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Offering Lessons in Cosmopolitanism in a Provincial City: The Case of Adib (1909–1913)

Presenter:

· Sanjukta Poddar University of Chicago (Chicago, United States of America)

Timeslot:

07/28 | 15:30-15:50 UTC+2/CEST

Abstract

Most of the pioneering studies of regional public spheres of modern India have concentrated on individual languages even as they indicate the presence of immense linguistic diversity within regions across South Asia. Building on this assumption, this paper focuses on the multilingual world of periodicals in Allahabad, in particular on the short-lived but significant monthly, Adib (1909–1913) — one of the four prominent journals published by the Allahabad-based publishing house, the Indian Press. By comparing some representative articles from Adib (Urdu) with articles from better-known periodicals of the Indian Press stable such as Modern Review (English) Saraswati (Hindi), and Probashi (Bengali), I analyze some of the characteristics of this multilingual print culture. Specifically, I examine how multilingualism produced multivocality and revealed the contestations within the Allahabadi public sphere on the question of civic identity. In so doing, this paper asks three interrelated questions. One, how does Adib, an Urdu journal run by a Hindu publisher and by editors from different religions, position itself within the linguistic, literary, and socio-political field of production of Allahabad? Second, what is the valence of multilingualism vis-à-vis the formation of urban ethics and a purportedly cosmopolitan and/or “Ganga-Jamuni” worldview and what is Adib’s contribution to this conversation? Finally, what kind of impact did the presence of a flourishing print and public culture have on the identity of this provincial city (and by extension, on the Hindustani region) which may not be exhausted by the frameworks of nationalism or separatism?