Slow Reads

“Monpura'70 is a harking back to the famine of 1943, as much as an encounter with the immensity of death, once again in the shadow of liberation struggle. So was Nabanna at the start of 1970. The Palestinian experience sits in the middle as a radical return to art's encounter with displacement, a battle itself perhaps, with the demand of artistic form in the shadow of dehumanisation.”

From the famine-stricken streets of Calcutta to the birth of Bangladesh, Zainul Abedin's art chronicled hunger, displacement, resistance, and the dreams of freedom. This article revisits the Silpacharya not merely as a national icon, but as a global artist of decolonisation whose work helps us understand how history was lived, imagined, and remembered across the twentieth century.

Read the full article link in the comments.

Following the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman in May 1981, local newspapers became the vital first record of a nation navigating a sudden political crisis.

In our latest Slow Reads piece, Rahat Minhaz examines the archival print coverage of those turbulent days. From stern military ultimatums and official press notes to firsthand survivor accounts at the Chittagong Circuit House, explore how the press captured the immediate, chaotic aftermath of a defining historical event.

To read the full article, find the link in the comments.

For generations, the Bay of Bengal was imagined not as a gateway but as a boundary. The idea of kalapani (black water) turned ocean-crossing into a symbol of exile, social loss, and fear, even though Bengal and the Indian subcontinent once maintained vibrant maritime connections with Southeast Asia. From Buddhist monks and merchants to lascars and travellers, many crossed these waters, leaving lasting cultural footprints across the region. As Shamsad Mortuza argues, perhaps the greatest barrier was never the sea itself, but the fear associated with it. Maybe it is time to see the waters beyond our southern border as blue—not black—and embrace their endless possibilities.

Read the full article at the link in the comments.

"Money may flow in from abroad, but what is the price of this money if it costs parents their dignity and companionship?”

There was a time when growing old in Bangladesh meant being surrounded by family, stories, and care. Today, as more young people leave in search of better opportunities abroad, many parents are left behind in silent homes, living with memories instead of companionship.

Read the full article link in the comments.

George Abraham Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India remains one of the most ambitious attempts to map the languages and dialects of South Asia. Comparing the difference between languages and dialects to “mountains and hills,” Grierson acknowledged how fluid and complex linguistic identities truly are. While the Survey became a foundational reference for studying South Asian languages, it also shaped debates around language, nationalism, religion, and identity across the subcontinent. Read the full article, at the link in comment.

When Bangladesh was struggling to find its footing in the late 1970s, former President Ziaur Rahman introduced reforms that permanently shaped the nation's future—from laying the groundwork for the booming garment industry to redefining the country's national identity.

In this Slow Reads piece, Professor M. Adil Khan looks back at a pivotal era in Bangladesh’s history, exploring how strategies used to pull a nation back from the brink might hold the blueprint for overcoming today's political and economic challenges.

Read the full article here. Link in the comments.

"At a time when many societies are struggling with distrust and fragmentation, the Tangail saree offers a reminder that culture can preserve forms of understanding long before they are articulated in politics or policy."

More than a beautiful textile, the Tangail saree carries centuries of craftsmanship, shared heritage and coexistence. This is the story of how a handwoven tradition became a living archive of Bangladesh's cultural memory.

To mark UNESCO’s first-ever Culture and Arts Education Week, themed “Culture and Arts Education for Lasting Peace”, we are publishing a series of stories in collaboration with UNESCO Dhaka on traditions deeply rooted in Bangladesh’s cultural heritage and recognised by UNESCO as elements of intangible cultural heritage.

Read the full article link in the comments.

The fishermen of Bengal, whose lives were bound to rivers, canals, and wetlands, endured colonial exploitation, famine, war, and Partition with little protection or recognition. The 1942 denial policy destroyed thousands of boats in eastern Bengal, while the famine of 1943 left fishing communities among the hardest hit. After Partition, many hereditary fishermen faced displacement, economic hardship, and the loss of their traditional fisheries to middlemen and powerful interests. From the worlds of Padma Nadir Majhi and Titas Ekti Nadir Naam to the real rivers of Bengal, this is a history of survival, marginalization, and resilience.

Read the full article, at the link in comment.

When Eid came after his death, every memory of his illness returned to me. The empty space at the dining table reminded me of the days when he struggled to eat during treatment. In his final days, when the doctors told us the news, a part of me still continued hoping for a miracle because I could not imagine a world in which my father did not exist.

Read more at the link in comments.

“The cranes of Balaka continue their flight across philosophical borders.”

What if motion itself is the deepest form of freedom? In Balaka, Rabindranath Tagore reimagines existence not as fixed identity but as continuous becoming. Written at a moment when empire, war, and industrial modernity were reshaping the world, the poems open a space where time flows, selves dissolve, and meaning is never still.

Rather than treating movement as metaphor, Tagore builds a philosophy of motion. Birds, rivers, winds, and stars become part of a single unfolding reality where being is inseparable from becoming. Drawing on both Indic thought and European philosophy, *Balaka* resists fixed categories of identity, history, and civilisation, offering instead a world seen in flux.

Read the full article link in the comment.