| ID | 155922 |
| Title Proper | From language to script |
| Other Title Information | Graphic practice and the politics of authority in Santali-language print media, eastern India |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | CHOKSI, NISHAANT |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article discusses the way in which assemblages of technologies, political institutions, and practices of exchange have rendered both language and script a site for an ongoing politics of authority among Santals, an Austro-Asiatic speaking Adivasi (Scheduled Tribe) community spread throughout eastern India. It focuses particularly on the production of Santali-language print artefacts, which, like its dominant language counterparts, such as Bengali, has its roots in colonial-era Christian missions. However, unlike dominant languages, Santali-language media has been characterized by the use of multiple graphic registers, including a missionary-derived Roman script, Indic scripts such as Devanagari and Eastern Brahmi, and an independently derived script, Ol-Chiki. The article links the history of Santali print and graphic practice with assertions of autonomy in colonial and early post-colonial India. It then ethnographically documents how graphic practices, in particular the use of multiple scripts, and print technologies mediate a contemporary politics of authority along vectors such as class and generation within communities that speak and read Santali in the eastern state of West Bengal, India. |
| `In' analytical Note | Modern Asian Studies Vol. 51, No.5; Sep 2017: p.1519-1560 |
| Journal Source | Modern Asian Studies 2017-10 51, 5 |
| Key Words | Print Media ; Eastern India ; Language to Script ; Graphic Practice ; Politics of Authority ; Santali-Language |