Bishnupriya Basak | Calcutta University (original) (raw)

Papers by Bishnupriya Basak

Research paper thumbnail of Re-locating Archaeology and local History: Cultural Historiography of the Sundarbans

Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 81st session, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Swimming Against the Tide: The Journey of a Bengali Archaeologist

Women in engineering and science, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Unit-3 Chalcolithic Cultures

Research paper thumbnail of Asiatic Society and its Project of the Science of Man

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya ed. 'A Comprehensive History of Modern Bengal' , 2020

The establishment of the Asiatic Society in 1784 had a duality of vision in its search for truth,... more The establishment of the Asiatic Society in 1784 had a duality of vision in its search for truth, knowledge, and enlightenment, which became the hallmarks of European enlightenment thought in the eighteenth century. Contemporary post-colonial discourse has emphasized on breaking down binaries between opposed categories, —the colonizer and the colonized. It has been argued that these binary oppositions suppress ambiguous or interstitial spaces. Instead, the concept of ‘ambivalence’ has been invoked to understand how an ambivalent, hybrid space was created in the pursuit of the antiquity of man in the sub-continent in the second half of the nineteenth century through the writings of scholar-administratorsers.

Research paper thumbnail of Introduction: The Making of Durga—Art, Heritage and the Public

Research paper thumbnail of Inscriptions and agrarian issues in Indian history : essays in memory of D.C. Sircar

Research paper thumbnail of The Staging of a ‘Carnival’—‘Art’, Power and a Contested Space in Kumartuli

On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instru... more On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instrumental in setting up a two-day public exhibition or a ‘carnival’ in Kumartuli on 14 and 15 April 2019, showcasing installations and ‘art’ objects. This was achieved through collaboration with a few artists engaged with Durga Puja of Kolkata and a group of pratimasilpis trained in the Government Art College. The paper seeks to probe the complex web of power relations between corporate sponsors, professional artists, designers, and idol makers/pratimasilpis, as they are mediated through a public event. I am arguing that on the one hand a public space in which the power asymmetries unfold, acts as a temporary outlet for the creative energies and free will of a community against the backdrop of an overwhelming corporatization. A public space is reinvented in the process. On the other hand, a closer gaze reveals such appropriations as only partial in the fragmented, fractured ghettoed settlement of Kumartuli. Here voices of contest, negotiation, complicity, affirmation, refusal and compromise resonate throughout interviews conducted for the study. The event acts as an entry point in the vortex of these relationships. I will be also engaging with how ‘Art’ is being continuously redefined and redesignated, probing in the end the location of heritage in an uneasy terrain.

Research paper thumbnail of The Dynamics of Heritage-Making at an Archaeological Site in South 24 Parganas, Bengal, India

Public Archaeology, 2019

Archaeological heritage is seldom fixed in time. Heritage-making is an ongoing process deeply ent... more Archaeological heritage is seldom fixed in time. Heritage-making is an ongoing process deeply entwined with social/cultural memory and identity formation. These processes are traced through an archaeological monument, located in the Sundarbans, in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. The monument, named 'Jatar Deul', is a brick tower, stylistically labelled as a rekha deula curvilinear tower with a cruciform ground plan-belonging to the Orissan architectural style. Its exact chronology is unknown, as is its creator, although it is stylistically dated to the thirteenth century ce. It has survived more in myths, legends, and local tradition than in historical sources. This paper explores how the monument becomes a site of memories and how multi-vocal identities are forged around the locus of the site, now revered as a sacred place of Shaiva worship. The Postcolonial State has only a marginalized presence and the main stakeholders remain non-professional archaeologists, local schoolteachers, and the local population living in close vicinity. Identity work at the site is no longer the archetypal Bengali/regional identity seen in the pre-independence context, but reflects sub-regional cultural/religious affiliations. This paper is the result of ethnographic research, particularly interviews, of select sections of the local community, focusing on the recent organization of an annual fair at the site, which has thrown up questions on archaeological tourism. On the whole, this study examines how an archaeological monument is shaped and formed in the present in contemporary South Asia.

Research paper thumbnail of Collecting Objects: Situating the Indian Collection (1884-1945) in Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Studies in History, 2011

ABSTRACT The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed an enhanced role for museums in Grea... more ABSTRACT The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed an enhanced role for museums in Great Britain. There was also a parallel growth in private collections and an eagerness to collect souvenirs from distant lands. Material culture emerged as an important means to understand the evolutionary history of humankind. The development of archaeology and anthropology may be situated in this backdrop. The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford was founded in 1884 with a founding collection of archaeological and ethnographic objects from around the world. The donor was Augustus Henry Lane Fox, better known as Col. Pitt Rivers. The Indian collection of archaeological objects, amassed over the succeeding years, forms the subject of this article. I attempt to show how the colony and the metropolis were tied in a broad network of connections. I also argue that this enterprise of ‘collecting’—participated in by colonial servants, missionaries and others—lent an important dimension to the beginning of prehistoric research in the subcontinent.

