The Books in the Bunker: Global Flows of Meaning and Matter in Academic Assemblages

Abstract

Under United States Public Law 480, a major hallmark of Cold War diplomacy, India received millions of dollars in loans from the US during the 1950s and 1960s in the form of food and agricultural products. A portion of the interest due on this loan was repaid by India partly in the form of books in about two dozen languages which were collected from across South Asia and sent to the Library of Congress and several universities in the country during the heyday of the development of Area Studies. The object of this paper is a large deposit of written material—books, periodicals and ephemera—that was sent to the University of Texas at Austin over a period starting in the 1960s under the PL 480 programme. Most of these materials were added to the library collections, but a large number of them remained uncatalogued for about fifty years in an underground library storage facility in downtown Austin. The history of these materials, and the moment when they reappeared provides a case study of how books are appropriated (or not) into academic, library and political assemblages, and the way disciplines and their canons have been shaped by politics and infrastructure from the Cold War into the neo-liberal age.

Keywords:

• Area Studies
• assemblage
• defence and education
• libraries
• neo-liberalism
• PL 480
• South Asian Studies

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Abdul Aijaz (Indiana University) for his invaluable contributions to this paper; without his suggestions and encouragement, it would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Aaron Sherraden, Uri Kolodney and Mary Rader (University of Texas at Austin) for their help and feedback, as well as the South Asia reviewers for their helpful comments and guidance.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. As opposed to original cataloguing, copy cataloguing involves finding bibliographic data that already exists in shared databases (usually WorldCat) and copying that information into a local catalogue, such as at a single university. An exercise in matching, it does not take the same amount of time and expertise as creating original bibliographic records.

2. Venkat B. Mani, Recoding World Literature: Libraries, Print Culture, and Germany’s Pact with Books (New York: Fordham, 2016), p. 17.

3. Joe Lenkart, Thomas H. Teper, Mara Thacker and Steven W. Witt, ‘Measuring and Sustaining the Impact of Less Commonly Taught Language Collections in a Research Library’, in College and Research Libraries, Vol. 76, no. 2 (2015), pp. 222–33; and Nancy L. Ruther, Barely There, Powerfully Present: Thirty Years of U.S. Policy on International Higher Education (New York: Routledge, 2014), p. 43.

4. ‘National Defense Education Act’, US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives [https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/lfp_006/, accessed 22 Mar. 2019].

5. Lenkart, Teper, Thacker and Witt, ‘Measuring and Sustaining the Impact of Less Commonly Taught Language Collections’, pp. 222–33; Larry Moses, Language and Area Study Programs in American Universities (Washington, DC: US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Institute of Education Sciences, 1964) [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED010471.pdf, accessed 22 Mar. 2019]; and Joseph W. Elder and Maureen L.P. Patterson, A History of the AIIS, 1961 to 1998 (MINDS@UW, 2010) [https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/38774, accessed 22 Mar. 2019].

6. Moses, Language and Area Study Programs in American Universities, p. viii.

7. National Resource Centers Program, US Department of Education, 3 July 2018 [https://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsnrc/index.html, accessed 26 May 2019].

8. Donald N. Bigelow and Lyman H. Legters, ‘NDEA Language and Area Centers: A Report on the First 5 Years’, in Bulletin, no. 41 (1964) [https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED544168, accessed 10 April 2019].

9. Moses, Language and Area Study Programs in American Universities, pp. 54–5; and ‘Welcome’, UT College of Liberal Arts [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/southasia/about/welcome.php, accessed 19 Mar. 2019].

10. Sarah Ellen Graham, Engaging India: Public Diplomacy and Indo-American Relations to 1957, CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy Paper 10, USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School (2012), [https://www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/uscpublicdiplomacy.org/files/useruploads/u35361/2012%20Paper%2010.pdf accessed 24 Mar. 2020].

11. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82nd Congress First Session, Vol. 97 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1951), p. 5898.

12. Robert McMahon, ‘Food as a Diplomatic Weapon: The India Wheat Loan of 1951’, in Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 56, no. 3 (1987), pp. 349–77; Manish Sinha, ‘The Indian Food Crisis of 1951 and the Politics of American Food Aid to India’, paper presented at the 72nd session of the Indian History Congress, Patiala, 2012 [https://www.academia.edu/16716888/The_Indian_Food_Crisis_of_1951_and_the_Politics_of_American_Food_Aid_to_India._presented_at_the_72nd_session_of_the_Indian_History_Congress_Patiala_2012, accessed 24 May 2019]; and Andrew J. Rotter, Comrades at Odds: The United States and India, 1947–1964 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018).

