Wow, that was a tour de force! I was intrigued at the beginning and then confused in the middle, as the article moved away from the original topic (or so it appeared to me), until the connection was made that "This is much more than a story about language—it is also about authority, about expertise, and about women and the manner in which they are allowed to live and speak."
However, may I ask if this narrative is based a little too much on the "northern perspective", which you are trying to avoid where possible to provide a parallel view? For example, isn't there a role of the south, particularly Hyderabad (which gets the briefest of mentions in the article) in the development of Urdu, which is omitted by the article?
Thank you! We had so much to say that we had to bifurcate our edition into an Urdu one and an (upcoming) Hindi one, so in a way we're unintentionally reproducing more than one binary that shouldn't be! On the Deccan connections of Urdu, which we also couldn't quite fit in here, we do definitely intend to address that as well in future editions—we can't wait to excerpt the writing of amazing poets like Siraj Aurangabadi—but we're holding back in anticipation of some great scholarship that's about to come out on the topic of this 'vernacular conquest' from scholars like Subah Dayal. Thanks again for this feedback, it's super helpful.
Love your thoughtfulness and attention to beauty -awesome! The insane Hindi of All India Radio was an outgrowth of the process you describe - and it is good to note that along with Urdu a wide range of local Hindavi was also suppressed - elitism is octopus like A never just one oppression when you can get several extra for the same effort!
We're glad you liked it! If you're interested in All India Radio we highly recommend keeping an eye out for the work of Isabel Huacuja Alonso, who's coming out with a book on Hindi-Urdu broadcasting and the idea of 'radio citizenship' across borders.
Wow, that was a tour de force! I was intrigued at the beginning and then confused in the middle, as the article moved away from the original topic (or so it appeared to me), until the connection was made that "This is much more than a story about language—it is also about authority, about expertise, and about women and the manner in which they are allowed to live and speak."
However, may I ask if this narrative is based a little too much on the "northern perspective", which you are trying to avoid where possible to provide a parallel view? For example, isn't there a role of the south, particularly Hyderabad (which gets the briefest of mentions in the article) in the development of Urdu, which is omitted by the article?
I look forward to future editions.
Thank you! We had so much to say that we had to bifurcate our edition into an Urdu one and an (upcoming) Hindi one, so in a way we're unintentionally reproducing more than one binary that shouldn't be! On the Deccan connections of Urdu, which we also couldn't quite fit in here, we do definitely intend to address that as well in future editions—we can't wait to excerpt the writing of amazing poets like Siraj Aurangabadi—but we're holding back in anticipation of some great scholarship that's about to come out on the topic of this 'vernacular conquest' from scholars like Subah Dayal. Thanks again for this feedback, it's super helpful.
Love your thoughtfulness and attention to beauty -awesome! The insane Hindi of All India Radio was an outgrowth of the process you describe - and it is good to note that along with Urdu a wide range of local Hindavi was also suppressed - elitism is octopus like A never just one oppression when you can get several extra for the same effort!
We're glad you liked it! If you're interested in All India Radio we highly recommend keeping an eye out for the work of Isabel Huacuja Alonso, who's coming out with a book on Hindi-Urdu broadcasting and the idea of 'radio citizenship' across borders.
A great inaugural piece - fascinating and insightful. I look forward to reading many more in the near future!
Thank you! We're just getting started!