Rajaa Saleem Sahgal

Research Topic

A History of Archiving in Pakistan: State Control and Alternative Constructs

Supervisor: Yasmin Khan

My project traces how Pakistan set up its archives, from dispersal in the lead up to independence up until the opening of the national archives in 1973. It will address how Pakistan formulated its history during such an absence, how state control over the archive was established and exercised and the role of alternative avenues such as academic, cultural, and commercial collections. My research further explores the afterlives of colonial archiving, archival censorship and epistemicide, freedom of information and the use of diverse alternative sources on a more global comparative level. 

Prior to my DPhil, I did my BSc in Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics in 2021 and my MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge (Wolfson College) in 2022. I also worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Archive Studies at Government College University Lahore for 2 years and was also a visiting faculty member at the Department of Liberal Arts at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. During my work experience, I taught several BS and MPhil courses on archives, supervised 8 dissertations and conducted numerous panel discussions and workshops.