Dr Rafiullah Khan - Archaeology of the Periphery

Dr Rafiullah Khan (Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and Visiting Scholar at CARC) speaks on:

"Archaeology of the Periphery: The Malakand Agency, the 'Politicals' and Antiquarian Scholarship."

This seminar unpacks the complex history of archaeological exploration in Swat in the 1920s-1930s, during the period of British rule on the North-West Frontier.

Dr Rafiullah's looks at the role of non-archaeologists, more specifically of political agents of the Indian Political Department, in Gandharan archaeology. While they were integral to archaeological activities in many ways, some political agents developed their engagement to the level of scholarly interest in Gandhara. The work of Major Cobb, political agent at Malakand Agency, is valuable in this regard. He laboured to preserve and exhibit Gandhara sculpture through the installation of his collection in the political agent’s bungalow. He also built scholarly networks through tactics of donations, gifts and exchange of ideas and opinions with archaeological institutions and colonial personnel both from India and England. All this resulted in his scholarly reputation. This talk argues that in crafting a distinct persona as a scholarly political agent through intertwined administrative, antiquarian, and scholarly activities Cobb drew on the unique political and legal characteristics over the peripheral Malakand Agency. Through his engagement with Gandharan art and crafting of a scholarly persona, Cobb not only wanted to gain personal recognition but, at the same time, to erase the anti-intellectual stigma associated with political officers having a military background. However, since Cobb, like his predecessors in the office, failed to add an institutional dimension to the archaeology of Malakand, his work was ultimately no more than a mere antiquarian interest which, he normalized through scholarly tactics.Dr Rafiullah Khan - Archaeology of the Periphery