WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 Welcome to the deep dive. We are we're so glad 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.719 you're here with us today. Really glad it's going 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:06.200 to be a good one. Yeah. If you've ever looked 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:09.660 at a syllabus for like a high school literature 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:12.640 class or even just walked through the global 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:15.300 fiction section of your local bookstore. And 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.260 just wondered how those books actually got there. 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:19.760 Right. Wondered how all those incredible diverse 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.679 voices actually made it onto the shelf. You are 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:26.260 in for an absolute treat today. Because we tend 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:29.339 to assume that. you know academic curriculums 00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:32.159 or publishing trends just evolve naturally over 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.179 time almost by accident but they don't today 00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:37.140 we aren't just looking at some dry biography 00:00:37.140 --> 00:00:40.079 we're uncovering the life of a hidden architect 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.600 of modern literature right when you look closely 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:45.619 they're usually specific individuals pushing 00:00:45.619 --> 00:00:48.560 against massive institutional resistance to force 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:51.140 that kind of change And to figure out who one 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:53.539 of those individuals was, we are looking at a 00:00:53.539 --> 00:00:57.200 single Wikipedia article today. Just one article 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.780 is our sole source for today's deep dive. But 00:00:59.780 --> 00:01:02.579 the timeline it covers is staggering. I mean, 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:05.120 it's just huge. It really is. We're mapping out 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.780 the life of Ranjana Ash. She was actually born 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:10.640 Ranjana Sihanta. It's a remarkable historical 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:12.780 footprint. You read through her trajectory and 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:16.060 she is consistently present. at and actively 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:18.760 participating in some of the most significant 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.700 cultural and political shifts of the 20th century. 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:24.519 Across multiple continents, too. Exactly. So 00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:26.859 our mission today is to figure out how a woman 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:30.200 born in 1920s India ended up at the absolute 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.099 center of London's civil rights movements and 00:01:33.099 --> 00:01:36.459 how she went on to revolutionize the books that 00:01:36.459 --> 00:01:38.719 students read today. OK, let's unpack this. We 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:40.180 really have to start with the environment she 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:43.239 was born into. Right. The year is 1924 and the 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.250 place is Burbham, West Bank. And to really grasp 00:01:46.250 --> 00:01:48.849 the trajectory of her life, you have to anchor 00:01:48.849 --> 00:01:51.590 yourself in the reality of 1924 India. Under 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:54.430 the British Raj. Exactly. The country is still 00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:56.329 firmly under the grip of the British Empire. 00:01:56.909 --> 00:01:59.430 The struggle for independence isn't just some 00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:02.030 background event. It's the defining friction 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:04.709 of everyday life. Yeah. The education system, 00:02:04.769 --> 00:02:07.209 the social hierarchy, the entire infrastructure 00:02:07.209 --> 00:02:09.409 of the country is geared towards serving an empire. 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:12.150 And she spends her early years mostly in Lucknow, 00:02:12.310 --> 00:02:14.860 attending a local women's college. The timeline 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.219 shows she eventually moves on to Lucknow University. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:20.280 Where she chooses a very specific major. She 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.060 chooses to focus on political science, which 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:25.560 that feels like a highly deliberate choice for 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.439 a young Indian woman in the early 1940s. What's 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.199 fascinating here is the sheer pragmatism of that 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:34.199 academic focus. How so? Well, she isn't studying 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:36.680 abstract philosophy or classic literature at 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.199 this point. She's studying the mechanics of government, 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:42.310 the theories of statehood. The nature of power. 