South Asian Non-Violence and Religion Collections

Description:

This project will fortify and fill gaps with focus regarding “South Asian Non-Violence and Religion Collections” at UW–Madison by purchasing three databases for the UW–Madison Libraries. These titles will plug some major gaps in the archival resources required to enable research to be done in a variety of colonial South Asian (Indian) disciplines and contexts, which will lay a good foundation for future research in both the short and long term. The materials will enable students to look beyond the geographic expanse of postcolonial India and do research on areas which are now parts of the nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Especially for research into Afghanistan and Myanmar (colonial Burma), these acquisitions are indispensable.

In essence, acquisition of these databases and reference collections of South Asian source material, will enable expanded coverage away from core centers of historical research on South Asia and incorporate areas of the colonial Indian Ocean arena which fall outside “traditional” places and time periods. This modernizes the UW–Madison collection, brings it more into line with trends in the field, and provides further opportunities for scholars of the future to do world-class research.

Finally, travel restrictions and archive/library closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic have profoundly impacted the ability of faculty and students to conduct research at foreign sites. Strengthening the digital database collection allows us to conduct research safely at the superior standards that UW–Madison has always fostered and encouraged.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

Mou Banerjee, Assistant Professor of History

CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

Todd Michelson-Ambelang, Senior Librarian for South Asian Studies, Memorial Library

CO-INVESTIGATORS:

Anthony Cerulli, Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures

Darshana Mini, Assistant Professor of Communication Arts

Mitra Sharafi, Professor of Law and Legal Studies