Introduction

Existing research in the science communication literature has commented on how science and technology are seen predominantly through the prism of Western/Eurocentric knowledge paradigms (Neeley et al, 2020). Dawson (2019) highlights how this Eurocentrism spills over to sites and instances of science communication, where minority communities often feel marginalised and their knowledge underrepresented. This is also the case in the context of India, where the history of ‘modern’ scientific and technological enterprises is a story often retold through the lens of European colonisation of the Indian people and the subsequent transfer of Western knowledge paradigms within the Indian subcontinent (Phalkey, 2013; Chakraborty et al, 2020). Phalkey (2013) further notes that historical accounts about scientific practices in India have not paid enough attention to such practices situated within Indian society, which could be rectified through ‘the study of institutional, social, political, economic and cultural contexts with a focus on the experiences of practitioners so that a practice-oriented understanding of science in India can emerge’ (Chakraborty et al, 2020, p 371).

In an attempt to address these lacunae, this chapter presents a historical account of printmaking practices in colonial Bengal (predominantly 19th century), while also describing the messy entanglements of science, arts, craftsmanship, local technologies, and society in that era. Using existing literature and archival material, it highlights the following: (a) that coloniser–colonised relationships cannot be viewed through prisms of predefined binaries and need to further account for pre-existing sociopolitical divisions within the Indian subcontinent; (b) how caste-based divisions of labour prevalent in colonial Bengal historically influenced the complex intersection of different knowledge systems; and (c) there is an urgent need for the inclusion of various forms of knowledge systems in societies with strong exclusionary practices and for moving towards a more holistic understanding of knowledge-making and sharing practices. In doing so, this chapter places the experience of the local printmaking communities of colonial Bengal at the centre and argues that the role of marginalised groups such as the ‘lower’ caste communities was crucial to the rise and development of the Bengali printing and knowledgesharing practices.

The chapter begins with a brief description of the context of the sociocultural demographics of colonial Bengal (the capital of Britishoccupied India) and its knowledge-sharing ecosystems comprising educational institutions, printing establishments, and a variety of local knowledge production and brokering practices.