Why not Southasian? Kanak Mani Dixit’s Proposition for Regionalism and Evaluation of the State of Journalism

Journalist. Civil rights advocate. Public transport and services proponent.

These are some of the many hats worn by Kanak Mani Dixit, who resides in the Kathmandu Valley and is the Founding Editor of the HIMĀL Southasian magazine. Established in 1987, HIMĀL Southasian regards itself as “Southasia’s first and only regional magazine of politics and culture.” During his official visit in mid-January 2025 to the South Asian Studies Council at the MacMillan Center for International Studies at Yale, Dixit undertook two engagements that extensively explored the intersection of geopolitics, national identities, fundamental freedoms, and journalism in the region.

The Conception of “Southasia”

“What’s in the name ‘South Asia?’” That is the question Dixit analyzed during the 2025 Annual Indu Bhatt Memorial Lecture, presented on January 15^th to an eager audience at the Humanities Quadrangle. The novel notion of South Asia as Southasia arose in Dixit’s publication in part to address the needs of a diverse readership. Writing for readers who are, for example, Bangladeshis, Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans required new terminology–a new “prism” through which to “genuinely” engage. Thus, “the background on which we [the stakeholders of HIMĀL Southasian] built up this idea of Southasia…was not a scholarly vision [but] a commonsensical vision.”

Southasia, spelled as a singular word to underscore cooperation, has evolved to characterize a conception that advances collective progress. Rather than a congenial “coming together” of siblings, Southasia serves as a vessel for “social justice, representational democracy, and economic growth.” By embracing the significance of “regionalism” that is Southasia, Dixit held that the “heightened animosities between countries,” especially India and Pakistan, “that is actually bringing [down] the rest of South Asia,” could be avoided.

Collectively, the “Southasian formula” could promote Southasian development and peace to the extent that (a) the free movement of people is permitted across Southasian borders, (b) “economic rationalization” leads to greater multilateral trade and increasing economic interconnectivity, and (c) military costs are reduced as the demonization of neighboring states loses political saliency.

On the question of democracy, a frequent point of concern with respect to varied political landscapes, Dixit contended that the “Southasian formula” provides a solution there as well. If citizens “are more empathetic” toward their neighbors, then the vilification “of neighboring countr[ies] for electoral gain” would no longer be a valid political strategy. Southasia “would strengthen democracy as well.” For Dixit, Southasia could proffer a critical counterbalance to “ultranationalism.”

The Dialogue of Journalists

In conversation with South Asian Studies Lecturer Sushant Singh, a fellow journalist currently serving as the Consulting Editor for The Caravan magazine, Dixit considered “The State of Journalism in South Asia” on the following day, January 16^th, at Henry R. Luce Hall.

Dixit considered rising majoritarianism, opinion agenda setting through social media, and the weakening of legacy media as contributors to the regional decline in journalistic excellence. Furthermore, the mechanism whereby journalists are “not necessarily…attack[ed] physically but “suppress[ed]…by legal measures” was noted to severely erode the freedoms of expression and press.

Because that is the idea of being human: to be free.

When invigorated, the media may serve as a bulwark against democratic backsliding and infringements upon fundamental freedoms. Dixit observed that “the golden moment of…media is when they fight a bureaucracy [or] autocracy and win.” However, if media succumb to a dangerous new normal, “the quality of democracy plummets and…autocrats, the elected demagogues, are free to do what they will.” A thriving media landscape is indispensable to “fight…autocratic moves for the sake of the people, for the sake of the people’s right to think, and to express, and to be free…Because that is the idea of being human: to be free…Everything begins with freedom of expression and freedom of press.”

Empathy and Southasian-ness

While Dixit views journalism and civil rights as his “two primary paths,” he has also engaged in a variety of other endeavors, from supporting the establishment of the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre to overseeing the Nepali-language archival institute Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya. The journalist relates his efforts to an unwavering belief in “the quality of empathy,” which Dixit deems requisite for the “Southasian sensibility.” Rather than compassion, which tends to be “top down,” the nature of “empathy is among equals.” Addressing the geopolitical, economic, environmental, and developmental aspirations and challenges facing South Asia, the empathy-driven multilateral engagement proposed by Dixit may be the keystone that finishes the arch of Southasia.

^{Note from the author: This article integrates information and statements from a personal interview with Kanak Mani Dixit, along with his public engagements at Yale.}