India 75 Events
Lead Research Organisation:
British Library
Department Name: Collections and Curation
Abstract
2022 marks the conclusion of the AHRC-funded pilot project Two Centuries of Indian Print (2CIP) and the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, as well as other important national events across South Asia.
We propose to showcase 2CIP's cataloguing, digitisation and research outputs and celebrate India's print, film and literary history with a dedicated events programme that aims to maximise the impact of such programmes and demonstrate their role in documenting collections and making them available, as well as engaging with new users and diversifying British Library audiences.
2CIP was largely focused on East India and East Indian languages such as Bengali, Assamese and Sylheti. As a result, 2CIP events, such as the October 2021 Bangladesh 50 at the British Library, were often oriented towards British Bangladeshi visitors. Through arranging events aimed at multiple British South Asian communities, the proposed India 75 Events project will be able to sustain existing relationships with the British Bangladeshi community as well as form new connections with other British Asian communities. Therefore, this project's programme of events will have a wide appeal to both general and academic audiences, as well as multiple British South Asian communities through celebrating the region's diversity of languages and cultures.
Proposed events include Community Show and Tells, Workshops, Seminars and Film Screenings for interested audiences in the UK and India. These events would also contribute to laying the foundation for wider plans being developed that seek to broaden the regional and linguistic focus of future South Asian collections conservation, digitisation and research projects.
The impact of this programme of events will benefit British Asian community groups and non-academic audiences who will become more familiar with the Library's South Asia holdings and feel more confident accessing the collection items for their own interest and research, for example, research into their particular cultural and regional heritage. The Library in turn will foster stronger relationships by proactively engaging with South Asian communities both in London and beyond.
We propose to showcase 2CIP's cataloguing, digitisation and research outputs and celebrate India's print, film and literary history with a dedicated events programme that aims to maximise the impact of such programmes and demonstrate their role in documenting collections and making them available, as well as engaging with new users and diversifying British Library audiences.
2CIP was largely focused on East India and East Indian languages such as Bengali, Assamese and Sylheti. As a result, 2CIP events, such as the October 2021 Bangladesh 50 at the British Library, were often oriented towards British Bangladeshi visitors. Through arranging events aimed at multiple British South Asian communities, the proposed India 75 Events project will be able to sustain existing relationships with the British Bangladeshi community as well as form new connections with other British Asian communities. Therefore, this project's programme of events will have a wide appeal to both general and academic audiences, as well as multiple British South Asian communities through celebrating the region's diversity of languages and cultures.
Proposed events include Community Show and Tells, Workshops, Seminars and Film Screenings for interested audiences in the UK and India. These events would also contribute to laying the foundation for wider plans being developed that seek to broaden the regional and linguistic focus of future South Asian collections conservation, digitisation and research projects.
The impact of this programme of events will benefit British Asian community groups and non-academic audiences who will become more familiar with the Library's South Asia holdings and feel more confident accessing the collection items for their own interest and research, for example, research into their particular cultural and regional heritage. The Library in turn will foster stronger relationships by proactively engaging with South Asian communities both in London and beyond.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Arani Ilankuberan (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | Key findings: - The follow on funding had enabled the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' project team to expand the impact of this project and bring awareness of the digitised collections to new and diverse British South Asian community audiences. - The academic strand of India 75 Events also allowed continuity with the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' South Asia Seminar Series. - New engagement is being developed with the partnerships the project established with professionals in South Asian cinema for future engagement. - Ultimately, it has enabled the team to build on the relationships developed through the research seminars, conference, film screenings and community workshops with a view towards future digitisation projects and cultivating other such future engagement with these new communities. Thus, all objectives outlined in the proposal were successfully met. |
| Exploitation Route | Though our outcomes are specific to the Library and it's collections, the structure of our engagement plan, the types of events and in particular focusing on deepening engagement with 'harder to reach' local/national diaspora communities through film screenings and community workshops can be used by other similar organisations and projects as a way of enhancing and enriching engagement with collections and building an awareness and encouraging use of digitised collections. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/early-indian-printed-books/events |
