Course Description

This foundational course examines the intertwined histories of print culture, censorship, and law in colonial India. Using legal histories, cultural histories and media studies the course asks how the colonial state attempted to regulate the printed word and how different communities – nationalist, religious, Dalit, gendered, linguistic and radical – used the printed word to contest both the colonial power and indigenous oppressions. Students will engage with primary legal documents, colonial reports, editorial writings, and a range of secondary scholarships. The sessions shall be discussion-based and students will be trained in close reading of primary sources.