MEDIA
BBC Radio 4 ‘Start The Week’ discusses democracy with Alpa Shah, Erica Bener, Bob Duffy and Tom Sutcliffe.
Novara Media Live: Michael Walker interviews Alpa Shah on the Indian elections as they begin.
The Wire Karan Thapar interviews Alpa Shah about the rise of fascism in India on the day the largest elections the world has seen begin.
Nature selects The Incarcerations as one of five best science picks: ‘deeply researched and frequently shocking’.
The New Statesman on The Incarcerations and interview with Alpa Shah.
The New Statesman carries an Op-ed by Alpa Shah ‘How Father Stan Swamy’s “custodial murder” is sparking new demands for justice in India.’
The Political Quarterly interviews Alpa Shah, as an Orwell Prize finalist, about the writing of Nightmarch.
Novara Media hosts a celebration of David Graeber's life, with Molly Crabapple, David Wengrow, Alpa Shah, and more.
Hindustan Times carries an Opinion piece by Alpa Shah on democracy by sortition in the forests of India.
2022 ERC Public Engagement with Research Prize awarded to Alpa Shah.
BBC News ‘“Sleepwalking” with India’s Maoist guerrillas.’ A taste of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch.
A visual exhibition curated by Simon Chambers and Alpa Shah, London and Turin, 2018-2019.
The Times UK reviews Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations: ‘It is to Shah’s immense credit that she has been able to piece together these arresting, warm portraits of the would-be assassins…gripping and uplifting’.
BBC Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent Alpa Shah reports on Adivasis rebuilding homes in central Indian forests after they have been burnt down by counterinsurgency forces.
Ravish Kumar devotes a programme to Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations.
Barkha Dutt in conversation with Alpa Shah on The Mojo Story.
BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents Alpa Shah presents, ‘India’s Red Belt’, a 30 min radio documentary on Maoist-inspired Naxalites.
ARCHIVE
The Deccan Herald releases a full page excerpt on The Incarcerations: ‘The story of an urban naxal’ (26/4/24)
The Business Standard, Delhi reviews The Incarcerations: ‘My all-time favourite is an academic who can write movingly without losing the rigour. Scholar-storyteller Alpa Shah has that rare quality.’ Vipul Mudgal (24/4/24)
The Wire: Karan Thapar Interviews Alpa Shah about the rise of fascism in India on the day the largest elections the world has seen begin (19/4/24)
Novara Media Live: Michael Walker interviews Alpa Shah on the Indian elections as they begin (19/4/24)
Article 14 releases an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s The Incarcerations (19/4/24)
Oxford University, School of Archaeology and Museum Ethnography announces Alpa Shah as Statutory Professor and Fellow of All Souls College from October 2024. It said in its announcement that, ‘Alpa Shah will be the eighth person to hold the post, the first woman and the first person of the global majority’ (18/4/24)
BBC Radio 4 ‘Start The Week’ discusses democracy with Alpa Shah, Erica Bener, Bob Duffy and Tom Sutcliffe (15/4/24)
Anuradhsays recommends The Incarcerations (with an interview with Alpa Shah), ‘An essential read for everyone interested in the future of Indian democracy’ Anuradha Sengupta (14/4/24)
The Times UK reviews The Incarcerations: ‘It is to Shah’s immense credit that she has been able to piece together these arresting, warm portraits of the would-be assassins…gripping and uplifting’. Pratinav Anil (13/4/24)
The Hindu reviews The Incarcerations (11/4/24)
Ravish Kumar devotes an episode of his show to The Incarcerations which receives more that 2 million viewers in 24 hours (6/4/24)
Nature selects The Incarcerations as one of five best science picks: ‘deeply researched and frequently shocking’ (5/4/24)
The New Statesman reviews The Incarcerations: ‘As well as tracing the backstories of each of the so-called BK-16, Shah recounts the myriad, complex injustices inflicted on them by authorities increasingly intent on destroying democracy. Told in propulsive prose, The Incarcerations is sweeping in scope and meticulous in its detail.. an account that shocks, illustrating the brazen lengths the state will go to to quell dissent. But it’s also galvanising in its depiction of the group’s defiance.’ Megan Gibson (4/4/24)
CQFD, a Marseille-based newspaper, publishes an interview with Alpa Shah on The Incarcerations (4/24)
The Quint reviews The Incarcerations: ‘the publication of this book is of paramount consequence not merely for those still incarcerated in this case, but also in a bid to save democracy everywhere’ Mekhala Saran (31/4/24)
The Scroll.in extract from The Incarcerations (27/3/24)
Deccan Chronicle features The Incarcerations (27/3/24)
The Asian Age lists The Incarcerations on its ‘Top Ten Non-fiction Best-seller List’ (26/3/24)
The Deccan Herald lists The Incarcerations as its ‘Read of the Week’ (24/3/24)
Lok Satta, Marathi Newspaper, on The Incarcerations and interview with Alpa Shah (23/3/24)
The New Statesman on The Incarcerations and interview with Alpa Shah. ‘[The Incarcerations] is the best book I’ve read about the full scale assault on democracy in India… essential reading for understanding what’s happening to the country right now.’ Gavin Jacobson (23/3/24)
Times of India extract from The Incarcerations (20/3/24)
Barkha Dutt in conversation with Alpa Shah on The Mojo Story (19/3/24)
The Wire extract from The Incarcerations (15/3/24)
The Hindu with an exclusive news story on the day The Incarcerations is published (14/3/24).
