Please forward this to ONE friend today and tell them to subscribe here.In this episode, I’m speaking with Aashrit Parvangada, a historical nerd based in Berlin, and one of the best folks to chat with about geopolitics, nationalism, and immigration.
I must say this was a sobering conversation, but also an enlightening one for me. Aashrit is not one to hold back on what he thinks about the world and how geopolitics and history shape most of what we’ve seen in recent times.
And for someone who’s lived in Dubai, India, Canada, the United States, Germany, and speaks English, Hindi, Japanese, and German, he has the lived experience to back up his takes.
Aashrit and I talk about:
Why he thinks the West has always struggled with multiculturalism and diversity
Why he believes the current anti-Indian hate is actually a lesson for Indians
The “great divergence” that made the West wealthy and the “great convergence” happening now
Why the question of a multicultural future belongs to the West, not immigrants
What he finds exciting about the world’s trajectory
Dozie’s Notes
A few things that stuck with me as I listened through this week’s conversation:
Integration is a fair ask. Assimilation reeks of colonization. Aashrit drew a hard line here. Follow the laws, respect the culture, pay your taxes, be productive. That’s reasonable. But stripping your culture, religion, and identity to become palatable? That’s a demand rooted in power imbalances. Aashrit agrees with Kateryna Havrylova’s point about coming with an open mind. But being open-minded doesn’t mean erasing your identity.
War is the human normal. In Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, she has this beautiful quote where she says. “War has been the norm and peace the exception.” And when you look at the history of the human race, I think that’s so so true. I also think we’ve never stopped warring. We only found more peaceful ways to do it. One of such ways is soccer.
Official Links
✅ Connect with Aashrit Parvangada on Instagram
One Ask
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