Description
Drawing mainly on the photographic albums in the personal collection of Sir John Marshall—one of the most reputed British archaeologists of India and the longest-serving Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)—this volume explores the civilisational histories of ‘ancient India’ that were founded through early archaeological fieldwork and its photography.
While maintaining a strong focus on Marshall’s immense contributions to South Asian archaeology, the book encourages a critical review of archaeology’s emergence as an authoritative science in the writing of India’s history. It deeply examines the agency of photographs in establishing the strict parameters of archaeological field research. By engaging with the physicality of visual and evidential regimes, the contributors showcase the diverse manifestations and inevitable uses of archaeological practices within British India.
This publication is part of a broader initiative to bring the vast Alkazi Collection of Photography—an archive of over 90,000 vintage prints from South and South-East Asia dating from the 1840s to 1947—to a larger academic community and the general public, encouraging cross-disciplinary approaches and fresh historical interpretations.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION: Archaeology, Photography, Histories
CHAPTER 1: Orientalism and Archaeology: Writing the History of South Asia, 1600–1860
CHAPTER 2: The Many Lives of the Sanchi Stupa in Colonial India
CHAPTER 3: Photographs in Sir John Marshall’s Archaeology
CHAPTER 4: ‘Buddhist’ Photography
CHAPTER 5: Cunningham, Marshall and the Monks: An Early Historic City as a Buddhist Landscape
Appendix A: John Marshall and the Photographic Collections
Appendix B: Seminal Excavations Undertaken during Marshall’s Directorship of the Archaeological Survey of India
Appendix C: Bibliography
Catalogue of Photographs: The Marshall Albums
Index
About the Contributors:
Sudeshna Guha: Affiliate Lecturer in South Asian History at Cambridge (U.K.). She holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from Deccan College, Pune, and curated the photographic collections of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge) for over eight years.
The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts: A registered charitable trust based in New Delhi, dedicated to the exploration and study of the cultural history of India through the Alkazi Collection of Photography, amassed by Ebrahim Alkazi.
The Marshall Albums: Photography and Archaeology
Edited by Sudeshna Guha
Contributions by Michael S. Dodson, Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Christopher Pinney, Robert Harding, and B.D. Chattopadhyaya (Preface)
Book Specifications:
Category: History / Archaeology & Photography
Pages: 288 pages
Illustrations: 119 sepia photographs, 10 drawings
Dimensions: 9.45 x 10.8″ (240 x 274 mm), Hardcover (hc)
ISBN: 978-81-89995-32-4
Date of Publishing: 2010
Language: English
Publisher: Mapin in association with The Alkazi Collection of Photography