Literary Review on The Incarcerations (3/2024) ‘
Telegraph reviews The Incarcerations at 4/5 stars (3/2024)
The Incarcerations was published on 14 March 2024 in the UK and in India where it became an instant bestseller, at one point reaching No 2 of ALL BOOKS on amazon India and sustaining no 1 in many categories including government, civil rights, political freedom and security for weeks.
The Financial Times lists Alpa Shah’s forthcoming book The Incarcerations in its ‘What to Read in 2024’ list.
Revue française de science politique publishes Professor Christophe Jaffrelot’s review of the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch… ‘Participant observation applied to Maoist guerrilla warfare in India: a model of its kind’ (6/23)
La vie des idees publishes Dr Jean-Thomas Martelli’s review of the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch… ‘in the shadow of utopia it is the spectre of dystopia that lurks’ (6/23)
Axelle magazine, Belgium reviews the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (5/23)
Le Monde Bruno Philip carries insights from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (4/23)
New Yorker Manvir Singh carries insights from Alpa Shah’s In the Shadows of the State (2/23)
Current Anthropology 63 (5) carries Alpa Shah’s essay ‘Why I Write: In a climate against intellectual dissidence’ and a discussion forum around the essay.
Hackney Citizen publishes ‘“I used to call it my heart job”: Meet the lollipop lady who transformed a Hackney Neighbourhood’ an article by Alpa Shah (8/22)
2022 ERC Public Engagement with Research Prize awarded to Alpa Shah at a ceremony in Leiden, Netherlands
Fetkann Literary Prize. Maryse Conde 2022. Selects Le livre de la jungle insurgée (French translation of Nightmarch) amidst this list of books to be considered for the prize.
Alternatives International publishes a review of Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch, by Gustav Massiah (7/22)
Reporterre Quotidien de L’ecologie selects Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch, as a ‘Summer Read’ (7/22)
Lundi.am publishes a review of Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch, by Serge Quadrupanni (6/22)
Les Forums France Inde discuss Le Mouvement Maoiste on Inde on the occasion of the publication of Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (7/22)
Society, interviews Alpa Shah on the ocassion of of the publication of Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (6/22)
La Feuille de Quilombo reviews Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, the French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (5/22)
Le Livre De La Jungle Insurgée, French translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch published by La Derniere Lettre. Translator Celia Izoard (4/22)
Catharsis interviews Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche (4/22)
Novara Media publishes a piece by Alpa Shah on David Graeber and the political value of anthropology on the anniversary of David Graeber’s death (9/21).
The New Statesman World Review podcast. Emily Tamkin and Cormack McCarthy speak to Alpa Shah about what Father Stan Swamy’s ‘custodial murder’ means for human rights in India (7/21).
The World Rupa Shenoy speaks to Alpa about Stan’ Swamy’s death drawing attention to human rights in India (7/21).
The New Statesman carries an Op-ed by Alpa Shah ‘How Father Stan Swamy’s “custodial murder” is sparking new demands for justice in India.’ (7/21).
Times of India carries a piece by Alpa Shah ‘We have a lot to learn about nature, gender and joy from indigenous communities’. (2/21).
A Novara Media FM podcast. James Butler talks to Alpa Shah about the inner world of the Naxalites guerrillas, the repression of intellectuals, journalists and students in India and what can be done. (11/20).
TrueAnon, a US podcast. Brace Belden speaks to Alpa Shah about Nightmarch (10/20)
Post-university hosts a presentation and discussion of the new preface to Nightmarch, ‘Unlock the Nation’ by Alpa Shah (10/20)
Jacobin publish the new preface to the paperback edition of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch, ‘Unlock the Nation’ launched by HarperCollins India (10/20)
Storie in Movimento publish an Italian translation of some of Alpa Shah’s writings, Tribù, valori egualitari, autonomia e stato (10/20)
Novara Media features a celebration of David Graeber and his anthropology by Alpa Shah (10/20)
New York Review of Books carries a tribute by Alpa Shah for David Graeber as Vampire Slayer, Trickster and Pirate (9/20)
Roar Magazine carries a tribute by Alpa Shah for David, ‘Releasing the Genius Within Us’ (9/20)
Hindustan Times carries an Opinion piece by Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche on ‘The Five Truths About the Migrant Worker Crisis’. A longer version is on the Royal Geographical Society Geography Directions blog (7/20)
Audible launches an audiobook of Nightmarch (5/20)
Alpa Shah in conversation with award-winning writer and journalist Sonia Faleiro for AfterWords, launched by Hurst Publishers to celebrate six groundbreaking books published during its 50-year history (3/20)
Counter Punch on Nightmarch:
‘Insightful and interesting journalism about a place and people few in the West know much about.’ (Ron Jacobs 3/20)
Mathrubhumi, the Keralan Malayalam daily, review’s Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch and carries an interview with her (K A Johny, 2/20).
