94 – Dalit Little Magazines: Preserving the Past, Engaging with the Future
Dr Jondhale Rahul Hiraman and Dr Sayantan Mondal launched an ambitious research and digitisation project on Dalit Literature in Marathi and Bangla Dalit periodicals which is now being further developed in partnership with Prof. Judith Misrahi-Barak and Dr Nicole Thiara. This project invites one to the unchartered territory of Dalit periodicals and traces the complex relationship some of these periodicals shared with the little magazine movement, especially its innovative production-circulation strategies and disruptive energy that challenged the mainstream literary status quo. What prism do these little magazines of the second half of the 20th c. offer for reading 21st c. India? Why is it crucial that they should be preserved and why is this not only about the preservation of the past but also about the salvaging of the future? Why should Western societies and cultures be committed to the project? Additionally to raising such questions, this panel introduces the wider project and focuses on four distinct new areas of research:
Dr Jondhale Rahul Hiraman will present on ‘Marathi Dalit Periodicals and the representation of the Caste Question’.
Dr Sayantan Mondal presents: ‘Recovering the Ephemeral: Production and Circulation of Bangla Dalit Periodicals’.
Dr C. Chandra Sekhar will explore ‘Echoes of Change: Dalit Contributions to Christian Periodicals in Colonial Telugu India’.
Dr J. Balasubramaniam will discuss ‘Unfurling Voices: The Role of Tamil Dalit Print Media from 1869 to 1970 in Shaping Public Discourse and Modern Identities’
We also invite paper proposals that critically engage with the under-researched area of Dalit Periodicals within the broad research field of Dalit Studies.