| Description | In 2022 the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' Project was awarded follow on funding to run a series of events to celebrate the end of the project and to commemorate important events related to the anniversary of Independence across South Asia. The 'India 75 Events' Programme comprised of three strands: a community engagement strand, film strand and academic strand, all three strands were designed to engage new audiences and promote the South Asia collections in the British Library. Through this varied programme, we hoped to make connections with new audiences as well as strengthen existing connections, for example with audiences who had previously engaged with the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' project and South Asia collections more generally. The first strand included the screening of films written and produced by South Asian directors at the Curzon cinema in Bloomsbury. The first film screening was Jago Hua Savera (1958), a restored Pakistani classic that took place on October 23. It was attended by approximately sixty attendees. The second film screening was Court (2014), a modern Marathi independent film that took place on December 3. This film was licenced from the independent film company Day for Night. The screening was attended by approximately sixty attendees. The final film screening was 36 Chowringhee Lane (1982). This was the first time the restored version of this classic film was shown in the United Kingdom and the screening was attended by VIP guest Karan Kapoor, who had a short part in the film. The screening was preceded by a video interview with filmmaker Aparna Sen, interviewed by Dr Arani Ilankuberan and Dr Thea Buckley. It was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. This video was recorded when Ms. Sen was visiting the UK in July 2022. This was the best attended screening, attended by approximately 100-130 attendees. Through this programme we screened these classic and landmark South Asian cinema to diverse audiences of British South Asian communities, the broader local communities and the general public, and as a result we have created new connections to wider audiences, creating interest in South Asian cinema and increasing awareness of and engagement with the British Library's South Asian collections. We received positive feedback on the success of the film screening series with new audiences expressing interest in attending future events and calls to have such screenings be a part of our regular events programming at the Library. The second strand of 'India 75 Events' included research seminars and conferences. To mark the end of the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' South Asia Seminar Series, 'India 75 Events' held two research seminars in September and October at the British Library. An open call for proposals was held in spring 2022, inviting applications from emerging, independent and unaffiliated scholars conducting research on the British Library's South Asia collections. From a pool of over twenty applicants, ten were selected for the eventual seminars. A seminar on 'Regional Heritage' was held on 21 September 2022 followed by a seminar on 'Central and South Asia's Colonial Pasts' on 5 October 2022. Our partners Jadavpur University held a hybrid conference (in-person at Jadavpur and online for international attendees) on 17 November 2022: 'Old Books New Histories - Exploring Early Printed Tests'. An open call for proposals was held in advance of this conference as well. In this way, both South Asian and British scholars had the opportunity to present their research either at the British Library or at Jadavpur University in November. The seminars and conference provided a space for emerging scholars to present their research and engagement with the British Library collections to a wider audience, whilst also contributing to the highlighting of current research in South Asian Studies. The final strand included community workshops that were held at the Library covering different linguistic and regional focuses including North India, South India and Islamic South Asia (Punjabi, Malayalam and Urdu). Community groups based in London and further afield such as Derby were invited to attend a Show and Tell followed by a discussion workshop. These workshops were well received and new community partnerships were formed. The first workshop was held in July 2022, titled 'Punjabi Folktales'. Members from the Punjabi community group Punjab Azaad and Derby Museums attended this event. The second workshop took place in October 2022 titled 'The Urdu Ghazal before and after 1857'. Members from the Faiz Cultural Academy attended this event. The final workshop was held in December 2022 titled 'Treasures of the Malayalam Collections'. Members from the Kerala Arts and Literary Association and from the Malayalee Association attended this event. The workshops involved a Show and Tell followed by a discussion workshop, giving the participants a chance to reflect on the collections they had seen, sharing their knowledge, thoughts and lived experience of this heritage. This allowed for a deeper engagement with the collections and a chance for the the Library to focus on forging strong partnerships with all of these community groups who have all expressed a desire to continue working with the Library on similar and related events in the future. Many of the attendees also discussed and provided candid feedback on their experiences of barriers to access. This feedback was important and will inform our future plans and directions. We are currently planning follow up engagement with the communities we have established a relationship with as well as plans to expand this to other communities in the future. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Jadavpur University |
| Organisation | Jadavpur University |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Continuing collaboration with partners at Jadavpur University, who regularly contribute towards the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' project with research and book history queries. Research fellows from the University have contributed to metadata creation for digitised items from the project to help with the cataloguing process overseen by the Project Curator. They have also been working closely with the Digital Curator using Trankribus software to carryout OCR text detection. This continued work on the 2CIP project was carried out whilst engaging in joint ventures that supported the 'India 75 Events' programme, where we worked together with the Jadavpur project partner and fellows on the online hybrid conference held at Jadavpur complementing the 'Unearthing the South Asia Collections' Research Seminar Series for the events programme. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners Jadavpur University held a hybrid conference (in-person at Jadavpur and online for international attendees) on 17 November 2022: 'Old Books New Histories - Exploring Early Printed Texts'. An open call for proposals was held in advance of this conference. The Research Fellows prepared a paper on their experiences of working on the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' project, bringing further awareness of the digitised material made available through this project. |
