BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs \;South Asia Center pr esents“Where are you? Call out to me”: The All India Radio Urdu\nService’s Letters of LongingShortly after the end of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war and largely\nin response to Radio Pakistan’s campaign to incite anti-Indian s entiment\,\nIndira Gandhi\, then Indian Minister of Information and\nBroad casting\, \;inaugurated \;a new radio service directed at West Pak istan.\nWhile the service targeted “foreign” Urdu-knowing audiences\, it q uickly gained\npopularity in North India as well\, where Urdu was widely u nderstood. In\naddition to news programs\, the Urdu Service aired entertai nment programs\,\nincluding music and radio drama\, but at the heart of th e service were letters\nfrom fans on both sides of the border sharing pre- Partition memories. This talk\nfocuses on the late 1960s and 1970s \;a nd \;considers \;how \;the\npractice of writing letters to rad io stations sought to mitigate the distance\nbetween listener and broadcas ter. This practice effectively turned listeners\ninto broadcasters \;a nd \;enabled cross-border connections \;between\nIndia and Pakista n \;at precisely the time when the \;western\nIndo-Pakistan border became physically impassible. Moreover\, the talk\ngrapples \;with th e limitations of the Urdu Service. The nostalgia and\nsentimentalism that programs fostered helped forge Urdu into what \;Huacuja Alonso calls a \n“language of nostalgia\,” ensuring that Urdu in post-independence India became\nassociated with bygone pre-Partition days.Isabel Huacuja AlonsoAss istant ProfessorCalifornia State UniversityIsabel Huacuja Alonso is an Ass istant Professor at California\nState University (CSUSB) and an historian of Modern South Asia\nwith \;interests in media and the politics of st ate borders. She will be\njoining Columbia University's Department of Midd le East\, South Asia\, and Africa\nStudies (MESAAS) in the Fall 2021. Her current book project\, \;Radio \;for\nthe Millions: Hindi-Urdu Bro adcasting \;and the Politics of Sound\, \;follows \;radio\nsta tions \;in India\, \;Pakistan\, Sri Lanka\, Germany and parts of\n Southeast Asia \;as it argues for a new geography of \;radio based on\nlanguage \;groups rather national \;or regional borders. The book\nexpands \;on her dissertation\, \; \;which won the 2015& nbsp\;Sardar\nPatel Award for “the best dissertation in any aspect of mode rn India defended\nat a US institution.”\n\nIn addition to\nher work on so und and borders\, Dr. Huacuja Alonso has researched the\nanti-colonial lea der M. N. Roy’s unconventional sojourn in Mexico and\ntranslated an excerp t of an Urdu-language radio travelogue on the Grand Trunk\nRoad\, which cr isscrosses the Indian subcontinent. The American Institutes of\nIndian and Pakistan Studies\, the American Council of Learned Societies\, and the\nI nstitute for Historical Studies at University of Texas at Austin\, where s he\ncompleted her doctorate\, \;have funded her \;research. Her pu blications\nhave appeared in \;Public Culture\, \;South Asia\, SAG AR\, \;The\nCaravan\, \;Scroll\, and the Spanish-language magazine \, \;Algarabia. \;Co-sponsored by the Departments of History\, Lit eratures and Linguistics\,\nTelevision\, Radio and Film.Click here to regi sterFor more information\, please contact Emera Bridger Wilson\, elbridge@ syr.edu or to request accommodation arrangements\, please contact Morgan B icknell\, mebickne@syr.edu. DTEND:20210415T220000Z DTSTAMP:20260513T080111Z DTSTART:20210415T200000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:The All India Radio Urdu Service’s Letters of Longing UID:RFCALITEM639142416717204424 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs \;

South Asia Center presents


“Where are you? Call out to me”: The All India Radio Urdu\nService’s Letters of Longing

Shortly after the end of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war and larg ely\nin response to Radio Pakistan’s campaign to incite anti-Indian sentim ent\,\nIndira Gandhi\, then Indian Minister of Information and\nBroadcasti ng\, \;inaugurated \;a new radio service directed at West Pakistan .\nWhile the service targeted “foreign” Urdu-knowing audiences\, it quickl y gained\npopularity in North India as well\, where Urdu was widely unders tood. In\naddition to news programs\, the Urdu Service aired entertainment programs\,\nincluding music and radio drama\, but at the heart of the ser vice were letters\nfrom fans on both sides of the border sharing pre-Parti tion memories. This talk\nfocuses on the late 1960s and 1970s \;and&nb sp\;considers \;how \;the\npractice of writing letters to radio st ations sought to mitigate the distance\nbetween listener and broadcaster. This practice effectively turned listeners\ninto broadcasters \;and&nb sp\;enabled cross-border connections \;between\nIndia and Pakistan&nbs p\;at precisely the time when the \;western\nIndo-Pakistan border beca me physically impassible. Moreover\, the talk\ngrapples \;with the lim itations of the Urdu Service. The nostalgia and\nsentimentalism that progr ams fostered helped forge Urdu into what \;Huacuja Alonso calls a\n“la nguage of nostalgia\,” ensuring that Urdu in post-independence India becam e\nassociated with bygone pre-Partition days.


Isa bel Huacuja Alonso

Assistant Professor

California Sta te University


Isabel Huacuja Alonso is an Assistant Profe ssor at California\nState University (CSUSB) and an historian of Modern So uth Asia\nwith \;interests in media and the politics of state borders. She will be\njoining Columbia University's Department of Middle East\, So uth Asia\, and Africa\nStudies (MESAAS) in the Fall 2021. Her current book project\, \;Radio \;for\nthe Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcastin g \;and the Politics of Sound\, \;follows \;radio\nstatio ns \;in India\, \;Pakistan\, Sri Lanka\, Germany and parts of\nSou theast Asia \;as it argues for a new geography of \;radio based on \nlanguage \;groups rather national \;or regional borders. The boo k\nexpands \;on her dissertation\, \; \;which won the 2015&nbs p\;Sardar\nPatel Award for “the best dissertation in any aspect of modern India defended\nat a US institution.”


\n\n

In addit ion to\nher work on sound and borders\, Dr. Huacuja Alonso has researched the\nanti-colonial leader M. N. Roy’s unconventional sojourn in Mexico and \ntranslated an excerpt of an Urdu-language radio travelogue on the Grand Trunk\nRoad\, which crisscrosses the Indian subcontinent. The American Ins titutes of\nIndian and Pakistan Studies\, the American Council of Learned Societies\, and the\nInstitute for Historical Studies at University of Tex as at Austin\, where she\ncompleted her doctorate\, \;have funded her& nbsp\;research. Her publications\nhave appeared in \;Public Cultur e\, \;South Asia\, SAGAR\, \;The\nCaravan\, \;Scroll\, an d the Spanish-language magazine\, \;Algarabia. \;

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Co-sponsored by the Departments of History\, Literatures and Lin guistics\,\nTelevision\, Radio and Film.


Click here to register


For more information\, please contact Emera Bridger Wilson\, el bridge@syr.edu or to request accommodation arrangements\, please contact M organ Bicknell\, mebickne@syr.edu.

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