The Maulana Bhashani Archives

This project will conserve a unique and politically endangered archive of material on 20^th century social justice struggles from South Asia. The archive belongs to Maulana Bhashani (1880-1976), an iconic political figure across the subcontinent, whose career extended from China to Cuba, and whose legacy continues across South Asian diasporas as a formidable progressive opponent of authoritarianism. The range of materials in the collection speaks to the making of Bangladesh, revolutionary histories of South Asia and radical Afro-Asian initiatives. The collections, some of which were physically buried for protection during the 1971 war, includes correspondence with underground militants, banned newspapers from the 1960s into the early years of independent Bangladesh, and reports of human rights abuses against marginalised communities.