The Politics of Culture and ‘Development‘: Dystopian Presents and Imaginaries of the Future in the Commemoration of the Partition of 1947

This presentation will share insights from a project called Border Crossings which has focused on the commemoration of the partition of 1947 in the South Asian diaspora in the UK through the increasing presence of the cultural and creative industries and new technologies. A critical backdrop to the rise of the CCIs as a policy agenda across the UK, India and beyond will be linked to and analysed through the ways in which the politics of community, history and ‘development’ over time have interpolated with wider narratives and agendas seeking to shape, monitor, and surveil what is commemorated, what is not commemorated, and the meanings this holds for the present and future ahead.  

Navtej Purewal is Professor and Deputy Director of the Decolonising Arts Institute at University of the Arts London and Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London. Her research has focused on borders and bordering, intersectionality and the arts, gender and reproductive rights. She is currently India fellow for the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

This event is a collaboration between SASNET and the Department of Sociology at Lund University.