Tuesday 9 March 2010

The End of the Raj: As Seen Through Home Videos

Cambridge University's Centre for South Asian Studies has uploaded a large number of 'home videos' about the Raj onto their website, where they may be accessed for free by anyone. These videos are from over 50 private collections, from 1911 to 1956, chronicling political and social events at the end of British rule in India.

The article says:

"The silent films cover a huge range of topics, including harrowing scenes shot during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, images of labourers working on railways and dams, and pictures of the funeral of Lord Brabourne, a former Governor of Bombay and Bengal, in 1939.

They also open a window both on to some of the lesser-studied facets of Imperial history, such as women's experiences in colonial India; and aspects which otherwise would simply have gone unrecorded."

Access the films at http://www.s-asian.cam.ac.uk/films.html

If you watch the videos and have a comment, do leave one underneath this post!

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