Wolfson Room, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, London
* Please note change of DATE and PLACE from previous announcements

Making Britain is a 3 year AHRC-funded project that examines South Asian contributions to Britain’s literary, cultural and political life in the period 1870–1950. Complicating the common perception that a homogeneous British culture only began to diversify after the Second World War, it explores how an early diasporic population impacted on British life and helped to form contemporary Britain’s cultural-political identities. An interdisciplinary approach will illuminate the diverse ways in which South Asian writers, artists, activists and professionals in Britain formed affiliations, groupings and solidarities to create a dynamic ‘contact zone’ at the heart of empire.

This one-day workshop will be addressing the themes of South Asian migrants and their varied interactions with the metropolis in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Keynote speakers are Professor Antoinette Burton (University of Illinois) addressing themes of diaspora and trans-nationalism, and Professor Partha Mitter (Emeritus Professor, University of Sussex) addressing themes of modernism. There will also be a panel on ‘Indians on the Celtic Fringe’. The day will be rounded off by a panel of the core research team on the Making Britain project talking about the project and to discuss the day’s papers.

Making Britain is led by Professor Susheila Nasta (Open University), in collaboration with Professor Elleke Boehmer (University of Oxford) and Dr Ruvani Ranasinha (King’s College London), and Research Assistants Dr Sumita Mukherjee (Oxford) and Dr Rehana Ahmed (Open). We are working in partnership with the British Library and SALIDAA, and in consultation with leading scholars Dr Rozina Visram, Professor Lyn Innes, Professor Partha Mitter and Dr Deborah Swallow.

Further registration details will be available shortly.

For registration details, please visit
http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/south-asians-making-britain/events.htm