The Political Quarterly interviews Alpa Shah about the writing of Nightmarch
‘A gripping first-hand account…although the contradictions of the Naxalites leads to their decline, Shah still has great respect for the way of life she experienced while living amongst the insurgents. “You could say that kindness was a revolutionary act”, she agrees.’ (Anya Pearson 1/20)
Hindustan Times carries an Opinion piece by Alpa Shah on the future of real democracy by sortition - the use of random selection to chose those who govern us - as practiced in the forests of Jharkhand, India. (12/19)
Review of Agrarian Studies on Nightmarch:
‘An epitaph…to a flawed revolutionary dream…lucid and compelling … a compassionate but honest assessment of the Naxalite or Maoist movement, and of the relationships between the revolutionaries and the Adivasis.’ (John Harriss 12/19)
The Patriot interviews Alpa Shah on writing narrative non-fiction as an academic.
‘…lucid prose sensitively straddles the world of Naxals to tell stories of conflict, hierarchies, inequality and inherent contradictions in the movement with compelling takeaways for everyone.’ (11/19)
First Post on the Kamladevi Chattopadhyay New India Foundation Book Prize shortlisting Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
The six-book shortlist features works demonstrating the power of free speech in the country.
The New Left Review reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘She offers neither condemnation nor romanticization, but a considered analysis of the ‘experiences, visions and actions’ of the people she encounters, presenting not only what they say, but what they do. The result is a powerful synthesis, warm but never uncritical, a distillation of her own scholarship and the experiences of her subjects, that immerses the reader in a lifeworld.’ Kheya Bag. (08/2019)
New Books Network interviews Alpa Shah about Ground Down by Growth
‘Analytical rigor paired with lucid prose makes this co-researched and co-authored book indispensable for scholars and citizens concerned with the Global South, inequality, capitalism, economic growth, and social difference.’ (08/2019)
The Wire reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘A riveting and complex view of Naxalism…it is a privilege to have Shah as the investigator.’ (08/2019)
The Indian Express interviews Alpa Shah in the aftermath of Nightmarch being shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.
‘An astonishing journey. A rare, granular portrait.’ (07/2019)
Asian Age reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘Can an academic study also double up as a riveting thriller? … Alpa Shah has managed this seemingly impossible amalgam.’ (07/2019)
La Stampa reviews Alpa Shah’s Marcia Notturna
‘A thoughtful and balanced account.’ (07/2019)
Alphabeta2 reviews Alpa Shah’s Marcia Notturna
‘With great empathy and superb narrative ability, …[Shah] analyses, documents, reflects.’ (07/2019)
Q Code and Altreconomia reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch (Italian translation)
‘A unique document, a story from below of the Naxalite movement and the adivasi culture, which the author gives voice to in an intimate and brilliant text.’ (07/2019)
Business Standard reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
As [Alpa Shah] describes how she walked, sometimes sleepwalked, with the Naxalites, we, the readers march along with her, alert and in awe as we turn each page.’ (06/2019)
The News Laundry reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘Nightmarch: an intimate journey into India’s Naxal heartlands’ (06/2019)
Firstpost interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
‘Alpa Shah on Nightmarch, her Orwell Prize-longlisted account of journeying into India’s Naxal heartland.’(05/2019)
She The People presents an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘The camp tailor stitched a uniform for me on the day of departure. Olive-green shirt and trousers, too large for my waist, were held by a belt. Would Bimalji approve of this attire that drowned my femininity?’ (05/2019)
Readers Digest India presents an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘How My Interaction With A Naxal Leader Changed The Way I Looked At Naxalites’ (04/2019)
H-net reviews Ground Down by Growth coauthored by Alpa Shah
‘The authors have drawn on several years of fieldwork for their chapters, evident in the rich and nuanced ethnographical analysis.’ (02/2019)
Meltemi Publishers - Preface to the Italian translation of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘A Note on Nightmarch as the Italian Translation goes to press’ (02/2019)
The Voice of Fashion reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘In a rebellion, you don’t just wear camouflage’ (01/2019)
News18 interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
‘Meet the Woman Who Marched with a Naxal Platoon In the Tribal Belt of Central India’ (01/2019)
Scroll.in presents an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘How an anthropologist disguised herself as a man to trek 240 km with a Maoist platoon’ (12/2018)