00:02:42.469 --> 00:02:45.310 Oh, wow. Right as the independence movement is 00:02:45.310 --> 00:02:48.349 peaking. Precisely. She's acquiring this knowledge 00:02:48.349 --> 00:02:50.909 precisely as the Indian independence movement 00:02:50.909 --> 00:02:53.250 is reaching its boiling point. She's arming herself 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:55.389 with the intellectual tools to understand how 00:02:55.389 --> 00:02:57.789 nations are built and governed. Which makes the 00:02:57.789 --> 00:03:00.409 next major milestone in the timeline so compelling. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.979 Because in 1947, she wins an Indian government 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:06.439 scholarship to get her doctorate. A huge deal. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.539 Massive. But she doesn't go to the UK, which 00:03:09.539 --> 00:03:11.680 might have been expected at the time. She travels 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.159 to the United States, specifically to Iowa University. 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:20.240 And we have to pause on that date. 1947. Right. 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:24.610 This is the exact year. India achieves its independence 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:27.870 from British rule. The partition of the subcontinent 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.289 is happening. The political landscape is being 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:32.990 violently redrawn. It's a massive upheaval. And 00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:35.210 right in the middle of this monumental national 00:03:35.210 --> 00:03:38.090 rebirth, she secures a government scholarship 00:03:38.090 --> 00:03:41.530 to travel halfway across the world to the American 00:03:41.530 --> 00:03:44.169 Midwest. Think about the culture shock of that 00:03:44.169 --> 00:03:48.340 transition. intense, politically charged atmosphere 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:51.120 of luck now on the eve of independence, straight 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.280 into the post -war rural American Midwest to 00:03:54.280 --> 00:03:56.979 study at the doctoral level. The level of ambition 00:03:56.979 --> 00:03:59.699 and adaptability that requires is staggering. 00:03:59.979 --> 00:04:02.439 Truly. It also highlights how the newly independent 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.509 Indian government was operating. They were actively 00:04:05.509 --> 00:04:07.729 sending promising young intellectuals abroad 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:10.250 to gather knowledge. With the expectation that 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:11.629 they would come back. Yes, with the expectation 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:13.729 that they'd return and help build the new nation. 00:04:13.849 --> 00:04:15.770 And she fulfills that expectation. She finishes 00:04:15.770 --> 00:04:18.629 her doctorate in the U .S. and in 1949, she comes 00:04:18.629 --> 00:04:21.050 back to India. She gets right to work. She does. 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:23.949 She takes up a position as a lecturer at Aligarh 00:04:23.949 --> 00:04:26.790 University and then eventually moves back to 00:04:26.790 --> 00:04:30.069 Luckdenau University, teaching there from 1951 00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:32.860 to 1954. And while she's teaching in Lucknow, 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.160 there's a detail in her timeline that might seem 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.019 like a minor footnote, but I argue it's actually 00:04:39.019 --> 00:04:41.060 the missing link to understanding her entire 00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:43.379 legacy. Oh, you mean the broadcasting? Yeah. 00:04:43.779 --> 00:04:46.600 During this period, she begins broadcasting to 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.120 schools. I noticed that, but I initially read 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.240 it as just a side project. You think that broadcasting 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.339 work is the key to her later success. It's the 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:58.600 incubator for her entire philosophy. Up until 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:01.120 this point, she's been operating in highly elite 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.379 academic circles. Getting a doctorate in the 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:05.699 U .S., lecturing at major universities. Right. 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:08.879 But broadcasting to schools forces you to translate 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:11.949 complex ideas for a younger... broader audience. 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:14.750 It shows she isn't interested in hoarding knowledge 00:05:14.750 --> 00:05:16.970 in an ivory tower. She wants to reach people. 00:05:17.189 --> 00:05:19.329 Exactly. She's experimenting with mass communication. 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:22.009 She wants to know how to get ideas directly into 00:05:22.009 --> 00:05:24.209 the classroom. That makes a lot of sense. She's 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:26.069 figuring out the distribution of knowledge not 00:05:26.069 --> 00:05:28.850 just the acquisition of it. Exactly. But before 00:05:28.850 --> 00:05:31.410 she fully deploys those skills on a global scale 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:34.529 her timeline takes a sudden incredibly cinematic 00:05:34.529 --> 00:05:37.230 turn. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.430 It really does. Let's talk about the year 1952. 