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On Friday 20 October 2023, around sixty people gathered in the Meeting House at University of Sussex for a half-day commemorative event to celebrate the influential work and enduring legacy of Ranajit Guha. 

Ranjit Guha died in April this year, a month before he would have turned one hundred. He was a globally-renowned historian, originator of Subaltern Studies, and founding figure in University of Sussex's own history, as a member of the AFRAS (School of African and Asian Studies) faculty between 1962-1981. 

Speakers included Professor Vinita Damodaran, Dr Adi Cooper, Dr Alice Corble, Professor Sanjay Seth, Professor Gurminder Bhambra, Professor Maya Unnithan, and Moushumi Bhowmik.   

Together we honoured Guha’s legacy, sharing reflections and insights from Sussex alumni who were Guha's students and colleagues here, as well as distinguished scholars, authors and artists further afield who have been impacted by his scholarship, values and legacy. We engaged in interdisciplinary dialogue, listened to music and memories, and enjoyed delicious Indian food from Chilli Shaak.  

This event was organised by Gurminder Bhambra, Alice Corble, Ben Rogaly and Vinita Damodaran. It was co-sponsored by the University of Sussex Schools of Global Studies and Media, Arts, and Humanities, and by the Centre for Rights and Anti-Colonial Justice. There will hopefully be a collaborative publication to come out of the event forthcoming. 

The programme was as follows:

2pm-3.45pm: Ranajit Guha – his life and work (Chair: Louiza Odysseos, University of Sussex) 
Professor Vinita Damodaran (University of Sussex): “Ranajit Guha: The Sussex Years as Remembered by his Contemporaries” 

Dr Adi Cooper (Independent scholar and social work consultant): “Ranajit Guha: An Inspiring and Challenging Teacher” 

Dr Alice Corble (University of Sussex) “Re-collecting Guha through a counter-archival lens” 

4.15pm-6pm: Legacies of Subaltern Studies (Chair: Naaz Rashid, University of Sussex) 
Professor Gurminder K Bhambra (University of Sussex): “Property and the Political Economy of Colonialism” 

Professor Sanjay Seth (Goldsmiths, University of London): “Guha on/and History and Indian History” 

Professor Maya Unnithan (University of Sussex): “Anthropology and Subaltern Historiography: A Critically Constructive Relationship” 

6.15pm-7pm: Presentation and Musical Performance (Chair: Ben Rogaly, University of Sussex) 

Moushumi Bhowmik (The Travelling Archive): “Some Small Voices of History: Listening, after Ranajit Guha” 

7pm-8pm: Food by Chilli Shaak 

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