The Hindustan Times presents an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘In 2010, Alpa Shah, dressed as a man in military fatigues set out on a seven-night march with a naxal platoon. While her book looks at dispossession and the conflict at the heart of India, this excerpt also reveals how upper caste leaders police the relationships of tribal foot soldiers.’ (12/2018)
Sri Lanka Guardian interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
‘I went to live among the Adivasis by chance. But later I realized how lucky I had been because as single woman I had the freedom to move and do research that I could not have done in most other parts of India.’ (12/2018)
Australian SBS Radio Raymond Selvaraj interviews Alpa Shah on Nightmarch
‘Are India’s Naxalites fighting for a doomed cause?’ (12/2018)
BBC Asian Network interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
Talk Europe Radio interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
The News Minute presents an excerpt from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘The ‘city’ in the middle of a forest’ (11/2018)
BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed interviews Alpa Shah about Nightmarch
‘Maoism: Laurie Taylor explores the changing face of a revolutionary ideology.’ (11/2018)
The Assam Tribune on Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘This social scientist has done something that many of her peers and contemporaries never even dared to consider’ (11/2018)
The Hindu reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
Nightmarch: A journey into India’s Naxal Heartlands review: The people of a movement (11/2018)
LSE Public Event: Revolution and Freedom: Nightmarch Among India's Revolutionary Guerrillas
Alpa Shah and Neel Mukherjee discuss Nightmarch alongside A State of Freedom. Chaired by Beverley Skeggs (11/2018)
BBC News presents a taste of Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘“Sleepwalking” with India’s Maoist guerrillas.’ (10/2018)
Times of India interviews Alpa Shah on Nightmarch
‘Branding people as Urban Naxals is a way of discrediting, silencing them’, says LSE scholar Alpa Shah (09/2018)
The Guardian reviews Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘An exceptional undertaking…’ Julia Lovell (09/2018)
Public Anthropologist recommends Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch as an “everybody must read” book for September 2018
‘In this vibrant piece of anthropological work, Shah takes us into one of the most unreported rebellions in contemporary India with wisdom and courage.’ (09/2018)
Foreign Policy presents an extract from Alpa Shah’s Nightmarch
‘India’s Aging Guerrillas Still Believe in the Struggle’ (09/2018)
Pix reviews Exhibition: Behind the Indian Boom
‘It re-focuses our attention on the value of visual raw data and its relationship to scholarship for constructing debates’ (07/2018)
The Hindu reviews Ground Down by Growth coauthored by Alpa Shah
‘Field work of a group of social researchers shows economic growth hasn’t really benefitted the poorest of the poor, Dalits and Adivasis’ (05/2018)
BBC World Service interviews Alpa Shah on her co-authored book Ground Down by Growth
Alpa Shah discussing inequality in India with Michael Binyon and Shoma Chowdhry (12/2017)
Eastern Eye reviews Exhibition: Behind the Indian Boom
“Caste-based inequality is not a thing of the past. It is in fact part of the structure of advancements.” (12/2017)
The Hindu reviews reviews Exhibition: Behind the Indian Boom
‘A thought-provoking exhibition in London provides a snapshot of those left furthest behind.’ (12/2017)
Alpa Shah discusses the BBC Radio 4 Ethnography Award Shortlist with other judges Laurie Taylor, Sarah Neal and Shane Blackman (04/2017)
BBC Radio 4 Series From Savage to Self
Alpa Shah discusses with participant observation and anthropology with Farah Jarral (01/2016)
Alpa Shah reflects on democracy, mining and development for tribal people (12/2015)
BBC Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent
Alpa Shah reports on Adivasis driven out by anti-Maoist militia re-building lives in the forests of Central India. (05/2015, Five minutes from 12.44). Also broadcast on BBC World Service.
Alpa Shah discusses political and spiritual convictions in an age of uncertainty with Laurie Taylor and Mathijs Pelkmans (01/2014)
Alpa Shah discusses ‘Red Tape’ - inequality and bureaucracy - with Laurie Taylor and Akhil Gupta (12/2012)
Economics and Political Weekly
Alpa Shah interviews Gopali, Special Area Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) (05/2010)
BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents Alpa Shah presents the 30 minute documentary
Alpa Shah records and presents ‘India’s Red Belt.’ Also broadcast on BBC World Service ‘Assignments Series’ on (04/2010)
BBC Radio 4 From Our Own Correspondent
Alpa Shah reports on Maoist rebels in India’s jungles. Also broadcast on BBC World Service (04/2010)
Resonance 104.4 FM Alpa Shah presents a chapter from her book In the Shadows of the State
‘Is Yosemite a better home for the wild elephants of India?’ (08/2008)