00:05:41.159 --> 00:05:44.379 Ranjana is on a riding holiday in Kashmir. Just 00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:47.240 the phrase, a riding holiday in Kashmir in the 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:51.439 early 1950s, paints a very specific, almost glamorous 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:53.740 picture of her life at that moment. It totally 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.060 does. And while she's there, she meets a man 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:59.339 named William Ash. He goes by Bill. The details 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:02.180 provided on Bill Ash are wild. They are. He's 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:04.120 working as a BBC correspondent in India at the 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:07.259 time. But his background... He is a left wing 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:10.100 American broadcaster, a former pilot, a war hero. 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:12.300 And this is the best part. This is the detail 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:14.620 that jumps off the page. He was one of the original 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:16.959 inspirations for Steve McQueen's character in 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:20.259 the legendary 1963 film The Great Escape. It's 00:06:20.259 --> 00:06:22.360 a complete collision of worlds. You have an Indian 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:25.430 academic, a doctor of political science. deeply 00:06:25.430 --> 00:06:27.750 invested in her newly independent country. Meeting 00:06:27.750 --> 00:06:30.810 an American -born left -wing war hero who has 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:33.230 a history of breaking out of POW camps and is 00:06:33.230 --> 00:06:35.970 now working as a British journalist. The conversations 00:06:35.970 --> 00:06:38.350 they must have had on that holiday would be fascinating 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:40.529 to hear. I would love to be a fly on the wall 00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:43.230 for that. They clearly found a shared intellectual 00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:45.930 and political wavelength because the trajectory 00:06:45.930 --> 00:06:48.529 of their meeting alters both of their lives. 00:06:48.970 --> 00:06:50.829 Bill had already established his base in the 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:56.569 UK. I had. And in May 1954, Ranjana decides to 00:06:56.569 --> 00:06:58.889 follow him there. But she doesn't just pack up 00:06:58.889 --> 00:07:01.290 and follow him without a plan. She secures another 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:04.750 scholarship. Always pragmatic. Always. This time, 00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:07.149 she enrolls at the Institute of Education in 00:07:07.149 --> 00:07:10.170 London to study for a Master of Arts in Sociology. 00:07:10.509 --> 00:07:13.670 Notice the academic pivot there. She already 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:16.350 holds a doctorate in political science, giving 00:07:16.350 --> 00:07:18.689 her an understanding of state power and governance. 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.730 And now sociology. Now she's adding sociology 00:07:21.730 --> 00:07:25.170 to her toolkit, the study of society, social 00:07:25.170 --> 00:07:27.970 structures, and human behavior. And she's choosing 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:29.829 to do this at the Institute of Education. Which 00:07:29.829 --> 00:07:32.250 ties right back to her broadcasting work. It 00:07:32.250 --> 00:07:34.250 perfectly aligns with her previous work broadcasting 00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:37.110 to schools in India. She's systematically figuring 00:07:37.110 --> 00:07:39.769 out how societies learn and structure themselves. 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:44.490 In 1955, Ranjana and Bill get married. She officially 00:07:44.490 --> 00:07:47.290 becomes Ranjana Ash, living in London. And you 00:07:47.290 --> 00:07:48.990 might think she'd just settle down at this point. 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:51.269 Yeah, you might expect that after all this traveling 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:53.790 and studying, she'd settle into a quiet, conventional 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:57.019 academic life. But the reality is the exact opposite. 00:07:57.180 --> 00:07:59.060 Completely the opposite. As the timeline moves 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:02.259 into the 1960s, she emerges as a fierce, boots 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:05.240 -on -the -ground activist in the UK. The 1960s 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.839 in London was an incredibly volatile environment. 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:10.500 You have to remember the context. This is the 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:13.279 post -windrush era. Lots of immigration from 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:15.509 former colonies. There's significant immigration 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:18.110 from former British colonies. And with that comes 00:08:18.110 --> 00:08:21.209 rising racial tension, systemic housing discrimination, 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:25.509 and an informal but very real color bar in employment. 