Project Details

Description

Background

The Pakistan Association of Women Publishers and Editors (PAWPE), working in conjunction with Dr Madeline Clements of Teesside University, has been awarded funds from the University’s Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Impact Acceleration Account for an archiving project, Editing Women in the Archives.

This is a direct outcome of the 2-day workshop Editing Women: Co-investigating autonomy and sustainability in Pakistan’s contemporary literary landscape which took place in July 2022, co-organised by Clements in conjunction with Maham Khan and Sadia Akhtar of IIU, Islamabad, and leading Pakistan women publishers and editors.

One of PAWPE’s ambitions is to build a digital archive of women-led literary/art journal and magazine publications, initially in English and Urdu (languages in which most edit), but eventually extending to regional languages. This will preserve endangered material (copies of magazine/journal issues, editorial correspondence, media coverage, draft manuscripts) vital to understanding women’s historical investment in shaping an independent literary and artistic culture in formats accessible to current and future communities of readers, writers, and scholars within Pakistan and beyond.

Archives Project:

The current, IAA-funded archiving project will enable PAWPE to begin to realise this aim through mentoring approximately four Pakistan-based women researchers / editors with interests in independent literary and art magazine publishing.

From February to May 2024, these researchers will work with PAWPE members including Niilofur Farrukh and the Karachi Biennale Trust’s Critical Knowledge Lab in Karachi, and Madeline Clements/Mehvash Amin of The Aleph Review in Lahore (and online), to conduct an initial survey of identified publications (e.g. She Magazine) and co-design a suite of archival familiarisation and training activities in conjunction with local and international organisations (e.g. the LSE Women’s Library, London).

This project takes a co-produced/participatory approach. The Project Team will work closely with co-researchers in Lahore and Karachi to co-design a suite of archival familiarisation and training activities in conjunction with identified funding bodies/archives/libraries/private collections, with the aims of: (i) accessing and auditing available materials relating to independent literary magazines and journals written, edited and published by women in Pakistan since 1947; and (ii) gaining insights into archival processes (acquisition, cataloguing, storage, loan arrangements, preservation, obtaining permissions, digitisation) and methods adopted by archiving institutions in Pakistan. Co-researchers will record their observations on the experience of participating in these activities, and in relation to the research questions, in reflective diaries during the course of the 3-month research/training period (Feb-April 2024). A hybrid workshop in May 2024 will provide an opportunity internally to reflect on and share experiences, which will feed into the development of a freely downloadable digital handbook for women literary practitioners and researchers, collating knowledge gained (e.g. data on holdings, access, archival policies, and testimonials on the experience of project participants), as well as follow-on impact-related activities. The Handbook and selected materials (including interviews with key stakeholders) will be hosted on The Aleph Review and KBT websites and a knowledge exchange event at the Karachi Biennale (October 2024) will serve further to share insights with women editors, publishers, researchers, and members of the public.

Layman's description

Impact Acceleration Account (IAA)-funded archiving project aimed at enabling the Pakistan Association of Women Publishers and Editors (PAWPE) to begin to realise its aim of building a digital archive of women-led literary/art journal and magazine publications. This archive will preserve endangered material vital to understanding women’s historical investment in shaping an independent literary and artistic culture in a format accessible to current and future communities of readers, writers, and scholars within Pakistan and beyond. The current project, run in conjunction with Niilofur Farrukh of the Karachi Biennale Trust and Mehvash Amin of The Aleph Review, will begin to realise this ambition by mentoring four Pakistan-based women researchers with interests in independent literary and art magazine publishing over a 3-month period from February to May 2024. Key outcomes will include a digital handbook, webpages hosting digitised materials/interviews, and a knowledge exchange event at the Karachi Biennale in October 2024.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date8/01/2431/05/24

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