| Impact | The longstanding and fruitful partnership with our project partners in Jadavpur University has resulted in a number of outputs: - Development of OCR technologies and text detection related to South Asian languages and scripts. - Furthering research and supporting academic engagement with the digitised material from the 'Two Centuries of Indian Print' project. - Providing a platform for emerging scholars contributing to original research in the field of South Asian early print histories. - Making digitised collections discoverable through supporting creation of metadata. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | 'Old Books New Histories - Exploring Early Printed Texts'. Jadavpur University Hybrid Conference on 17 November 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Our partners Jadavpur University held a hybrid conference (in-person at Jadavpur and online for international attendees) on 17 November 2022: 'Old Books New Histories - Exploring Early Printed Texts'. An open call for proposals was held in advance of this conference as well. In this way, both South Asian and British scholars had the opportunity to present their research either at the British Library or at Jadavpur University in November. It was well attended both in person and online and well received. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NXWb2eCuPA |
| Description | BBC 3 podcast delivery 'Arts and Ideas' 17 June 2022. Promotion of Two Centuries of Indian Print project. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The podcast was very well received and it successfully promoted the British Library collections, India 75 Events programme and Two Centuries of Indian Print project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Community Engagement Workshop on 'Punjabi Folktales'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The community Engagement Workshop on 'Punjabi Folktales' was the first of three community events that are part of the 'India 75 Events' programme and it was attended by members from community group 'Punjab Azaad' and Derby museum. A Show and Tell was followed by a discussion workshop. The workshop was very well received and members were engaged with the collections. Participants were new to the Library and the collections, and after the workshop many became active members of the Library, having been inspired to start researching the South Asia collections. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/early-indian-printed-books/articles/india-75-events-programme-punjabi-legends-and-... |
| Description | Community Engagement Workshop on 'Treasures of the Malayalam Collections'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The third and final Community Engagement Workshop as part of India 75 Events was on the 'Treasures of the Malayalam Collections' attended by members from community group 'Kerala Arts and Literary Association' and the 'Malayalee Association'. A Show and Tell was followed by a discussion workshop. Members from the Kerala Arts and Literary Association and the Malayalee Association got in touch with us from the webpage, as they were interested to be involved. This session covered 'Treasures of the Malayalam' collections and the discussions were very much centred around the history and the use of the Malayalam language today. The community groups received the workshop with enthusiasm and focused on developing the relationship through discussing future potential events related to bringing more awareness and engagement with the communities and collections. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Community Engagement Workshop on 'Urdu Poetry'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The second Community Engagement Workshop on 'Urdu Poetry' was attended by members from community group Faiz Cultural Academy. A Show and Tell was followed by a discussion workshop. This workshop focused on the Urdu collections in particular the 'Urdu Ghazal before and after 1857.' Members of the Faiz Cultural Academy, an organisation named after the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, were invited to attend the workshop and take part in the focused discussions. This workshop was repeated for the Pakistan Society, who requested a private workshop for their members. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/early-indian-printed-books/articles/india-75-events-programme-the-urdu-ghazal-befo... |
| Description | Community event 'Once Upon a River: Folksongs and Poetry, beyond Punjab's borders' took place on 4 February 2023. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Show and Tell and Performance. The session was very well received and requests were made for more such future events. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/once-upon-a-river-folksongs-and-poetry-beyond-punjabs-borders |
| Description | Community workshop for the Pakistan Society on 18 October 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Local community groups were invited specifically to engage with collections. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Film Screening of Jago Hua Savera (1958), a restored Pakistani classic film on 23 October 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | For India 75 Events, the team organised three film screenings in the autumn of 2022. Due to the unavailability of the Library's Knowledge Centre, these took place in a local arthouse cinema, the Curzon Bloomsbury. The first film screening was Jago Hua Savera (1958), a restored neorealist classic of Pakistani cinema, that took place on October 23. It was attended by approximately sixty attendees and was very well received by the diverse audience comprised of South Asian community groups and local members of the public. Many audience members who attended this first screening attended the subsequent two screenings Court (2014) and 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) in the India 75 Events film screening series. All three screenings produced high levels of engagement from new audiences and requests for similar activities in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/india-75-screening-jago-hua-savera |