Research paper thumbnail of Unit-11 Archaeology of the Emergence of Early Cities and the Characteristics of the Early Historic Urban Centres : South India

Research paper thumbnail of The Journey of Kalidas Datta and the Construction of Regional History in Pre- and Post-Independent Bengal, India

Public Archaeology, 2011

... Most of these native9 scholars, including Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar, Rakhaldas Banerjee, Ramapr... more ... Most of these native9 scholars, including Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar, Rakhaldas Banerjee, Ramaprasad Chanda, and Akshay Kumar Maitra in Bengal, were products of colonial education with firm beliefs in rationalist positivist history. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Late Pleistocene microlithic industries in the Ayodhya hills, Purulia, West Bengal: Insights from geoarchaeological exploration

Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2021

New evidence from Ayodhya hills, located in the western upland of West Bengal has expanded knowle... more New evidence from Ayodhya hills, located in the western upland of West Bengal has expanded knowledge of a Late Pleistocene microlithic technology in South Asia spanning 42-25 ka. Continuous exploration for the past two decades has resulted in substantial information on technology, distribution of sites and the colluvial context. It is now clear from surface exploration and excavations that there are localized differences in the formation of the colluvial context. At Mahadebbera and Kana sites which have yielded the OSL dates, the Insitu occurrence of artefacts in the excavated sections confirm their association with a colluvial context. The occurrence of microliths for a prolonged period (25-34 ka) at Mahadebbera indicates that the colluvial deposition must have followed a slower rate during the course of occupation at the site. At Khududih-Chauniya, a site currently being investigated, excavation and surface exploration indicate that the artefacts are mostly scattered over the rego...

Research paper thumbnail of Block-3 Early Historic Cities

Research paper thumbnail of Block-7 Neolithic And Chalcolithic Cultures

Research paper thumbnail of Earliest Dates of Microlithic Industries (42–25 ka) from West Bengal, Eastern India: New Light on Modern Human Occupation in the Indian Subcontinent

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding the Champa polity from archaeological and epigraphic evidence – a critical stocktaking

EurASEAA14 Volume I: Ancient and Living Traditions

Research paper thumbnail of The Staging of a 'Carnival': 'Art', power and a contested space in Kumartuli. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-0263-4_9#citeas

In: Das S.K., Basak B. (eds) The Making of Goddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0263-4\_9, 2021

On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instr... more On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instrumental in setting up a two-day public exhibition or a ‘carnival’ in Kumartuli on 14 and 15 April 2019, showcasing installations and ‘art’ objects. This was achieved through collaboration with a few artists engaged with Durga Puja of Kolkata and a group of pratimasilpis trained in the Government Art College. The paper seeks to probe the complex web of power relations between corporate sponsors, professional artists, designers, and idol makers/pratimasilpis, as they are mediated through a public event. I am arguing that on the one hand a public space in which the power asymmetries unfold, acts as a temporary outlet for the creative energies and free will of a community against the backdrop of an overwhelming corporatization. A public space is reinvented in the process. On the other hand, a closer gaze reveals such appropriations as only partial in the fragmented, fractured ghettoed settlement of Kumartuli. Here voices of contest, negotiation, complicity, affirmation, refusal and compromise resonate throughout interviews conducted for the study. The event acts as an entry point in the vortex of these relationships. I will be also engaging with how ‘Art’ is being continuously redefined and redesignated, probing in the end the location of heritage in an uneasy terrain.

Research paper thumbnail of ProductFlyer 9789811602627 (3)

Samir Kumar Das and Bishnupriya Basak eds."The Making of Goddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public". Springer Nature, Singapore, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Guest Editorial: Public Archaeology in India

Research paper thumbnail of Locating an Antiquarian Initiative in a Late 19th Century Colonial Landscape: Rivett-Carnac and the Cultural Imagining of the Indian Sub-Continent

Bulletin of the History of Archaeology

Research paper thumbnail of Re-locating Archaeology and local History: Cultural Historiography of the Sundarbans

Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 81st session, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Swimming Against the Tide: The Journey of a Bengali Archaeologist

Women in engineering and science, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Unit-3 Chalcolithic Cultures

Research paper thumbnail of Asiatic Society and its Project of the Science of Man

Sabyasachi Bhattacharya ed. 'A Comprehensive History of Modern Bengal' , 2020

The establishment of the Asiatic Society in 1784 had a duality of vision in its search for truth,... more The establishment of the Asiatic Society in 1784 had a duality of vision in its search for truth, knowledge, and enlightenment, which became the hallmarks of European enlightenment thought in the eighteenth century. Contemporary post-colonial discourse has emphasized on breaking down binaries between opposed categories, —the colonizer and the colonized. It has been argued that these binary oppositions suppress ambiguous or interstitial spaces. Instead, the concept of ‘ambivalence’ has been invoked to understand how an ambivalent, hybrid space was created in the pursuit of the antiquity of man in the sub-continent in the second half of the nineteenth century through the writings of scholar-administratorsers.

