The Future That Was: Disha Karnad Jani Interviews Durba Mitra

On this episode of In Theory, Durba Mitra returns to the podcast to talk with Disha Karnad Jani about her new book, The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, 2026). In this canon-expanding study, Mitra explores the writings and work of women in the decolonizing world during the mid-to-late twentieth century, and how these women sought to forge "a new internationalism" following the formal end of empire. This conversation ranges from the attendant politics of knowledge production to the insights of Toni Morrison to the nature of post-colonial yearning.