Bunche Hall, Rm 10383 & online

 

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, laborers across northern India negotiated rapid industrial change, emerging technologies, and shifting class hierarchies. In response to these changes, Indian Muslim artisans began publicly asserting the relationships between their religion and their labor, using the increasingly accessible popular press to assert Islamic traditions “from below.” In this talk, Amanda Lanzillo explores stories colonial-era social and technological changes through the experiences of metalsmiths, stonemasons, tailors, press workers, and carpenters, drawing on narratives from her book, Pious Labor. The talk centers previously understudied Urdu-language technical manuals and community histories, to examine both the materiality of artisanal production and the cultural agency of artisanal producers.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Amanda Lanzillo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. She is a historian of labour, technology, and religion, and is the author of Pious Labor: Islam, Artisanship, and Technology in Colonial India (University of California Press, 2024). Currently, Amanda is also a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, researching a second book project about Afghan migration and labour in British India and the Indian Ocean world. Amanda holds a PhD in history from Indiana University (2020), and she was previously a lecturer at Brunel University and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University. She has published in peer reviewed journals including Modern Asian Studies, South Asia, the Journal of Social History, and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, among others. Amanda also frequently writes about South Asian social history for the popular media, including in a series on artisan and labouring histories in The Wire co-authored with Dr. Arun Kumar.

 

 

WEBINAR CODE WILL BE PROVIDED UPON REGISTRATION

 

REGISTER HERE

 

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, UCLA will honor requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities.
Requests can be fulfilled more effectively if notice is provided at least 10 days before the event.
Direct accommodation requests to mohammadi@ucla.edu.

 

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For any questions, please email us at CISA

 

 

Sponsor(s): Center for India and South Asia