| Description | Film screening of 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), film produced by Aparna Sen on 10 December 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As the final film screening, 36 Chowringhee Lane (1982) was shown on 10 December 2022. We were successful in securing the rights to screen the newly restored version of the film and this screening marked the first time the restored version of this classic film was shown in the United Kingdom. The screening was also attended by VIP guest Karan Kapoor, who had a short part in the film. The screening was preceded by a video interview with director and filmmaker Aparna Sen, interviewed by Dr Arani Ilankuberan and Dr Thea Buckley. The interview was supported with funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the video interview was recorded at the British Library when Ms. Sen was visiting the UK in July 2022. This was very well received and was the best attended screening, attended by approximately 100 -130 attendees of South Asian community groups and local audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/india-75-film-screening-36-chowringhee-lane |
| Description | Film screening of Court (2014), a modern Marathi independent film on 3 December 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Court (2014), an example of contemporary Indian independent filmmaking, was the second film in the film screening series shown to a diverse audience of approximately 60 members made up of South Asian community groups, film enthusiasts and local audiences. The film was very well received and the film screenings were also an opportunity to work with new partners, as we licenced Court from an independent film company Day for Night, who own the UK screening rights to a number of interesting and significant Asian films of the last decade, and whose founder also runs Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival. We are planning to continue collaborating with Day for Night on future events and screenings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/Film%20Screening%20Court |
| Description | Research Seminar 'Unearthing the South Asian Collections' workshop 1: 'Regional Heritage' on 21 September 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Regional Heritage' was the theme of the first of two research seminars held at the British Library as part of the event programme's academic strand under the overarching title: 'Unearthing the South Asia Collections'. We held an open call for proposals for these seminars, inviting applications from independent and emerging scholars to present their research into the South Asia collections. From these applications, we selected ten speakers who presented their papers at the Library in the autumn. Speakers included independent scholars as well as scholars from institutions such as the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London. Doctoral students and early career researchers were encouraged to apply and we have now created a network of scholars actively engaging with the collections and providing new insights in the field of South Asian Studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/unearthing-the-south-asian-collections-2 |
| Description | Research Seminar 'Unearthing the South Asian Collections' workshop 2: 'Central and South Asia's Colonial Pasts' on 5 October 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The 'Central and South Asia's Colonial Pasts' Research Seminar was the second seminar in the 'Unearthing the South Asian Collections' research seminar series. Papers were presented by emerging, independent and unaffiliated scholars on the British Library's South Asia collections. Both research seminars were free events open to the public and were well attended with 30-40 attendees at each event. We received positive feedback and calls to continue providing a platform for showcasing innovative research on the South Asia collections from emerging and early career scholars. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.bl.uk/events/unearthing-the-south-asian-collections-2 |
| Description | VIP Visit: Acting High Commissioner of India Dr. Sujit Ghosh, 20 July 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The private viewing showcased the diversity and richness of the Library's holdings of South Asian collections related to the theme of Independence for the delegation from the Indian High Commission. We also promoted the launch of the India 75 Events Programme. It was well received and we had requests for similar activities and collaboration in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | VIP Visit: Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan Dr. Faizel Aziz Ahmed, 28 July 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The private viewing showcased the diversity and richness of the Library's holdings of South Asian collections related to the theme of Independence for the delegation from the Pakistan High Commission. We also promoted the launch of the India 75 Events Programme. It was well received and we had requests for similar activities and collaboration in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | VIP Visit: High Commissioner of India Shri Vikram K. Doraiswami, 12 December 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The session showcasing the treasures of the South Asia collections was very well received with engagement of the collections and discussions of future collaboration. The event also marked the successful conclusion of the India 75 Events Programme in December 2022. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |