren Stanislaus, The Conversation

· Nov 19, 2018 · 11:30 pm

Row over Hindi songs during Assam’s Bihu festival spurs heated debate on language and culture

Singer Zubeen Garg was stopped mid-performance during a function to mark the state’s biggest festival last week for singing a Hindi number.

Arunabh Saikia

· Apr 18, 2017 · 06:30 am

The new Brahmaputra: A river festival in Assam draws criticism for promoting 'RSS brand of Hindutva'

According to some, tribal cultures that have grown around the river were ignored.

Arunabh Saikia

· Apr 05, 2017 · 12:47 pm

From the Elgin Marbles to the Kohinoor: Why should cultural artefacts be more rooted than people?

Heritage objects may have assumed more prominence for countries that increasingly cannot be defined by their populations and informal culture.

Robert Seddon, The Conversation

· Aug 31, 2016 · 08:30 pm

'Authentic' Vande Mataram Library aims to challenge Sheldon Pollock's 'foreign' one

A sensitive Indian would be in pain reading translations of Sanskrit by non-Indians, says head of a project that hopes to compete with the Murty Classical Library.

Mridula Chari

· Mar 08, 2016 · 09:15 am

As Mumbai police refuse concert permission for Pakistani musicians, India has scored an own goal

When will we learn to separate art and politics, ask the organisers of an event that had to be cancelled because it involved artists from across the border.

Jay Visvadeva and Malini Hariharan

· Dec 03, 2014 · 12:30 am

Why exactly is 'Haider' offending India's Twitter nationalists?

Those asking for a boycott of the film don't realise it actually shows the army in a realistic light.

Shivam Vij

· Oct 03, 2014 · 11:30 am

'Open' shouldn't be embarrassed. Even Sonia has a biography invoking Nazi classic 'Triumph of the Will'

A party member wrote a book about the Congress President with that title in 2007.

Mridula Chari

· May 21, 2014 · 06:13 am

From Mumbai jail, poet accused of Maoist links writes about life on the run

Sachin Mali of the Kabir Kala Manch will release a new collection of his work next week.

Mridula Chari

· May 06, 2014 · 07:37 am