Centre de Sciences Humaines

Compelled To Collect Museums and the Race for India’s National Past (Record no. 11840)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 03541nam a22001577a 4500
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER
control field CSH
005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION
control field 20250731101108.0
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field 250731b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number 9788178246956
100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Venkateswaran Mrinalini
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Compelled To Collect Museums and the Race for India’s National Past
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc. New Delhi
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. Permanent Black
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 2025
500 ## - GENERAL NOTE
General note As a catastrophe that uprooted millions, the partition of India has a compelling hold on South Asia and its historians. More specifically, Punjab has, as the partition’s western heartland, shaped modern India’s perception of itself in fundamental ways. Focusing on this region, Venkateswaran argues that collecting “tangible history” – relics, documents, and paintings – for museums was a crucible in which citizenship, national identity, and belonging were articulated, forged, contested, and denied in the aftermath of partition. She draws on hitherto unknown or little used archival material and connects disciplines that have seldom been linked: partition studies, South Asian museum historiography, and art history. By doing so, she offers fresh perspectives and insights into the processes that underpinned the making of India. In a period when national identities were nebulous, historic objects engendered “belonging” in all those who claimed and contested ownership over them, and those who interpreted them to reconstruct the region’s past. Such people included politicians, bureaucrats, art specialists, archaeologists, historians, museum keepers, university vice chancellors, and the ordinary public. Political actors have loomed large in South Asian history, obscuring the full range and diversity of individuals who shaped it. By foregrounding transnational networks of specialists such as archivists and art historians, this book provides depth and sophistication to reorient narratives of partition and South Asian independence.
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc. As a catastrophe that uprooted millions, the partition of India has a compelling hold on South Asia and its historians. More specifically, Punjab has, as the partition’s western heartland, shaped modern India’s perception of itself in fundamental ways. Focusing on this region, Venkateswaran argues that collecting “tangible history” – relics, documents, and paintings – for museums was a crucible in which citizenship, national identity, and belonging were articulated, forged, contested, and denied in the aftermath of partition. She draws on hitherto unknown or little used archival material and connects disciplines that have seldom been linked: partition studies, South Asian museum historiography, and art history. By doing so, she offers fresh perspectives and insights into the processes that underpinned the making of India. In a period when national identities were nebulous, historic objects engendered “belonging” in all those who claimed and contested ownership over them, and those who interpreted them to reconstruct the region’s past. Such people included politicians, bureaucrats, art specialists, archaeologists, historians, museum keepers, university vice chancellors, and the ordinary public. Political actors have loomed large in South Asian history, obscuring the full range and diversity of individuals who shaped it. By foregrounding transnational networks of specialists such as archivists and art historians, this book provides depth and sophistication to reorient narratives of partition and South Asian independence.
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
Source of classification or shelving scheme Universal Decimal Classification
Koha item type Books
Holdings
Withdrawn status Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Home library Current library Date acquired Total Checkouts Full call number Barcode Date last seen Bill Date Koha item type
    Universal Decimal Classification     Centre de Science Humaines Centre de Science Humaines 31/07/2025   944.4 VEN 007802 31/07/2025 31/07/2025 Books
Implemented & Customized by: BestBookBuddies

Powered by Koha