13. Barry Riley, The Political History of American Food Aid: An Uneasy Benevolence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), p. 271.

14. Maureen L.P. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 28, no. 4 (1969), pp. 744–5.

15. Library of Congress, 1959 Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1960), p. 8 [http://archive.org/details/annualreportofli1959unse, accessed 17 Mar. 2019]; and Graham, Engaging India, p. 27.

16. This assumes, of course, that it exists in a library that takes part in the WorldCat project; the project reaches some 72,000 libraries in 170 countries but obviously still has limitations.

17. Some debate exists on whether dust jackets should be retained in academic libraries, although it is not standard practice in most universities due to costs and practicality. See Steven A. Knowlton and Lauren N. Hackert, ‘Value Added: Book Covers Provide Additional Impetus for Academic Library Patrons to Check Out Books’, in Library Resources & Technical Services, Vol. 59, no. 3 (2015), pp. 112–9.

18. Some sample images have been provided here; more can be seen by clicking on ‘PL 480 Gallery’ at https://gskirk.weebly.com/, accessed 5 May 2020.

19. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 744.

20. Graham, Engaging India, p. 10.

21. W. Boyd Rayward, ‘Library and Information Science: An Historical Perspective’, in Journal of Library History, Vol. 20, no. 2 (1985), pp. 120–36.

22. ‘Women’s Work: Scholarship by Women at UChicago’, The University of Chicago Library News (24 Feb. 2014) [http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2014/02/24/womens-work-scholarship-by-women-at-uchicago/, accessed 19 Mar. 2019].

23. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 744.

24. Ibid.

25. Library of Congress, 1959 Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress, pp. 8–9.

26. Murari Nagar, What They Say: Indian Librarians Speak on the Wheat Loan Program (Columbia, MO: International Library Center, 1986), p. 5.

27. Ibid., p. 12

28. Ibid., p. 19; and Mohamed Taher, Librarianship and Library Science in India: An Outline of Historical Perspectives (New Delhi: Concept Publishing Co., 1994).

29. These were Berkeley, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Cornell, Duke, University of Hawaii, University of Minnesota, UT Austin, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin and Yale. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 746; and Bigelow and Legters, ‘NDEA Language and Area Centers’.

30. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 746.

31. Philip F. McEldowney, ‘Frustration and Fun: Problems in the Acquisitions of Special Collections Materials: South Asia’ (1993) [http://people.virginia.edu/∼pm9k/libsci/soAsCol.dos, accessed 10 April 2019].

32. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 743

33. E. Gene Smith, ‘The New Delhi Office of the Library of Congress at Twenty: Changing Acquisition Parameters’, in Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory, Vol. 6, no. 2 (1982), p. 162.

34. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 747.

35. Maureen L.P. Patterson and Louis A. Jacob, ‘South Asian Area Studies and the Library [with Discussion]’, in The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Vol. 35, no. 4 (Oct. 1965), pp. 223–38.

36. Patterson, ‘The South Asian PL 480 Library Program, 1962–1968’, p. 747–8.

37. Ibid., p. 750.

38. Frederick H. Wagman and Herman H. Fussler, ‘The General Research Library and the Area-Studies Programs [with Discussion]’, in The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Vol. 35, no. 4 (Oct. 1965), p. 351.

39. Nagar, What They Say, p. 20.

40. McEldowney, ‘Frustration and Fun’.

41. Ibid.

42. Smith, ‘The New Delhi Office of the Library of Congress at Twenty’, p. 163.

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46. Economic & Planning Systems, Inc., ‘Market Trends and Issues for Affordable Housing in Austin’ (June 2013) [https://austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Housing/Reports_and_Publications/Memos/Housing_Market_Analysis_EPS.pdf, accessed 18 April 2019].

47. Here, neo-liberalism is understood to refer to a restructuring of relationships between the state and the economy that involves economic deregulation and an emphasis on free market competition, and privatisation of public sector institutions. See Stephen Gill, ‘Globalisation, Market Civilisation, and Disciplinary Neoliberalism’, in Millennium: Journal of International Studies, Vol. 24, no. 3 (1995), pp. 399–423; and Jamie Peck and Adam Tickell, ‘Neoliberalizing Space’, in Antipode, Vol. 34, no. 3 (2002), pp. 380–404.

