Beyond geography: A study of smart culture and digital surrogates in Komagata Maru historical material

ABSTRACT

Examined within the matrix of political and historical frames, and digitally interceded memories, the Komagata Maru is connected with the Canadian Immigration Act (1908). While appearing ‘fair to all migrants', the Canadian government was able to restrict the migration of Indians. Through an examination of digital surrogates of historical photographs and archival material, this article hinges on the extrapolations following data discovery and constructs comparative perspectives. The central premise addresses challenges of decontextualized interpretations and biases plaguing the study of ‘flotsam'. Key questions investigated are the restoration of historical material, cultural technologies, ‘smart culture’ and metadata.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart culture
• digital surrogates
• Komagata Maru
• international migration

Acknowledgements

1. Due credits to the Vancouver Public Library for the pictures used in this study. The pictures have been referenced in the reference section and are from the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (VPL).

2. The Sassoon Visiting Fellowship by the Bodleian Libraries (2019-2020), Oxford University to conduct this study, is gratefully acknowledged.

3. I am also very thankful to the anonymous reviewers whose comments helped me refine the study.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 All pictures used in this study are available at the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive (vpl.ca.), Vancouver Public Library, Canada.

2 I have used the word ‘Punjabis’ to refer to the people belonging to the Punjab region (including the Sikhs, the Hindus and the Muslims). In the other places where I specifically mention ‘Sikhs’, clearly, the reference is only to the ‘Sikhs’ and not to the Punjabis. Wherever I mention ‘Indians’, the reference is to all those that belong to any part of the country (including the Punjabis).

3 This print report was examined by Bhat (2022) as an archival study. The article suggested that the British officers in Canada were aware of the problems that the South Asian Indian Punjabis were facing in British Columbia and had communicated this to the officers in the UK.

4 I have used only three pictures in my study. Researchers interested in the subject may want to look at other pictures and material in the library.