00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:28.269 It was a society actively resisting its own changing 00:08:28.269 --> 00:08:30.850 demographics. And Ranjana dives right into that 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:32.909 friction. She starts writing for a pacifist magazine 00:08:32.909 --> 00:08:36.129 called Peace News. She also becomes deeply involved 00:08:36.129 --> 00:08:38.230 with the Movement for Colonial Freedom. Which 00:08:38.230 --> 00:08:41.340 was huge. For some context, this was a massive 00:08:41.340 --> 00:08:44.480 organization in the UK campaigning against British 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.980 imperialism and actively supporting anti -colonial 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:50.200 struggles happening globally. She's essentially 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.000 taking the political science theory she studied 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:56.000 in India and Iowa and applying them to the streets 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.019 of London. And she was operating far outside 00:08:59.019 --> 00:09:03.190 the political. Very far outside. That is a crucial 00:09:03.190 --> 00:09:05.769 point to bring up, actually. The record explicitly 00:09:05.769 --> 00:09:08.730 notes her and her husband's political affiliations 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:11.470 during this era. They actually joined the Communist 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:14.750 Party of Britain, Marxist -Leninist. Which is 00:09:14.750 --> 00:09:17.289 a very specific faction. It is. And just to be 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:19.570 totally clear with you, the listener, we are 00:09:19.570 --> 00:09:22.090 looking at this purely as a historical fact to 00:09:22.090 --> 00:09:24.629 understand the depth of her engagement. We are 00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:27.049 completely impartial here, not taking any sides 00:09:27.049 --> 00:09:29.710 or endorsing any left wing or right wing ideology. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.740 We are simply reporting the facts of her life 00:09:32.740 --> 00:09:35.679 as they are documented in the source. And historically 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.639 speaking, that specific affiliation tells you 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.600 a lot about her mindset. The Communist Party 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:43.860 of Britain Marxist -Leninist was highly radical. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.820 By joining it, she was signaling that she didn't 00:09:47.820 --> 00:09:50.419 believe polite, moderate reforms were enough 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:53.019 to fix the systemic inequality she was seeing. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:55.159 She was fundamentally opposed to the existing 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.580 power structures. Exactly. She wanted structural 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:01.210 change. That drive to dismantle inequality is 00:10:01.210 --> 00:10:03.830 most visible in her civil rights work. During 00:10:03.830 --> 00:10:06.149 the 60s, she joined the Campaign Against Racial 00:10:06.149 --> 00:10:09.309 Discrimination, known as CARD. CARD was arguably 00:10:09.309 --> 00:10:11.490 one of the most vital organizations in British 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:13.789 civil rights history. They really moved the needle. 00:10:13.950 --> 00:10:16.190 They did. They were the ones fiercely lobbying 00:10:16.190 --> 00:10:19.570 for the Race Relations Act of 1965, fighting 00:10:19.570 --> 00:10:21.830 to make it illegal to refuse housing or public 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:24.679 services to someone based on their race. And 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.620 the people she's organizing with in Card are 00:10:26.620 --> 00:10:29.299 absolute heavyweights. The timeline lists figures 00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:32.659 like Marion Glean, David Pitt, and C .L .R. James. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:35.879 C .L .R. James alone is a monumental figure in 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:38.120 anti -colonial literature and Marxist thought. 00:10:38.340 --> 00:10:40.440 Ranjana Ash is right there in the room with them, 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:42.779 strategizing and campaigning. If we connect this 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:45.080 to the bigger picture, you start to see the full 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.220 synthesis of her life's work. How everything 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:49.860 ties together. Exactly. She's a woman who experienced 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:53.159 colonialism firsthand in India, studied its political 00:10:53.159 --> 00:10:55.600 mechanics, and is now living in the very capital 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.159 of the former empire. And she's using her rigorous 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.879 academic background not to publish obscure papers, 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:04.320 but to fight systemic racism and support marginalized 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:07.879 immigrant communities in real time. But the activism 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.100 takes a toll, or at least it prompts another 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:14.019 massive shift in her approach. By the 1970s, 00:11:14.019 --> 00:11:16.509 she pivots again. She realizes that fighting 00:11:16.509 --> 00:11:18.929 on the streets and in the political arena is 00:11:18.929 --> 00:11:21.409 only one half of the battle. The other half is 00:11:21.409 --> 00:11:23.830 fighting the cultural erasure happening in the 00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:26.470 classrooms. So what does she do? She goes back 00:11:26.470 --> 00:11:29.230 to school. It's an incredible level of intellectual 00:11:29.230 --> 00:11:31.909 stamina. She already has a doctorate in political 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:35.409 science and an M .A. in sociology. Now, she pursues 00:11:35.409 --> 00:11:37.690 a second Master of Arts, this time in African 00:11:37.690 --> 00:11:39.809 Studies at the School of Oriental and African 00:11:39.809 --> 00:11:42.870 Studies, or SOS, at London University. And she 00:11:42.870 --> 00:11:45.210 becomes a recognized authority on the work of 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:48.070 Chinua Achebe, the legendary Nigerian novelist. 