What is The People’s History of South Asia? 

The People’s History of South Asia (PHOSA) was founded out of the need to recenter the history of South Asia through the perspectives of marginalized people. As history is primarily told through the lens of the dominant populations and their material culture, many under-represented communities are invisiblized within the historical record. Promoting research and writing on the historically marginalized brings their voices into the story and flips the perspective, allowing for a more representative portrayal of the past. 

Who are the Historically Marginalized Groups?

Historically marginalized communities are those who experience oppression and exclusion in economic and social realms. They can include the working class, marginalized ethnicities, oppressed castes, indigenous, tribal people, religious minorities, gender and sexual minorities, and the disabled. They often experience misrepresentation by white and/or dominant caste historians in the academic record, harmful depictions in historical and contemporary culture or are completely left out of mainstream narrativizing.

Influences

Our influences include An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, Wikipedia, Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Dalit History Month, The Zinn Education Project, and Black History Month among others.

Submissions

If you would like to submit a comment, feature, story, art or archival materials, please write to us at phosa@protonmail.com