Surajkumar Thube

Research Topic

Print, Language and Counterpublics: The Marathi Public Sphere in Late Colonial Western India, ca. 1920-1947

Supervisor: Professor Nandini Gooptu

                    co-supervisor: Professor Rosalind O'Hanlon

Description  : My aim is to analyse and investigate the emergence of lower castes as 'counterpublics' via their participation in print and performative spheres. This will be done to explain their resistance of the social dominance of upper caste elites through the use of distinct language registers. 

Scholarship :   Felix scholarship ( 3 years )

Publications : 

Articles:

https://fiftytwo.in/story/pen-friend/

https://scroll.in/article/998837/how-reformer-savitribai-phules-first-biography-got-written-despite-a-lack-of-detail-about-her-life

https://scroll.in/article/982665/how-prabodhankar-thackeray-contributed-to-the-rise-of-hindutva-in-20th-century-maharashtra

https://scroll.in/article/971696/vd-savarkars-language-purification-project-was-a-precursor-to-creating-a-hindu-language

https://scroll.in/article/954440/creating-a-legend-how-vasudev-balwant-phadke-came-to-be-known-as-a-modern-day-avatar-of-shivaji

Navigating past struggles through the current nightmare: Dovetailing ambition with empathy – Chakra: A Nordic Journal of South Asian Studies 2020 (Special Issue), Lund University.

Jotirao Phule : A social activist of 19th century Western India with a unique sense of history, Oxford University History Society Journal, Issue X, 2019.

Book Reviews:

https://www.the-orb.org/post/the-many-faces-of-hindutva

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19472498.2022.2048571

https://thesatyashodhak.com/jalsas-and-the-cultural-history-of-satyashodhak-movement/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/secularism-under-siege-revisiting-the-indian-secular-state/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/what-do-indias-millennials-want/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/human-side-of-larger-than-life-personalities/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/history-of-catastrophes-as-a-collation-of-statistics/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/dissent-as-a-way-of-life/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/a-university-on-the-road/

https://www.thebookreviewindia.org/making-dalit-truths-visible/

Paper Presentations:

“Satyashodhak Jalsas: A Musical Awakening”. Presented at ‘South Asia Early Career Researchers’ Workshop’ organized by UCL in collaboration with Queen Mary University, London, 20-21 June 2022.

“Satyashodhak Movement and the concept of Brahmanya.” Presented at ‘Exploring the concept of Crisis in Modern Western India’ workshop organized by Gottingen University, Germany, January 2022.

“Confronting the ‘high’ vernacular: Prabodhankar Thackeray and the question of aesthetics and social exclusion in early 20th century Western India.” Presented at The International Conference on Maharashtra. Organized at the University of Oxford, 2021.

“Confronting the ‘high’ vernacular: Non-Brahmin writings and the question of aesthetics and social exclusion in early 20th century Western India.” Presented at International conference on ‘Language Ideologies and the 'Vernacular' in South Asian Colonial and Post-colonial Literature(s) and Public Spheres’ organized by Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia and South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University.

“Scales of Contempt: Language Politics and Public Assertion in Early 20th Century Western India.” Presented at The South Asian Political Thought Seminar, University of Oxford, 2020.