The constituency of Digital Humanities in India

Abstract

ABSTRACT Digital Humanities (DH), as an emergent field, is increasingly gaining traction within the Indian academe. It is credited with pumping fresh life into studying the Humanities at a time when the relevance of Humanities is being questioned. However, the role of the ‘digital’ in studying the Humanities – whether DH is an autonomous field, or merely a data-driven technique/application, or characterises new methodologies that equip us to probe into new ‘objects of inquiries – is often debated. In this article, we revisit the debates, contentions and contingencies around DH, with the intent to stir up conversations on the concerns about and faultlines of what may be referred to as an ‘Indian framework’ of DH practice. We examine the constituency of DH in India and the epistemic implications of the attempts towards its formalisation, which must be understood as a knowledge project linked to the prevailing episteme. In brief, we examine the ‘epistemic rupture’ that marks the emergence of DH in India.