Punjabi Centuries: Tracing Histories of Punjab was launched at the India International Centre, New Delhi, on 16 July 2024 by (L – R) Arti Minocha, Associate Professor of English, Lady Shri Ram College, DU; Anshu Malhotra, volume editor of the book and Professor, Department of Global Studies and Kundan Kaur Kapany Professor and Chair of Sikh Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara; Professor Aparna Balachandran, Associate Professor of History, DU; Kanika Singh, Director of the Centre of Writing and Communication, Ashoka University; and Yogesh Snehi, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi.

Readers perusing Orient BlackSwan titles at the event.

The panel moderator, Aparna Balachandran, opens the discussion with an overview of the book.

Anshu Malhotra, volume editor, discusses the ideas of Punjab and Punjabi identity that have shaped the book.

Yogesh Snehi analyses the complex, multi-faith dynamic that marks Sufi shrines in the Punjab region.

Kanika Singh contextualises the ‘Fateh Diwas’ in terms of practices of historical re-enactment and narratives of nationalism.

Arti Minocha discusses women’s writings and the print cultures of colonial Punjab.

An engaged audience listens in.