EIHS Lecture: "Everyday Ethics in Colonial India: Akhlaq Literature, Urdu Print Culture, and the Diversity of Muslim Thought"
Farina Mir, University of Michigan
In the late-19th and early 20th centuries, a range of Urdu texts were published in India within the genre of akhlaq (ethics). All were texts about ethics, but they varied immensely in both style and content. This talk examines Urdu akhlaq literature, with a focus on how this genre helps us elaborate a history of Muslim South Asia. While there is a robust body of work on Muslim history in South Asia, much of it has focused on elite figures, canonical texts, institutional formations—religious and political. Urdu akhlaq literature provides an opportunity to consider more popular forms of religious and social discourse and their impact on our understanding of Muslim and South Asian history.
Farina Mir is a historian of colonial and postcolonial South Asia, with a particular interest in the social, cultural, and religious history of late-colonial north India. Her first book, The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab (University of California Press, 2010), is a study of the Punjabi language and print culture under colonialism (from 1849-1947), with a particular focus on qisse, or epic stories/romances. The book was awarded the 2011 John F. Richard Prize in South Asian History from the American Historical Association and the 2012 Bernard Cohn Prize from the Association of Asian Studies. Mir’s current research focuses on the history of Islam and Muslims in colonial India. She is working on a book project, tentatively titled, “Producing Modern Muslims: Everyday Ethics in Late Colonial North India.” The project aims to broaden our understanding of Muslim thought in late-colonial India, focusing on the role of popular ethics in constituting modern Muslim subjectivity and history.
Mir is associate professor of history and director of the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. She also serves on the Council of the American Historical Association and as vice-president of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.
Free and open to the public.
This event is part of the Thursday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.
Farina Mir is a historian of colonial and postcolonial South Asia, with a particular interest in the social, cultural, and religious history of late-colonial north India. Her first book, The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab (University of California Press, 2010), is a study of the Punjabi language and print culture under colonialism (from 1849-1947), with a particular focus on qisse, or epic stories/romances. The book was awarded the 2011 John F. Richard Prize in South Asian History from the American Historical Association and the 2012 Bernard Cohn Prize from the Association of Asian Studies. Mir’s current research focuses on the history of Islam and Muslims in colonial India. She is working on a book project, tentatively titled, “Producing Modern Muslims: Everyday Ethics in Late Colonial North India.” The project aims to broaden our understanding of Muslim thought in late-colonial India, focusing on the role of popular ethics in constituting modern Muslim subjectivity and history.
Mir is associate professor of history and director of the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan. She also serves on the Council of the American Historical Association and as vice-president of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies.
Free and open to the public.
This event is part of the Thursday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.
| Building: | Tisch Hall |
|---|---|
| Event Type: | Lecture / Discussion |
| Tags: | Asia, History |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, Department of History |
