Punjab Research Group

This year marks the 30th anniversary since the Punjab Research Group was founded. The idea of PRG was first floated at a conference in March/April 1984 on “Communal Harmony in Punjab” following discussions among a small group of like-minded people. The PRG was established on the basis that it would be inclusive and all-embracing in issues pertaining to the three Punjabs (East, West and the Diaspora). During the past 30 years the PRG has provided space for academics to interact with each other regardless of territorial or disciplinary boundaries. This is especially important given the often strained relationship between India and Pakistan which has prevented academic discourse to take place between scholars in East and West Punjab. When the group started in 1984 its activities were radical and pioneering in furthering regional studies, an area only beginning to emerge. The PRG has continued to meet two to three times a year at various universities across the UK to allow for broad participation.

Ten years later the PRG launched the International Journal of Punjab Studies at a major conference on Punjab Studies in Coventry, 1994. Now know as the Journal of Punjab Studies, the journal provides important space for the Punjabi Diaspora and Punjab Studies and has been successfully running for the past 20 years.

To mark this milestone in the Group’s history we have teamed up with Dr Churnjeet Mahn, University of Surrey, and are planning a two-day conference. The public event will be funded by the AHRC project, ‘A Punjabi Palimpsest: Cultural Memory and Amnesia at the Aam Khas Bagh’. This project has looked at the conservation of Mughal-era buildings in Sikh-dominated Punjab, especially in terms of contested heritage and memory. A website connected to the project can be found here: http://thegtroad.com/

The theme for the conference will therefore focus on Memory; we invite people to present papers which are either reflective in their approach regarding Punjab Studies and/or draw on the themes and role of collective or social memory in Punjab. This can be broadly interpreted and we particularly welcome papers from young emerging scholars. A selection of the papers presented during this conference will be published in a special edition of the Journal of Punjab Studies and edited by Pippa Virdee and Churnjeet Mahn.

Date: 27-28 June 2014
Venue: Coventry University

Please send proposals and abstracts by 15 April to pvirdee@dmu.ac.uk.