Reading

Black and white painting: saree-clad older woman, with book in hand, on a bed, looking at petcat approaching her. In the background, a clothes-rack with sarees, a shelf with a photograph, some flowers and incense, a closed window, a wall clock, a shelf with a lit lantern and a glass of water

Reading

Swati Moitra explains how reading can be a subversive and even revolutionary act in certain socio-historical contexts. She draws especially from her own work in the history of women’s reading practices in nineteenth and early twentieth century India, in particular the region of Bengal. She talks about the dual indices of literacy and pleasure in her work, and its affiliations to fields like book history and print cultural studies.

Swati Moitra (M.Phil., Ph.D.) is Assistant Professor at the Department of English at Gurudas College, University of Calcutta. Her areas of interest include book history and histories of readership. She is the recipient of the SHARP Research Development Grant for BIPOC Scholars 2022.

Image: © 2023 Saronik Bosu



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