This volume forms a part of the Critical Discourses in South Asia series which deals with schools, movements and discursive practices in major South Asian languages. It offers crucial insights into the making of the Punjabi language and literature, and its critical tradition across a century. The book brings together English translation of major writings of influential figures dealing with literary criticism and theory, aesthetic and performative traditions and re-interpretations of primary concepts and categories in Punjabi. It presents 30 key texts in literary and cultural studies from Punjab from the beginning of development of Punjabi language to its present form, with most of them translated for the first time into English. These seminal essays cover interconnections with socio-historical events in the medieval, colonial and post-independence period in Punjab. They discuss themes such as spiritual and aesthetic visions, poetic and literary forms, modernism, progressivism, feminism, Dalit literature, power structures and social struggles, ideological values, cultural renovations, and humanism. Comprehensive and authoritative, this volume offers an overview of the history of critical thought in Punjabi literature in South Asia. It will be essential for scholars and researchers of Punjabi language and literature, literary criticism, literary theory, comparative literature, Indian literature, cultural studies, art and aesthetics, performance studies, history, sociology, regional studies and South Asian studies. It will also interest the Punjabi-speaking diaspora and those working on the intellectual history of Punjab and conservation of languages and culture.

This volume discusses the development of cultural studies in India. It shows how inter-disciplinarity and cultural pluralism form the basis of this emerging field. It deals with contemporary debates and interpretations of post-colonial theory, subaltern studies, Marxism and post-Marxism, nationalism and post-nationalism. Drawing upon literature, linguistics, history, political science, media and theatre studies, and cultural anthropology, it explores themes such as caste, indigenous peoples, vernacular languages and folklore and their role in the making of historical consciousness. A significant intervention in the area, this book will be useful to scholars and students of cultural studies and theory, literature, history, cultural anthropology, sociology, and media and mass communication, as well as the general reader.

This volume discusses the development of cultural studies in India. It shows how inter-disciplinarity and cultural pluralism form the basis of this emerging field. It deals with contemporary debates and interpretations of post-colonial theory, subaltern studies, Marxism and post-Marxism, nationalism and post-nationalism. Drawing upon literature, linguistics, history, political science, media and theatre studies, and cultural anthropology, it explores themes such as caste, indigenous peoples, vernacular languages and folklore and their role in the making of historical consciousness. A significant intervention in the area, this book will be useful to scholars and students of cultural studies and theory, literature, history, cultural anthropology, sociology, and media and mass communication, as well as the general reader.