Research paper thumbnail of Introduction: The Making of Durga—Art, Heritage and the Public

Research paper thumbnail of Inscriptions and agrarian issues in Indian history : essays in memory of D.C. Sircar

Research paper thumbnail of The Staging of a ‘Carnival’—‘Art’, Power and a Contested Space in Kumartuli

On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instru... more On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instrumental in setting up a two-day public exhibition or a ‘carnival’ in Kumartuli on 14 and 15 April 2019, showcasing installations and ‘art’ objects. This was achieved through collaboration with a few artists engaged with Durga Puja of Kolkata and a group of pratimasilpis trained in the Government Art College. The paper seeks to probe the complex web of power relations between corporate sponsors, professional artists, designers, and idol makers/pratimasilpis, as they are mediated through a public event. I am arguing that on the one hand a public space in which the power asymmetries unfold, acts as a temporary outlet for the creative energies and free will of a community against the backdrop of an overwhelming corporatization. A public space is reinvented in the process. On the other hand, a closer gaze reveals such appropriations as only partial in the fragmented, fractured ghettoed settlement of Kumartuli. Here voices of contest, negotiation, complicity, affirmation, refusal and compromise resonate throughout interviews conducted for the study. The event acts as an entry point in the vortex of these relationships. I will be also engaging with how ‘Art’ is being continuously redefined and redesignated, probing in the end the location of heritage in an uneasy terrain.

Research paper thumbnail of The Dynamics of Heritage-Making at an Archaeological Site in South 24 Parganas, Bengal, India

Public Archaeology, 2019

Archaeological heritage is seldom fixed in time. Heritage-making is an ongoing process deeply ent... more Archaeological heritage is seldom fixed in time. Heritage-making is an ongoing process deeply entwined with social/cultural memory and identity formation. These processes are traced through an archaeological monument, located in the Sundarbans, in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. The monument, named 'Jatar Deul', is a brick tower, stylistically labelled as a rekha deula curvilinear tower with a cruciform ground plan-belonging to the Orissan architectural style. Its exact chronology is unknown, as is its creator, although it is stylistically dated to the thirteenth century ce. It has survived more in myths, legends, and local tradition than in historical sources. This paper explores how the monument becomes a site of memories and how multi-vocal identities are forged around the locus of the site, now revered as a sacred place of Shaiva worship. The Postcolonial State has only a marginalized presence and the main stakeholders remain non-professional archaeologists, local schoolteachers, and the local population living in close vicinity. Identity work at the site is no longer the archetypal Bengali/regional identity seen in the pre-independence context, but reflects sub-regional cultural/religious affiliations. This paper is the result of ethnographic research, particularly interviews, of select sections of the local community, focusing on the recent organization of an annual fair at the site, which has thrown up questions on archaeological tourism. On the whole, this study examines how an archaeological monument is shaped and formed in the present in contemporary South Asia.

Research paper thumbnail of Collecting Objects: Situating the Indian Collection (1884-1945) in Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Studies in History, 2011

ABSTRACT The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed an enhanced role for museums in Grea... more ABSTRACT The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed an enhanced role for museums in Great Britain. There was also a parallel growth in private collections and an eagerness to collect souvenirs from distant lands. Material culture emerged as an important means to understand the evolutionary history of humankind. The development of archaeology and anthropology may be situated in this backdrop. The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford was founded in 1884 with a founding collection of archaeological and ethnographic objects from around the world. The donor was Augustus Henry Lane Fox, better known as Col. Pitt Rivers. The Indian collection of archaeological objects, amassed over the succeeding years, forms the subject of this article. I attempt to show how the colony and the metropolis were tied in a broad network of connections. I also argue that this enterprise of ‘collecting’—participated in by colonial servants, missionaries and others—lent an important dimension to the beginning of prehistoric research in the subcontinent.