48. Long, ‘Constructing the Narrative of the Sustainability Fix’.

49. Brendan L. Lavy, Erin D. Dascher and Ronald R. Hagelman III, ‘Media Portrayal of Gentrification and Redevelopment on Rainey Street in Austin, Texas (USA), 2000–2014’, in City, Culture and Society, Vol. 7 (2016), pp. 197–207; and Dan Solomon, ‘Demolished East Austin Piñata Shop Is the New Center of Austin’s Gentrification Debate’, Texas Monthly (17 Feb. 2015) [https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/demolished-east-austin-pinata-shop-is-the-new-center-of-austins-gentrification-debate/, accessed 17 May 2019].

50. Jim Lindsey, ‘Dr. Jim Lindsey Discusses New Medical School’, Ascension Seton Doctor Link (27 Aug. 2013) [https://doctors.seton.net/stories/story-detail/dr-jim-lindsey-discusses-new-medical-school, accessed 5 May 2020]; and ‘Dell Medical School Construction Plans Unveiled’, UT News (8 May 2013) [https://news.utexas.edu/2013/05/08/dell-medical-school-construction-plans-unveiled/, accessed 17 May 2019].

51. Travis Willmann, ‘A Space Solution in the Distance’, Tex Libris (8 Aug. 2018) [https://blogs.lib.utexas.edu/texlibris/2018/08/08/a-space-solution-on-the-horizon/, accessed 17 May 2019].

52. Paul Courant and Matthew ‘Buzzy’ Nielsen, ‘On the Cost of Keeping a Book’, in The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship (Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, 2010), p. 83.

53. Willmann, ‘A Space Solution in the Distance’.

54. Melissa A. Adler, ‘Broker of Information, the “Nation’s Most Important Commodity”: The Library of Congress in the Neoliberal Era’, in Information & Culture, Vol. 50, no. 1 (2015), p. 30.

55. Rosalind Gill, ‘Breaking the Silence: The Hidden Injuries of Neo-Liberal Academia’, in Róisín Ryan-Flood and Rosalind Gill (eds), Secrecy and Silence in the Research Process: Feminist Reflections (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 228–44; and Tami Navarro, ‘But Some of Us Are Broke: Race, Gender, and the Neoliberalization of the Academy’, in American Anthropologist, Vol. 119, no. 3 (2017), pp. 506–17.

56. Jackie Wang, ‘As Austin Grows, Off-Campus Rent Prices Rise’, The Daily Texan (17 April 2015) [https://thedailytexan.com/2015/04/17/as-austin-grows-off-campus-rent-prices-rise, accessed 1 April 2019].

57. Blake Hounshell, ‘The State Department’s Arabic Problem Is Worse than You Think’, in Foreign Policy (21 June 2007) [https://foreignpolicy.com/2007/06/21/the-state-departments-arabic-problem-is-worse-than-you-think/, accessed 27 Mar. 2019].

58. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Department of Defense, ‘Defense Language Transformation Roadmap’ (Jan. 2005), pp. 1–23 [https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/b313370.pdf, accessed 10 April 2019]. While I have not been able to corroborate this detail in any official record, I recall as a recipient of a Critical Language Scholarship in its first year (2006), our programme leader informed us at orientation that on 11 September 2001, there were only two officers in the State Department who spoke Arabic well enough to conduct a televised interview, and only one who could do so unscripted. There continues to be a heavy emphasis on language training as a key weapon in the War on Terror in a variety of federally funded programmes.

59. ‘Critical’ languages originally included Arabic, Chinese, Hindi/Urdu, Persian and Russian, but were later expanded to include Azerbaijani, Bengali, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Swahili and Turkish. Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Electronic Information, Department of State, National Security Language Initiative (2006) [https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/58733.htm, accessed 10 April 2019].

60. This included programmes such as STARTALK, National Flagship Language Initiatives, National Security Language Initiative for Youth, Project GO, and Critical Language Scholarships.

61. Nagar, What They Say, p. 12.

62. Personal communication via email with Mary Rader, 30 May 2019.

63. Mani, Recoding World Literature, p. 10.

64. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987), p. 4.