My 1st book is out! My friend (& acclaimed fiction writer) Urmilla Deshpande & I wrote “Iru”, a novel-shaped biography about Irawati Karve, the 1st woman to work as a sociologist and anthropologist in India. Irawati’s life was remarkable in many ways: 🧵(a short thread) - ThreadSky

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social • 99 days ago

My 1st book is out! My friend (& acclaimed fiction writer) Urmilla Deshpande & I wrote “Iru”, a novel-shaped biography about Irawati Karve, the 1st woman to work as a sociologist and anthropologist in India. Irawati’s life was remarkable in many ways: 🧵(a short thread)

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thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

In 1927, she embarked on a steamship to Berlin. There, she ended up studying at an infamous eugenics research centre pivotal to Nazi ideology. But, unlike her German colleagues, she boldly challenged the racist theories of the time and place.

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

Berlin in the late 1920s was buzzing with new ideas and old fears. Irawati encountered both the racist scientific thinking that paved the way for Nazism and a larger circle of progressive thinkers, including anti-colonial South Asian activists.

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

In this press review of our book, you can read later a little scene about Iru in 1920s Berlin: (as a Berliner-by-choice, I especially enjoyed writing this part!) https://scroll.in/article/1073061/from-the-biography-sociologist-irawati-karves-first-impressions-of-berlin-after-world-war-one

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

Despite all the challenges faced by women in science, Irawati became one of India’s most celebrated public intellectuals. She influenced key debates on gender, culture, and nationalism. Fun fact: she was known in her hometown Pune as the first woman to drive a scooter.

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

She also travelled the world during times of great change: living in a desolate London post-WWII, clashing w/ a famous French sociologist, touring the US with her books, and witnessing the winds of change in 1960s California (there with her rebel daughter Gauri Deshpande)

thiago-barbosa.bsky.social•99 days ago

She also grappled with the legacy of scientific racism, including in her own anthropological work. Having worked with colleagues who became prominent Nazis, she reflected deeply on what it means to be a scientist in a world where so much violence is committed in science’s name.

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