HSS Faculty Presents Paper at Conference in the UK - LUMS

According to a notification, issued by the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Dr. Nadhra Shahbaz Khan, faculty of History of Art at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences presented a paper “Mistris or Craftsmen as Authors of Instruction Manuals in Early Twentieth Century Punjab” at a conference inviting discussion on Labour, Livelihood and Culture: Crafts and Music in the Middle East, South and Central Asia.

The conference was held on May 24, 2013 at the Chancellor Hall, Senate House, London. It was organised by the Middle East, South and Central Asia Forum (MESCAF), Institute of Musical Research (IMR), School of Advanced Studies, University of London, Art and Design Research Institute (ADRI), Middlesex University, London and the British Forum of Ethnomusicology (BFE).

The material used by Dr. Khan for this paper are a number of catalogues and illustrated instruction manuals on architecture and crafts including woodwork and jewellery making published during the early twentieth century in colonized Punjab. These manuals were published in different cities – Lahore, Amritsar, Jallundhar, Patiala and Rawalpindi - and most of them carry instructions in all three important vernaculars, Gurmukhi, Urdu and Sanskrit mixed with some English terminologies and designs. Interestingly, these manuals communicate ideas of modernity to the Punjabis who in 1849 were among the last Indian groups to submit to British rule and had initially shown considerable resistance to foreign ideas.

The paper investigates the dynamics of these publications as markers of change and traces the role of printing presses and art education in their inception. It also examines their language and expression, use of modern terminologies and the accompanying illustrations and designs that reflect adoption of foreign ideas by the authors and acceptance by their expected readers. The paper also considers their possible use by the authorities to bring about economic and social change by breaking the traditional caste system closely connected to ancestral occupations.

For details, visit the official website of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

Tags: University, College, Education, Seminar, Results, Conference, NTS

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