90 – Multisensory Insights into Histories of Anticolonialism

October 1, 2025
1:45 pm
H01
This panel calls for papers that explore how histories of anticolonialism might be informed by integrated multisensory perspectives and methodologies. Since the ‘visual turn,’ the discipline of history has undergone seismic shifts in terms of moving away from its earlier reliance on texts as archives. There is now a surge in interest in sound as a method, evidenced by several definitive monographs in South Asian Studies in the last five years. Taking such texts as inspiration and provocation, we submit that historical understandings are substantially enriched by an awareness of how sensory inputs such as smell and touch shape, preclude or enable anticolonial politics. This panel invites scholars to reflect on how multisensory approaches to historical phenomena are enriched by sensitivities to the interplay of visual, textual, aromatic, and haptic experiences in anticolonial contexts. In doing so, we hope to expand the horizons of knowledge, reflecting upon historical challenges, opportunities and importance of embracing the sensory turn.

Convenor

Kama Maclean

Presentations

Sounds of Socialism: The Ideological Reorientation of Indian National Congress in Malabar from 1930 to 1937.
Thomas Jacob - South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra: Regional Dialects and Provincial Accents in Re-imagining a New Bengali Nation
Mowtushi Dr Mahruba - Academic, Brac University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
The Sound of Silent Film: Newsreels from Bombay, 1929-1930
Maclean Kama - South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
The Sounds of a Strike: Slogans, Poetry, Oratory and Noise in Kanpur, 1938
Kumar Srajit M - South Asia Institute, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
The Politics of Sound; Poykayil Appachan’s Sonic Strategies Against Caste and Colonialism
John Binsu Susan - EFLU, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India
Sound as Defiance: A Case of the Radio in British India
Ghosh Anamitra - South Asia Institute, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Mapping Sonographic Resistance: Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro and the Cultural Politics of the Bangladesh Liberation War
Chattopadhyay Anik - Presidency University, Presidency University, Kolkata, India