Editor’s note
It is a great privilege and honour to bring TheDaak to its one year anniversary.
For a while, we were discussing a need for a journal for young scholars but it was the post pandemic world that made us a little more courageous and a little less anxious that we dived right in. I recall that in October 2022, some very detailed emails were written. I must admit I wrote to more than 40 people and only 5 returned for a meeting. Eventually it was four people who lifted TheDaak from the ground this day last year. From the second issue onwards, the team expanded. If it were not for the academic camaraderie of colleagues, scholars, students from across different universities, this would not have been possible.
While we recognise we have a long way to tread ahead, at least that is our ardent hope and resolve, this past year has been one of real learning. From the onset, we received tremendous love from our readers; our readership steadily increasing from one issue to another. There have been both warm and critical exchanges on our published pieces. Hardly have we come across a room where TheDaak has not been spoken of fondly. We are most grateful to our readers in all and every aspect and are relying heavily on their engagement in the coming year. Our contributors, many among whom are early career academics, put their trust in a nascent platform. We have from the second issue onwards followed a double blind peer review process which significantly improved the academic conversations across various stages. We look forward to the generosity and academic support from our peer reviewers without whom the work at TheDaak is unimaginable.
There is no doubt that the Team at TheDaak has built this place with passion and love. When we started, it was our firm conviction that Thedaak would be as free and as non-hierarchical as possible. One year down the line, however, work ethics of members, contributors and peer reviewers have made me realise that the two important virtues to run any collective outside of market interest are Kindness and Trust. We have worked on tight deadlines and at days and nights on a trot only because we were hanging by firm hooks of trust and care. We want to build on these two further.
A book review is perhaps the most endearing form of academic writing. In a world of decreasing attention spans, a book review is like taking a little longer and moving a bit slower. We want us to slow down with books, to melt into them. While we are expanding TheDaak to accept other forms of writing (our first special issue on Representation is in the editing stage and is due to be published on February 15th), we want to continue to encourage discussions on books in 2024. We now have a functional reading group that meets every month with one book. We talk about the books we like and those we don’t. We hope to publish more book reviews on new and old books in 2024.
In academia, we are increasingly reaching a tipping point, where we are confronted with a post-truth world. As I write this, there are many editors, students, teachers losing their jobs and having to bear the brunt for speaking against genocide, war and neo colonialism. Democratic backsliding and a general decay of institutionalism is on the anvil. We at TheDaak are confronted with these realities and hope to build a better, more nuanced understanding of the social political world we inhabit. We hope to anchor this pursuit of a life of mind in Courage. That being courageous to take the time to arrive, to slow down for others to catch up, to stand up and walk the distance, to speak truth to power and to ourselves.
Anchoring TheDaak therefore in courage, kindness and trust, I welcome you all to another year with us. Please send in your contributions, share us widely, read us critically and help us build this collective into the future.
Jigyasa Sogarwal
15.01.2024
Click here to read personal notes from our readers and the team on our 1 year anniversary: Messages From Readers And Team
Click here to read or download all the book reviews published by TheDaak in 2023: TheDaak in 2023
TheDaak review 