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:50.820 This marks her transition into the role she is 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:53.879 arguably most famous for, a relentless champion 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:57.039 of global literature. Her choice to focus on 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:00.360 Chinua Achebe is brilliant. Achebe wrote, things 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.639 fall apart specifically to counter the prevailing, 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:06.620 often racist, Western narratives about Africa. 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:09.519 By becoming an authority on his work, Ranjana 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:12.000 Ash is continuing her anti -colonial activism. 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:14.399 But she's moving the battlefield from the streets 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.309 to the syllabus. From the 1970s straight through 00:12:17.309 --> 00:12:20.889 the 2000s, her literary footprint explodes. She 00:12:20.889 --> 00:12:23.490 is publishing articles and essays in major post 00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:26.470 -colonial literary journals. Journals like Kunapipi, 00:12:26.570 --> 00:12:29.429 Wasafiri, and PN Review. These aren't just casual 00:12:29.429 --> 00:12:31.649 magazines. These are the critical journals that 00:12:31.649 --> 00:12:34.250 defined international contemporary writing and 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:36.450 pushed marginalized authors into the academic 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:38.309 spotlight. She was building the intellectual 00:12:38.309 --> 00:12:41.029 framework that forced the Western academic establishment 00:12:41.029 --> 00:12:43.789 to take South Asian and African literature seriously. 00:12:44.210 --> 00:12:46.659 She was also a key contributor to a highly significant 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:50.460 1991 book compiled by Sushila Nasta. Motherlands. 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:52.539 Yes, Motherlands. Black women's writing from 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:55.419 Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. But she 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.200 recognized a massive logistical barrier in all 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:00.500 of this. The language barrier. Right. You can 00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:02.720 advocate for South Asian authors all day long, 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:05.019 but if their work isn't translated into English, 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.940 British students and readers can't actually access 00:13:07.940 --> 00:13:10.639 it. So she takes on the role of translator and 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:12.600 curator. Which is arguably the most powerful 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.419 role in literature. In 1980, she published short 00:13:15.419 --> 00:13:17.940 stories from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:21.019 By selecting, translating, and publishing these 00:13:21.019 --> 00:13:24.000 specific stories, she is single -handedly deciding. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.899 which narratives represent the subcontinent to 00:13:26.899 --> 00:13:28.820 the Western world. And she didn't stop there. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.399 Two years later, in 1982, she founded the South 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.399 Asian Literary Society. She essentially created 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:38.779 an entire institutional framework to ensure that 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:41.320 authors from the Indian subcontinent had a permanent 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:43.759 platform in the UK. Think about the friction 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.919 she must have encountered in the British education 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:48.659 system during the 70s and 80s. Oh, the standard 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:51.240 English curriculum was incredibly rigid. It was 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:53.700 dominated entirely by the traditional Western 00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:57.559 canon. Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen. Suggesting 00:13:57.559 --> 00:13:59.639 that a school in London should spend weeks studying 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:02.659 a Nigerian novelist or an Indian poet was considered 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:05.980 highly radical, even inappropriate by some traditionalists. 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:08.080 Which brings us to the actual instruction manual 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.600 she was writing to dismantle that resistance. 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:14.179 She co -authored a piece in 1977 called English 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:17.559 in a Multicultural Society. She wrote highly 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.440 targeted papers with titles like Introducing 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.879 to Gore in Multicultural Education in Britain 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:25.129 and Introducing... introducing South Asian literature 00:14:25.129 --> 00:14:28.710 into the English curriculum. Rabindranath Tagore 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:31.370 is a perfect example. He was a Nobel laureate, 00:14:31.370 --> 00:14:34.230 an absolute giant of Indian literature, but introducing 00:14:34.230 --> 00:14:36.889 him into a British curriculum required someone 00:14:36.889 --> 00:14:39.509 to meticulously argue for his relevance to a 00:14:39.509 --> 00:14:42.070 British student. Ranjana Ash provided the exact 