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Accepted Paper:

Mizo modernity: vernacular newspapers and 'indigenous' cosmopolitanism  
Lallianpuii Lallianpuii (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences)

Paper short abstract:

The aim is to understand the growth of Mizo newspapers. I argue that these newspapers were the base for articulation of identity and a significant means to connect to Mizo thought-which was viewed as “modern and connected" (Pachuau&Schendel,2015) as opposed to parochial.

Paper long abstract:

Newspapers have been in circulation in the now northeast Indian state of Mizoram since the late 19th century. From the start, they were in Lushai language, now classified as Mizo, a pan-ethnic language of the Zo descents. These newspapers were the base for the articulation of identity and important means to connect to Mizos thought, as they play a significant role in uniting the readers. In this paper, I want to counter assumptions on Indian newspapers vernacularisation in two ways. First, studies on vernacularisation of Indian newspapers usually focus on their regional circulation. Here, I want to look at Mizo newspapers' connection to the city, specifically the role of the colonial-set-up and the state that were considerable factors in urbanisation of Mizo newspapers. Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram accounts for about 40 percent of the 1 million populations, exclusive of the Zo diaspora across borders. By this I will stress that newspapers relate to the formation of "an unexpected vanguard of easy-going transnational 'modernity' within India" (McDuie-Ra 2012). Secondly, I argue that in the case of Mizo newspapers, vernacularisation has been a long standing phenomena and it does not lead to rapid content localisation as assumed. News content was broad and cosmopolitan, suggesting newspapers that were 'modern and well-connected to the wider world' in outlook. (Pachuau&Schendel 2015).

This paper is based on three months fieldwork in Aizawl. My analysis is based on oral history, ethnographic fieldwork particularly interviews with veteran journalists and archival works.

Panel P18
Print journalism in modern South Asia
  Session 1