Research Catalog

Title

Graphic politics in eastern India : script and the quest for autonomy / Nishaant Choksi.

Author

Choksi, Nishaant

Publication

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 203 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.

Summary

"Investigating the communicative practices of indigenous Santali speakers in eastern India, this book examines the overlooked role of script in regional movements for autonomy to provide one of the first comprehensive theoretical and ethnographical accounts of 'graphic politics'. Based on extensive fieldwork in the villages of southwestern West Bengal, Nishaant Choksi explores the deployment of Santali scripts, including a newly created script called Ol Chiki, in Bengali-dominated local markets, the education system and in the circulation of print media. He shows how manipulating the linguistic landscape and challenging the idea of a vernacular enables Santali speakers to delineate their own political domains and scale their language on local, regional and national levels. In doing so, they contest Bengali-speaking upper castes' hegemony over public spaces and institutions, as well as the administrative demarcations of the contemporary Indian nation-state. Combining semiotic theory with ethnographically grounded investigation, Graphic Politics in Eastern India offers a new framework for understanding writing and literacy practices among ethnic minorities and points to future directions for interdisciplinary research on indigenous autonomy in South Asia"--

Series Statement

Bloomsbury studies in linguistic anthropology

Uniform Title

Bloomsbury studies in linguistic anthropology.

Subject

• Santali language > Writing
• Ol alphabet > Political aspects
• Santali language > Political aspects > India > West Bengal
• Written communication > Political aspects > India > West Bengal
• Written communication > Social aspects > India > West Bengal
• Language and culture > India > West Bengal
• Language and culture
• Written communication > Social aspects
• India > West Bengal

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [183]-198) and index.

Contents

Ol as autonomous practice -- Scaling multiscriptality in a village market -- Caste, community and Santali-language education -- Santali-language print media and the Jharkhand imagination -- Conclusion: Autonomy and the global field of graphic politics.

Call Number

JFE 21-6140

ISBN

• 9781350159587
• 1350159581

LCCN

• 2020049477
• 60002419828

OCLC

1178905694

Author

Choksi, Nishaant, author.

Title

Graphic politics in eastern India : script and the quest for autonomy / Nishaant Choksi.

Publisher

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Bloomsbury studies in linguistic anthropology

Bloomsbury studies in linguistic anthropology.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [183]-198) and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Choksi, Nishaant. Graphic politics in eastern India London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2021 9781350159594 (DLC) 2020049478

Other Standard Identifier

60002419828

Research Call Number

JFE 21-6140