The UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies in collaboration with the Public Humanities initiative of the Department of Liberal Arts, IIT Hyderabad, hosted an exhibition cum talk and panel discussion on ‘ “Print as Resistance, Proscription as Control: A Cultural History of Banned Hindi-Urdu Print in Colonial India, c. 1850-1947” on 22 April 2026 in IIT. This project was originally executed under the IoE by Gajendra Pathak, Senior Professor, Department of Hindi and Professor Ravikant of CSDS.
The program was introduced by Dr Shuhita Bhattacharjee of the Department of Liberal Arts, IIT. Professor Nayar, the UNESCO Chair and Distinguished Professor with the Department of Liberal Arts, outlined the significance of the project. Professor Pathak then offered a detailed account of the project, its genesis and outcomes but also located this within the history of the British Empire, print culture and censorship. An exhibition of the print material, posters and news reports was held outside the Hall for the audience to first see the work collected in the course of the project. Songs, one play and other materials in their digital / recorded version were displayed on screen.
The discussion, with participants from MANUU, GITAM, IIT H and UoH, that followed, ably organized by Shuhita, was lively and enthusiastic and found connections and resonances with various dimensions of the project. With a full house in-person attendance and over two dozen online attendees, from research scholars to faculty, the program clearly demonstrated a keen interest in the interrelated questions of the archive, the historical record, the role of the state and the public. These questions, heralded by Professor Pathak in his account, spoke to the vulnerability of the materials, of the very acts (and people) in history that were proscribed and arrested.
The participants were all praise for Professor Pathak and Professor Ravikant’s work.