00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:45.210 arguments. The arguments, the context, the teaching 00:14:45.210 --> 00:14:48.110 strategies that educators needed to justify putting 00:14:48.110 --> 00:14:50.129 his work on the syllabus. It really makes you 00:14:50.129 --> 00:14:52.629 evaluate your own educational experience. If 00:14:52.629 --> 00:14:54.649 you grew up reading a diverse array of global 00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:56.850 authors in school rather than just the traditional 00:14:56.850 --> 00:14:59.350 Western classics, you are standing downstream 00:14:59.350 --> 00:15:02.090 of the exact curriculum battles that Ranjana 00:15:02.090 --> 00:15:04.509 Ash was fighting. She understood that racism 00:15:04.509 --> 00:15:06.779 and discrimination aren't just fought with legislation 00:15:06.779 --> 00:15:09.860 they're fought through empathy. And empathy is 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:12.379 built through storytelling. By forcing the British 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:14.700 educational system to include South Asian and 00:15:14.700 --> 00:15:18.080 African stories she was actively rewiring how 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.529 the next generation would view the world and 00:15:20.529 --> 00:15:23.450 their neighbors. It is a stunning legacy of bridging 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:26.529 seemingly impossible divides. And she maintained 00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:29.789 this momentum for decades. The timeline provided 00:15:29.789 --> 00:15:32.690 by her source concludes in 2015, noting that 00:15:32.690 --> 00:15:34.929 Ranjana Ash passed away in London at the age 00:15:34.929 --> 00:15:38.169 of 90. 90 years of witnessing the world change, 00:15:38.450 --> 00:15:41.110 and more importantly, actively forcing it to 00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:43.690 change. So what does this all mean? Let's take 00:15:43.690 --> 00:15:45.750 a step back and look at the vast geography of 00:15:45.750 --> 00:15:48.000 her life. It's incredible when you view it all 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.379 at once. She starts in Burbham, India, under 00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:52.779 colonial rule. She travels to the American Midwest 00:15:52.779 --> 00:15:54.539 right as her home country gains independence. 00:15:55.220 --> 00:15:57.840 She goes back to India to teach, then crosses 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.659 the globe again to embed herself in London. Academically, 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:03.259 she masters political science, then sociology, 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.120 then African studies. She was a master of crossing 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:09.600 borders, physical, academic, and cultural. She 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.320 refused to be categorized or confined to a single 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.269 discipline. She saw that politics, sociology, 00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:18.750 activism, and literature are all just different 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:21.129 levers you can pull to change a society. And 00:16:21.129 --> 00:16:23.309 she pulled every single one of them. She really 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:25.909 did. She is the definition of a hidden architect. 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:28.789 Her name isn't necessarily the one printed on 00:16:28.789 --> 00:16:31.649 the cover of the books you study, but her lifelong, 00:16:31.789 --> 00:16:35.070 relentless advocacy is the reason those books 00:16:35.070 --> 00:16:37.429 are in your hands today. This raises an important 00:16:37.429 --> 00:16:39.549 question, and it is something I want you to mull 00:16:39.549 --> 00:16:42.539 over after we wrap up today. It builds directly 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.879 on Ranjana's time working in translation and 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:47.019 anthology editing. What's the question? Think 00:16:47.019 --> 00:16:49.460 about the immense, almost invisible power held 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:52.679 by translators and curators. Every single time 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:55.360 we read a piece of global literature, our entire 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:57.980 understanding of that culture is dependent on 00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:00.659 the quiet choices made by curators like Ranjana 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:02.840 Ash. They hold the ultimate gatekeeping power. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:05.740 They decide which stories cross borders, which 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:08.059 nuances are highlighted, and which voices are 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:11.079 preserved for the next generation. So ask yourself. 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:14.440 What brilliant worldview -altering stories are 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.799 currently missing from your life simply because 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.700 they haven't been translated or championed by 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:22.119 someone yet? That is a phenomenal thought to 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:24.819 leave off on. A huge thank you to you, our listener, 00:17:24.940 --> 00:17:27.079 for joining us on this incredible journey through 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.940 the life of Ranjana Ash. Keep questioning what 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:32.099 you read and who fought to make it possible for 00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:34.220 you to read it. We will catch you on the next 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:34.680 deep dive.