Partitioning Bazaar Art – Popular Visual Culture of India and Pakistan around 1947 (History for Peace) - Hardcover

Saeed, Yousuf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1803092912 ISBN 13: 9781803092911

Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd, 2023

Synopsis

Offers insight into the links between the development of print culture and the many dynamic strains of nationalism in dialogue during the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
 
How did inexpensive posters influence nationalism in the decades leading up to and succeeding the Partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947? If mechanically reproduced images that occupy public spaces reflect the aesthetics of the “masses,” what can a critical interpretation of subcontinental popular visual culture in the mid-twentieth century reveal about the formation of communal identities?
 
In this essay, Yousuf Saeed studies the selective deification of leaders fighting for Indian independence. He highlights the biased representation within the domain of “patriotic” posters of the time and the evolving portrayal of religious minority communities in India’s popular print culture over subsequent decades. Also charts the turn popular print culture took in post-Partition Pakistan, Saeed focuses on the country’s thriving industry of Sufi-saint posters. Partitioning Bazaar Art is a timely exploration of how nationalism can be defined through popular imagery.

About this title

About the Author

Yousuf Saeed is a filmmaker, author, and archivist of random ephemera based in Delhi, India. His work includes the feature-length documentary Khayal Darpan about the state of classical music in Pakistan. He is also the author of Muslim Devotional Art in India.

Edition details

• Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1803092912
• ISBN 13: 9781803092911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 72