This collection of interventions brings together conversations that emerged around a roundtable called ‘Living Archives: Arts, Bodies and Historiographies’, organised by Aditi Chandra and Sanjukta Sunderason for the American Council of Southern Asian Art (ACSAA) Symposium XIX at the University of Edinburgh in November 2019. The concept of Living Archives that began through a dialogue with Stuart Hall’s ideas has since gained new valences. This collection brings these together in their developing transdisciplinary and transnational scales and theoretical potentials.
We are grateful to the editorial board of Third Text for supporting this project and commenting on its drafts. We thank Nicola Gray for her meticulous editorial labour and polishing this collection in its current form. Needless to say, we deeply appreciate the thoughtful engagements of each of our contributors with the concept of ‘living archives’. Their transdisciplinary work has crafted the conceptual ambition of this Forum. As co-editors we have thoroughly enjoyed and grown from this collaboration. We hope our readers will find this endeavour enriching.
Aditi Chandra and Sanjukta Sunderason, May 2023