Good corporate values.

Anthropologists find that the use of “emotional” words in all sorts of books has soared and dipped across the past century, roughly mirroring each era’s social and economic upheavals. And psychologists say this new form of language analysis may offer a more objective view into our culture.

Emotional archaeology.

A new study reveals what Islam means in different countries

THE Pew Research Centre has released a chunky report on Muslims and their attitudes tosharia law, among other things. If you want to know how Islam in Indonesia, which is traditionally seen as having developed a moderate version of the faith, compares with Islam in Turkey, where the Islamic AK Party is testing the boundaries between mosque and state, attitudes to sharia law are a good marker. (Indonesia, the world’s largest country with a Muslim majority, in fact favours a stricter form of the faith than Turkey does.) But what do Muslims mean when they say they want sharia law? The most frequent demand is for imams to preside over family courts, followed in most cases by severe corporal punishment for crimes and then by execution for those who leave the faith. The report also reflects man’s infinite capacity to hold contradictory views at the same time. Almost 80% of Egyptian Muslims say they favour religious freedom and a similar number favour sharia law. Of that group, almost 90% also think people who renounce Islam should be put to death. Confused? So are they. 

A book review I wrote last year on The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Really looking forward to the movie. Mira Nair is pretty cool. 

No charge. No trial. And I’m being force-fed while bound to a chair.

Despair Drives Guantanamo Detainees to Revolt

By: Surili Sheth, Analyst I use the term “slum dweller” as a descriptive phrase – and I choose to use it because it is how people living in slums refer to themselves, it describes the place they li…

Part 2 - Observations of an Indian Slum

Part 3 - Capabilities and Informality

Part 4 - Some Promising Models

Our first love story from the road: We came to Sri Lanka with every intention of filming a video about an organic, fair trade tea farmer. That is exactly what we were planning when we set foot on the small tea farm of Piyasena and his wife Ariyawatha. What we didnt expect was to be so taken with the relationship between the two of them. What started as a farm story quickly turned into a story about love and dedication amongst the Ceylon tea fields. ps. Mirra and I are getting Married!