Sikh Heritage in Colonial Collections: Conservation, Digitisation and Community Engagement with Contested Collections
| Dates: | 28 November 2024 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 13:45 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | John Rylands Library |
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| Who is it for: | Adults, General public |
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This online event introduces a recent collaborative project between Manchester’s Sikh community and the University of Manchester Library (UML). The talk will reflect on what it means to care for a cultural treasure that is also understood as a living being, and how establishing dialogue with communities is crucial to framing decolonial acts of library collections.
UML has in its collections one of the oldest known copies of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, one of the most sacred scriptures in the Shiki faith. The copy currently residing at the Rylands can trace its history back to 21 February 1849, when it was ‘wrested out of the hands of a Sikh Priest at the battle of Guzerat by an Officer of the 52nd Bengal Native Infantry’. Since 2021, UML has worked closely with the Sikh community in Manchester to conserve, digitise and respectfully care for the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
This is the first attempted decolonial act that the Rylands has undertaken. It has not been without its challenges and we are very much at the beginning of addressing colonial collections at UML.
Join us online and Book at this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sikh-heritage-in-colonial-collections-tickets-1042020590637?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
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