Research paper thumbnail of Unit-11 Archaeology of the Emergence of Early Cities and the Characteristics of the Early Historic Urban Centres : South India

Research paper thumbnail of The Journey of Kalidas Datta and the Construction of Regional History in Pre- and Post-Independent Bengal, India

Public Archaeology, 2011

... Most of these native9 scholars, including Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar, Rakhaldas Banerjee, Ramapr... more ... Most of these native9 scholars, including Ramesh Chandra Mazumdar, Rakhaldas Banerjee, Ramaprasad Chanda, and Akshay Kumar Maitra in Bengal, were products of colonial education with firm beliefs in rationalist positivist history. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Late Pleistocene microlithic industries in the Ayodhya hills, Purulia, West Bengal: Insights from geoarchaeological exploration

Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2021

New evidence from Ayodhya hills, located in the western upland of West Bengal has expanded knowle... more New evidence from Ayodhya hills, located in the western upland of West Bengal has expanded knowledge of a Late Pleistocene microlithic technology in South Asia spanning 42-25 ka. Continuous exploration for the past two decades has resulted in substantial information on technology, distribution of sites and the colluvial context. It is now clear from surface exploration and excavations that there are localized differences in the formation of the colluvial context. At Mahadebbera and Kana sites which have yielded the OSL dates, the Insitu occurrence of artefacts in the excavated sections confirm their association with a colluvial context. The occurrence of microliths for a prolonged period (25-34 ka) at Mahadebbera indicates that the colluvial deposition must have followed a slower rate during the course of occupation at the site. At Khududih-Chauniya, a site currently being investigated, excavation and surface exploration indicate that the artefacts are mostly scattered over the rego...

Research paper thumbnail of Block-3 Early Historic Cities

Research paper thumbnail of Block-7 Neolithic And Chalcolithic Cultures

Research paper thumbnail of Earliest Dates of Microlithic Industries (42–25 ka) from West Bengal, Eastern India: New Light on Modern Human Occupation in the Indian Subcontinent

Research paper thumbnail of Understanding the Champa polity from archaeological and epigraphic evidence – a critical stocktaking

EurASEAA14 Volume I: Ancient and Living Traditions

Research paper thumbnail of The Staging of a 'Carnival': 'Art', power and a contested space in Kumartuli. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-0263-4_9#citeas

In: Das S.K., Basak B. (eds) The Making of Goddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0263-4\_9, 2021

On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instr... more On the occasion of World Art Day (15 April), Asian Paints, the leading paints company, was instrumental in setting up a two-day public exhibition or a ‘carnival’ in Kumartuli on 14 and 15 April 2019, showcasing installations and ‘art’ objects. This was achieved through collaboration with a few artists engaged with Durga Puja of Kolkata and a group of pratimasilpis trained in the Government Art College. The paper seeks to probe the complex web of power relations between corporate sponsors, professional artists, designers, and idol makers/pratimasilpis, as they are mediated through a public event. I am arguing that on the one hand a public space in which the power asymmetries unfold, acts as a temporary outlet for the creative energies and free will of a community against the backdrop of an overwhelming corporatization. A public space is reinvented in the process. On the other hand, a closer gaze reveals such appropriations as only partial in the fragmented, fractured ghettoed settlement of Kumartuli. Here voices of contest, negotiation, complicity, affirmation, refusal and compromise resonate throughout interviews conducted for the study. The event acts as an entry point in the vortex of these relationships. I will be also engaging with how ‘Art’ is being continuously redefined and redesignated, probing in the end the location of heritage in an uneasy terrain.

Research paper thumbnail of ProductFlyer 9789811602627 (3)

Samir Kumar Das and Bishnupriya Basak eds."The Making of Goddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public". Springer Nature, Singapore, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Guest Editorial: Public Archaeology in India

Research paper thumbnail of Locating an Antiquarian Initiative in a Late 19th Century Colonial Landscape: Rivett-Carnac and the Cultural Imagining of the Indian Sub-Continent

Bulletin of the History of Archaeology

Research paper thumbnail of ProductFlyer. Samir kumar Das and  Bishnupriya Basak Ed. *The Making of Giddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public'

Springer Nature, 2021

This book examines the making of the Goddess Durga both as an art and as part of the intangible ... more This book examines the making of the Goddess Durga both as an art and as part of the
intangible heritage of Bengal. As the ‘original site of production’ of unbaked clay idols of the
Hindu Goddess Durga and other Gods and Goddesses, Kumartuli remains at the centre of such
art and heritage. The art and heritage of Kumartuli have been facing challenges in a rapidly
globalizing world that demands constant redefinition of ‘art’ with the invasion of market forces
and migration of idol makers. As such, the book includes chapters on the evolution of idols,
iconographic transformations, popular culture and how the public is constituted by the
production and consumption of the works of art and heritage and finally the continuous
shaping and reshaping of urban imaginaries and contestations over public space. It also
investigates the caste group of Kumbhakars (Kumars or the idol makers), reflecting on the
complex relation between inherited skill and artistry. Further, it explores how the social
construction of art as ‘art’ introduces a tangled web of power asymmetries between ‘art’ and
‘craft’, between an ‘artist’ and an ‘artisan’, and between ‘appreciation’ and ‘consumption’, along
with their implications for the articulation of market in particular and social relations in general.